15. TE Rankings, JT Situation, The End Of Fantasy Month

In today's episode of the PlayAction podcast, the host discusses the end of fantasy month and the upcoming NFL season. The Hall of Fame game between the Jets and the Browns is happening tonight. The host shares their tight end rankings and mentions some news, including Jonathan Taylor's contract dispute with the Colts, hype around certain players, and various injuries and suspensions in the league. The top three tight ends according to the host are Travis Kelce, Mark Andrews, and George Kittle. Darren Waller is ranked fourth. Hello, everyone, and welcome back to the next episode of the PlayAction podcast, and today the end of fantasy month is here. And I'm excited, but because the end of fantasy month means we're really close to the NFL season, we're really close to football. In fact, I am recording and then uploading this episode on Thursday, August 3rd, meaning that there's a football game tonight, the Hall of Fame game between the Jets and the Browns. While it will just be backups and third strings, it'll still be awesome to see football again. And Zach Wilson will be playing, so maybe Aaron Rodgers taught him some tips in the offseason. I don't know, but tonight at, I believe, 8 Eastern is when the game kicks off. So if you have any interest in the Hall of Fame game, throw it on. Or just, you're watching just to see the Hall of Fame players inducted. I don't know, but I'm going to be watching it. So that's tonight, but today I have my tight end rankings, and tight end rankings are shorter and quicker than the others, so we might have some time to get to some quick questions that have been piled up, because fantasy month episodes I've been trying to get to as many players as possible in the rankings, so they've been stretching out for a while, been expanded on, so we haven't had time for quick questions at the end of episodes. So I've had those just kind of stockpiled up. So maybe we could do a few of those today, but we also have some news to get to before we get into the ranking, so let's get into that right now. All right. So if you guys have been following the Jonathan Taylor just standoff at this point, we learned he had a meeting with Jim Ursay, the owner, and pretty much it came out that a few days before that meeting he had requested a trade. He was unhappy about his contract situation. Jim Ursay then responded, they're not going to trade him. They're not going to trade him ever, but they're also not going to pay him. So they said they might put him on the NFI list, which is non-football injury, because of a back issue he was having, but Jonathan said he wasn't having that back issue. That was all made up. So, but the thing is if they put him on the non-football injury list, they wouldn't have to pay him. So it looks really bad for the Colts. So then they said they're not going to put him on the non-football injury list. Taylor is currently on the pump for an injury that he says he also doesn't have, that he's good to go. It's all contract related and it's just not looking good here between Ursay and Taylor. He made some really cryptic tweets about if he died and Jonathan Taylor left the league, no one would remember them. I don't know what's going on inside that man's brain, but whatever it is, it is not, it is just not good. Because he's about to lose his star player, who really wants out now. Do I think Jonathan Taylor will play for the Colts this year? Odds are yeah. Do I think he will be happy about it? No. Taylor could just be using this as leverage to not just pretty much just be saying don't franchise tag me next year. Because I'm going to raise up this storm and just make a huge deal out of it. Do not franchise tag me next year. Either extend me long-term or let me walk. So maybe that's what Jonathan Taylor is trying to do here. I don't really see what's going on on both sides, but I think Jonathan's probably in the right here. He's not getting paid, but he's also not allowed to go anywhere that he will get paid. So I don't know what Jim Ursay is doing. I don't know what goes on with the Colts there. But that's what's going on with Jonathan Taylor right now. There's been a lot of hype pieces recently involving the NFL. There's been a lot of George Pickens said he's the best in the world. Patrick Peterson said he's reminds him a lot of DeAndre Hopkins. So a lot of hype around him. Stefan Diggs was hyping up Gabe Davis. Josh Allen was hyping up James Cook. There's been some hype pieces around those players. But the Raiders released tight end OJ Howard. So less competition for rookie Michael Mayer besides just Austin Hooper is still there. And then K.J. Ham- this was really sad to see. K.J. Hamler was diagnosed with a heart condition that it's a mild heart irritation was how it was phrased. So he would miss weeks and not months. But he had he would miss a few weeks. Probably not extended the season though, but the Broncos just cut him. They just cut him after it came out with this. So that's not a great look for the Denver Broncos. But then there's been a report that a Brock Purdy is definitely going to be the one for this team week one, which is kind of expected. But Sam Darnold could be the two for this team. And Trey Lance would be the third string quarterback. That's not good. That's not good for him. Running back Sonny Michel has decided to retire. And then defensive end Danil Hunter kind of got in like a face-off kind of with the Vikings about he said he wanted to get traded. But then they gave him a bunch more money on a one-year contract for this year. And he was like, okay, I'm good here. Just make sure I'm not here next year. And then Zeke is meeting with the Patriots today or not today a few days ago. And then Dalvin Cook is expected to go to the Jets. That whole situation is kind of weird. So we don't really know if he's going to the Jets. And then big news, wide receiver Garrett Wilson is expected to be back at practice on Saturday. So he's just gonna miss a week of practice with that low ankle sprain. He's expected to be fine. So that's great for any Garrett Wilson fantasy managers. Cooper Cup suffered a hamstring injury at camp and he's expected to miss a few weeks. He had an MRI. It was negative. He should be good for the season, but it's a little worrisome to see him already getting injured. Broncos wide receiver Tim Patrick tore his Achilles. He missed all of last year with a torn ACL and now he's gonna miss all of this year with a torn Achilles. He's already 29. He signed a three-year $64 million contract. Two of those three years, he hasn't even played. He hasn't even played on that contract. He hasn't played on that contract yet. And he's gonna be two years in. So I don't really know what the Broncos are gonna do there. Tim Patrick, he got the bag and then he got hurt. Twice. So, sucks for Tim Patrick, sucks for the Broncos. The Broncos lost two of their receivers in one day, so. Alvin Kamara is meeting with Roger Goodell about suspension. It has been reported he is going to be suspended. It's just a matter of how long. The expectation is somewhere between one and four games. So, yeah, JK Dobbins has not been at camp. He's been holding out. Actually, that's why he's on the puff. John Harbaugh's quote is, I don't know when he's gonna come back, but I know I'm going to be really happy when he does. So it looks like he's not even talking to his head coach. Bad situation around him. Calvin Ridley had a toe injury, but apparently it was just his cleats were too small. So he's gonna be fine. And then Alexander Madison, the running back for the Vikings, limped off the field. We still don't know what that injury is. Javante Williams has not been limited in any capacity. So he looks like he's gonna be good to go coming off the ACL. And then Bengals running back, Traveon Williams was carted off the field with a right leg injury. We still don't know what that is. But we expect he's gonna miss some decent time. That is today's news. I'm gonna take a quick break. And then we will get into the tight end rankings, the final episode of Fantasy Month. And I'm back here and ready to talk about the tight end rankings. And at number one, I don't even know why I need to talk about this. Like it's so obvious who number one will be Travis Kelsey. Tight end for the Kansas City Chiefs. We all knew that it would be Travis Kelsey at number one. He's great. He's the number one target for Patrick Mahomes. He's gonna keep being great. He's a first-round ADP. Actually a high first-round ADP. I've seen him go as high as the 1-3 behind Jefferson McCaffrey. So if you want to take him there, you absolutely can. Travis Kelsey is gonna be great. He's gonna be a great tight end. And I view him and kind of him and one other player in that top tier of players that if you don't get them, it gets a little murky at the tight end position. At number two, we have Mark Andrews. Again, no surprise. He's the consensus tight end, too. He's that other guy in that top tier for me. Tight end for the Baltimore Ravens. And it's again, no surprise that he would be here. It's really after Mark Andrews that you get a little more interesting, a little more diversity in rankings. So let's just move straight on from those two. We know they're gonna be great. We know they're gonna be the top two tight ends. Move it on from those two. At number three, it gets a little more interesting. I've seen a lot of players at number three. You could really put anybody there. Well, not anybody, but you know what I mean. George Kittle is my tight end three. I could realistically see Kyle Pitts there, TJ Hawkinson, Dallas Goddard. Even Darren Waller. I would not disrespect seeing there. So any of those guys could be the tight end three, and I would not mind it. So George Kittle is just there for me. But it really just comes down to a matter of expectation and opinion. I'm very high on Kittle this year. Purdy seemed to like throwing to Kittle a lot, and he's gonna be the starter. So I expect Kittle to have a big year and become the tight end three yet again. At number four for me is Darren Waller, the new tight end for the new York Giants. So I'm very excited to see what Darren Waller could do. Everyone's trying to guess who the wide receiver one will be for the New York Giants. Some think it'll be Waddale. Some think it'll be Sterling Shepard. Some think it'll be the rookie, Jalen Hyatt. Some think it'll be Isaiah Hodgins, Paris Campbell. There's so many options on that offense that it could be. But no one's really accounting for just gonna be Darren Waller. He's gonna be the number one target. He's gonna have the most value for fantasy, and he's my tight end four because I recently actually, I had about tight end nine for a while. But he's been getting a lot of hype in camp, receiving so many targets in camp, that they have to take him off the field because Daniel Jones just won't stop targeting him. And that makes me just re-evaluate what I'm kind of thinking of Darren Waller. And I edited my stat projections to a more realistic approach to him, and he actually came out as the tight end four. So, Darren Waller for me, I'm very high on him this year, and I think he could be great for the Giants. At tight end five, again, this one's a little, well, this one's a little bit of an interesting take. It's my first real bold prediction for one of these guys at the top. It's Pat Friarmuth at tight end five, the tight end for the Pittsburgh Steelers. I know a lot of Steelers fans out there seem to think Pat Friarmuth will just be the guy this year and could become the new Travis Kelsey. Steelers fans, I'm not gonna lie, you guys are crazy sometimes. Great organization, great team, very well run, as much as I hate to say it as a Ravens fan, but that fan base, I mean, they're loyal, but they're also crazy. So, I'm, Pat Friarmuth, I have him really high in my rankings because I am very confident in Kenny Pickett, and I'm very confident in Pat Friarmuth. I think there is a world where Pat Friarmuth is the number one target for Kenny Pickett. It's not Deontay Johnson. It's not George Pickens. It could just be Pat Friarmuth. So, and that's really what I'm projecting here. I also, I'm not super high on Deontay Johnson, but I like him at where people are valuing him. I'm not, I'm actually pretty low on George Pickens compared to everyone that thinks he's just gonna be a monster this year. I don't think that. I think he's probably still the third target on this team behind Friarmuth and Deontay Johnson. So, I am pretty in on Kenny Pickett. I do think he will spread the ball around, but Pat Friarmuth will be the number one target for him. That's my current projection. Tight end five for me is Dallas Goddard, the tight end for the Philadelphia Eagles, the other Pennsylvania team, just coming off a Super Bowl appearance, and Dallas Goddard is a obviously a great player with a great quarterback in Jalen Hurts. So, I mean, you think about it a little bit. It's just a good combination. Obviously, he has a little more competition for targets than some of these other guys do at the top, like Travis Kelsey or Mark Andrews or Darren Waller. They don't have that competition for targets that Dallas Goddard does, because he has A.J. Brown there, and he has Devontae Smith there. And both of those guys will probably be ahead of Goddard in the pecking order. But Jalen Hurts can sustain a good enough offense to be able to sustain and hold up all of these guys. So, I'm excited to see what they can do this year and what Dallas Goddard can do this year. Was last year just a fluke for the Eagles, or even without their offensive coordinator, are they going to keep flying high? Haha, see what I did there? But Dallas Goddard, for me, I think his touchdown upside is tremendous. He's a very talented player, very athletic player. So, tight end six. He could even, I could see him finishing the year as the tight end three, even that high. I just haven't projected for number six. At number seven, another shocker here, because this is a rookie tight end. This guy's never even played a snap in the NFL before. And I have him all the way up at tight end seven. It's Sam Laporta. You might be going, who is Sam Laporta? He is the rookie tight end for the Detroit Lions, and I've met tight end seven. Granted, tight ends, usually once they get to seven, they stop having tremendous value. Usually the top 30 to 35 receivers all have more value than anyone outside the top five tight ends. I actually don't really have that being projected. This year I have it being a high year for tight ends, but still, tight end seven is not fantastic. But um, Sam Laporta, the rookie for the Lions, again, you may have never heard of him. He was taken at the top of the second round, so very high draft capital pick. One of the first tight ends off the board, he was taken ahead of Michael Mayer. The only tight end taken ahead of him was Dalton Kincaid in the first round by the Buffalo Bills. So, Sam Laporta, for me, you saw guys like Brock Wright last year with don't-want-to-bash-the-guy, but not as much athletic ability as Sam Laporta. Very much excelling this offense, because this scheme, the Lions scheme and Dan Campbell's scheme, is designed to where the tight end catches the ball a lot. You saw it with TJ Hawkinson before he got traded to the Vikings. You saw it with Brock Wright after TJ Hawkinson was moved. And now Sam Laporta comes in, who has a very good athletic talent and a very high draft capital. He can come in and he could be one of the top targets for Jared Goff in this offense. So, of course, he's a rookie. So, he'll take some time to adjust to the system. But, I think trading camp, because he's a rookie, he'll probably get reps in the preseason. We'll probably see him out there a little bit. So, he'll be able to adapt to the offense and learn that this scheme and how he's going to be utilized. And I think that'll be very good. He'll be, if you're playing in a PPR league, Sam Laporta is a guy you should be watching, especially with Jamison Williams out the first six weeks of the season with the suspension for gambling. That gives Sam Laporta the time that he needs to cement himself in this offense so he can continue to get high target volume, even when Jamison Williams comes back from that suspension. So, that's what I see happening here for Laporta. Tight end 7, obviously very high for a rookie tight end, but I'm very high on Sam Laporta this year. I'm grabbing it towards the end of every single one of my drafts right now. At number 8, we have TJ Hawkinson. Now, this might seem a little low for TJ Hawkinson. Some of you have him up at tight end 3. Some of you have him all the way down here towards the bottom of the top 10, like I do. I've seen him as low as tight end 11. I have him here at tight end 8. I'm not necessarily out on TJ Hawkinson. I'm just in on Jordan Addison, and that's really how I feel. It comes down to for TJ Hawkinson. If you're one of those people to have him up at tight end 3, you think he's the number 2 target in this offense, because obviously Justin Jefferson's the one here for the Vikings. But you think Hawkinson is the number 2 for this offense if you have him up at number 3. If you have him down by where I am, number 8, number 10, somewhere in there, you think he will be the number 3 in this offense. And I'm one of the people, I'm very high on Jordan Addison this year. We talked about him in the wide receiver rankings. I had him very high. I had him at wide receiver 19. So, obviously, I'm very high on Jordan Addison this year as a rookie. That's a mid-end wide receiver 2. So, that's very high for a rookie receiver. So, I'm very high on Addison. I think he's going to be the number 2 in this offense, and that moves Hawkinson down in the pecking order to number 3. And that means he won't get as many targets, and he won't be such a reception king as he was last year. He was receiving 8 receptions, 9 receptions, 10 receptions every game. I don't think he can keep that pace up this year, which makes him more reliant on touchdowns, because he's never been a big yards guy, yards after catch, any of that. That makes him more reliant on touchdowns, and touchdowns, sometimes they come, sometimes they don't. It's usually not really your decision. It comes down to who the quarterback sees first. Obviously, it is a little bit you, because you have to get open in the red zone, but that's a whole different thing, red zone efficiency. But, most of the time, it's really who the quarterback sees first. So, those are a little more volatile. They might just not go Hawkinson's way. So, that's what I have projected. At number 9, Kyle Pitts. Tight end for the Atlanta Falcons, and Kyle Pitts has been disappointing people year after year after year. I am not in on Kyle Pitts. As you can see, I'm actually pretty out on him. I think he'll be a fine year. Again, I have a very good projected year for tight ends. I think everybody inside the top 9 will be very valuable for fantasy. I actually have 14 guys that I think should be on everyone's radar this year for fantasy. My top 14 tight ends, I think they all have potential to be good, valuable options for fantasy. But, Kyle Pitts is one of those 14, but he's in the bottom half, because he's coming off an injury that we're getting reports that could have more effect on him than we have seen in the past. So, Kyle Pitts, really, it's just risk over reward. Quarterback that's unproven, injury, hasn't yet done it, going into his third year, still hasn't done anything. Obviously, third year is usually the breakout year for the tight end. So, if he doesn't do it this year, that's what I'm getting worried for Kyle Pitts as a dynasty value. So, we'll have to see what he does this year for the Atlanta Falcons. And, the last guy we're going to talk about in depth today, rounding out the top 10 at number 10, we have Dalton Kincaid, the rookie first-round pick tight end for the Buffalo Bills. So, Kincaid, it really comes down to, if you are high on him, have him at number 10, like I do, then that means you think he'll be probably the number two in this offense ahead of guys like Gabe Davis or Khalil Shakir, or guys like that. If you are low on him, that means you're still confident in Gabe Davis. I am out on Gabe Davis, I am in on Dalton Kincaid as the number two, but I'm not super in on the Bills offense this year. I don't really know what to expect from them. So, I'm just kind of lukewarm in on Dalton Kincaid. He's obviously an athletic freak, but I wasn't super in on him coming in the draft process. He was actually my tight end two in my rankings for prospects. I had him behind Michael Mayer, so it's a little hard for me to kind of evaluate what I think of Dalton Kincaid. He obviously had a perfect landing spot for what he's trying to do. People are saying, well, Dawson Knox is there. He got paid a lot of money. Dawson Knox is going to be utilized as an actual tight end. He's gonna be blocking, he's gonna be running those short routes. That's gonna be Dawson Knox. Dalton Kincaid is going to be utilized more as a big slot receiver. That is going to be Dalton Kincaid's role. That is great for fantasy. So, the upside is definitely there for Dalton Kincaid, but he also, his floor is very low. He could just completely flop for fantasy this year and be like the fourth target in his offense. Kincaid's a little risky. Real quick, I just want to mention four names that should also be on your radar. I'm not going to talk in-depth about them, but this is 11 through 14 on my rankings. These guys should also be on your radar, and then after that, it's kind of just nobody you should really be looking into. Evan Engram, Michael Mayer, Dalton Schultz, Greg Dolcich. Those are four tight ends you should be looking into. Evan Engram, the tight end for the Jaguars, Michael Mayer, the rookie tight end for the Raiders, Dalton Schultz, the tight end for the Texans, and Greg Dolcich, the tight end for the Broncos. All four of those guys could have fantasy value this year. You need to keep those guys in your radar. Remember those names. All right. So, we are going to hit a quick question or two to finish off today's episode as we are nearing the 25-minute mark, and I like to keep these around a half hour. So, we still have a little time left to utilize. So, let's real quick evaluate a quick question. The first quick question here, it actually is related to tight ends. So, that's fitting for today's episode. This one comes in from Randy, and Randy says, what is your opinion on Tyler Higbee this year? Will he be the number two target in his offense, or will he fall behind guys like Van Jefferson and Ben Skoronic? This is an interesting question about the Rams. If I look at my tight end rankings, Tyler Higbee is actually my tight end 16. So, not in a range where I consider him valuable for fantasy. I think he could get some targets. He could get a little volume. Do I think he'll be the number two in his offense? No, but Stafford has to throw it somewhere. Kopp will get a million targets, but outside of Kopp, I think it'll be spread around between Jefferson, between Skoronic, and then between Tyler Higbee. Maybe some other guys get in there, maybe Tutu Atwell, someone like that. Maybe, I don't know, but it's a little interesting to look at the Rams' receivers outside of Cooper Kopp and try to evaluate. It's really just a guessing game. So, do I think Tyler Higbee will be the two? No. Do I think he will fall behind other guys? Yeah. So, um, but it's really just guessing at this point with the Rams' receivers outside of Cooper Kopp, who he knows could be dominant. All right, this question comes in from Lauren, and Lauren says, Would you rather, in a 12-team superflex dynasty, have Kirk Cousins or Geno Smith? Okay, so Kirk Cousins or Geno Smith in a 12-team superflex dynasty. This is a dynasty league, and that they're pretty much two quarterbacks, so superflex kind of comes out of it because it's two quarterbacks already, same position, don't really need to affect, superflex doesn't really affect it unless it's a quarterback and like a running back, for example. Then that would change the valuations, but really just the word dynasty is the big thing here that I need to factor in. Geno or Kirk Cousins, for me, it's Kirk Cousins. Because both of these guys, receivers don't really come into play because both have good receivers. Kirk has Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison and TJ Hawkins. Geno has DK Metcalf and Tyler Lockett and Jackson Smith and Jigsaw. Both have first-round rookies, both have veterans that are going to get a lot of targets and have been proved efficient, and both have young Alpha 1 wide receivers. So, obviously the first-round rookies, Addison and Smith and Jigsaw, the surefire veterans, Lockett and Hawkinson, and then the Alpha young wide receivers are Jefferson and Metcalf. Receiving core is kind of similar, actually, for these teams, so the only difference is Hawkinson is a tight end. I'm going to go with Kirk, though, just because I'm more confident in Captain Kirk. He has shown more over time. He's kept up his fantasy pace for a longer period of time. Geno has actually looked very bad for most of his career and was great last year for one year. So, there's much more risk for Geno, but both have like the same upside. Cousins has a higher floor, but they both have the same upside up there. So, I'm going to go with Cousins. And then, the last question I will get in here, this is from a fellow Ravens fan, was actually what they listed, just a fellow Ravens fan, was what they listed. What is your opinion on the Ravens corner room? And this is a good question. This is taking it outside the fantasy aspect a little bit, which I like. This is not a show just designed for fantasy football. This is football as a whole, the NFL as a whole. So, I like getting these kinds of questions. And my evaluation of the Ravens corner room is that Marlon Humphrey is going to be great. He's going to guard whoever the number one receiver is. He's going to lock him down. He's going to be great, because he always is. Outside of that, or outside of him, I should say, it gets a little sketch, because we don't really know what some of these guys are going to be. There's a lot of unproven young players on that roster, which is good for development. But I feel like losing Marcus Peters, however bad he was last year for the Ravens, which he was pretty bad, it's still going to hurt, because he was our quarter two, and we really needed a surefire veteran we could rely on as these young guys become better and better, and they could eventually pass Marcus Peters, or we could let Marcus Peters walk in free agency. I think we were working on that, and that was good. We just needed Peters for one more year before these young guys could start to fill in. And we didn't get him. He signed a one-year deal with the Raiders instead of resigning for another year with us. So, we could sign another veteran corner. I actually think the Ravens are not done making moves before the season starts, but I think they could make a move for an edge rusher, defensive end, or somebody like that. They could sign Yannick Ngakwe. They could trade for Chase Young. It's going to be somebody like that. They bring in a guy with potential that they could bring in and maybe develop into an absolute superstar. Chase Young, we saw in his rookie year, and then he got injured, and pretty much that cost him two years of his career. He's entering year four. We know Chase Young could be a superstar. I think he will be a superstar. If Washington moves him, that will be a mistake for Washington. And then Yannick Ngakwe, he's a little older. I believe he's 28 now. But we already know he could be a superstar for our team. He could fill in for a year. So, it will be probably one of those two guys that we make a move for. I was thinking maybe Daniel Hunter there for a little bit at edge, but now he's signed that one-year $20 million contract with the Vikings to stay there. So, that's really my opinion of the quarter room. I don't think we're going to add anyone to it before the season starts, maybe at the trade deadline. I don't know, but I don't think we'll add anybody to it. So, we're just going to have to hope that these young guys are good, and hope Marlon Humphrey can hold down the fort. That is going to do it here for today's episode. I hope you guys enjoyed, and I will see you in the next one.