Inside the Rankings

The rankings you will find in these pages are an average. We took the ranks of Evan Silva, Pat Daugherty, Raymond Summerlin, Nick Mensio, Rich Hribar and Jesse Pantuosco to formulate a composite score. Of course, there was no way we were all going to agree on every player. Some of us had unique feelings on certain guys, making them outliers. Here are the rankings and explanations:

Quarterback Rankings

Staff	Player	Evan	Ray	Pat	Nick	Rich	Jesse
QB1	Aaron Rodgers	1	1	1	1	1	1
QB2	Tom Brady	2	4	2	2	2	2
QB3	Russell Wilson	3	2	6	5	5	3
QB4	Cam Newton	4	5	4	3	4	6
QB5	Deshaun Watson	6	3	5	7	6	5
QB6	Carson Wentz	7	6	3	6	7	4
QB7	Drew Brees	5	7	11	4	3	7
QB8	Kirk Cousins	10	8	8	9	8	8
QB9	Matthew Stafford	8	9	13	11	9	9
QB10	Ben Roethlisberger	12	14	10	8	10	10
QB11	Jimmy Garoppolo	14	11	9	10	19	11
QB12	Andrew Luck	24	10	7	12	12	12
QB13	Marcus Mariota	9	13	17	15	11	18
QB14	Philip Rivers	15	15	12	14	15	13
QB15	Patrick Mahomes	13	17	16	13	16	15
QB16	Matt Ryan	11	19	15	18	14	14
QB17	Alex Smith	17	18	14	17	13	17
QB18	Jared Goff	16	16	20	16	22	16
QB19	Dak Prescott	21	12	18	20	17	19
QB20	Jameis Winston	18	20	19	19	23	22
QB21	Derek Carr	19	24	23	21	20	20
QB22	Mitchell Trubisky	20	22	25	23	18	21
QB23	Blake Bortles	22	21	26	24	24	25
QB24	Andy Dalton	23	26	24	22	25	24
QB25	Ryan Tannehill	27	25	22	28	21	28
QB26	Eli Manning	26	27	21	30	27	23
QB27	Case Keenum	25	23	27	27	26	26
QB28	Joe Flacco	28	29	28	25	28	29
QB29	Tyrod Taylor	30	28	30	26	29	27
QB30	Josh Allen		33	29	33
QB31	Sam Bradford	34			31	31	31
QB32	Josh McCown	33		35	32	30	30
QB33	Baker Mayfield	31	32	34	29	35
QB34	Lamar Jackson	29	34		34		33
QB35	Josh Rosen	35	30	33
QB36	Ryan Fitzpatrick		35	31		33	32
QB37	Sam Darnold	32	31	32	35	34	34
QB38	AJ McCarron					32	35

Quarterback Outliers

Raymond Summerlin had Dak Prescott 12. The composite rank was 19.

While there is reason to believe Dak Prescott’s rushing touchdown production over his first two years has been fluky, there seems to be a real overreaction to last season’s finish. In the eight games before Ezekiel Elliott was forced to the sidelines, Prescott was on pace for 3,636 yards, 32 touchdowns and eight interceptions. Perhaps his 6.2% touchdown rate over that eight-game stretch is not replicable, but his rookie season suggests he should be much closer to that number than his second-half form despite the issues in the receiving corps. Especially with quarterback looking as replaceable as ever, Prescott is the type of upside, bounce-back candidate it makes sense to bet on after the top quarterbacks are gone.

Evan Silva had Matt Ryan 11. The composite rank was 16.
Ryan front-paged our 2017 Fantasy Preview as an overvalued bust after his 2016 MVP year. We had a good idea Ryan would regress, but not to the extent he did. Ryan scored a whopping 7.8 fewer fantasy points per game as his touchdown rate (TDs/pass attempts) was nearly cut in half from 7.1% to 3.8%. Ryan would have thrown 4.3 more touchdown passes had he simply matched his career TD rate (4.6%). Ryan struggled in his first year under ex-OC Kyle Shanahan before his 2016 explosion. With an improved pass-catcher corps, we should similarly expect year-two improvement under now-OC Steve Sarkisian.

Patrick Daugherty had Drew Brees 11. The composite rank was 7.
Brees was typically excellent during his age-38 campaign but posted a 12-year low in yardage (4,334). The same was true for his attempts (536). This, after Brees averaged 5,141 from 2011-16. Brees is due for some positive touchdown regression after last year’s flukily-low total of 23, but the reality is this is a 39-year-old quarterback who is not as aggressive as he once was down the field (Brees does remain accurate when he attempts passes 20 yards or longer). The Saints are also fully re-committed to the run after some imbalanced seasons by head coach Sean Payton’s standards. Brees remains a QB1. His ceiling is just no longer amongst the gods.

Rich Hribar had Jimmy Garoppolo 19. The composite rank was 11.
The QB2 tier is larger than ever this season, so QB rankings won’t always do justice to a player. I have Garoppolo projected for less than a point per game difference from the lowest QB1 in our projections. However, I do find him to be overvalued in early drafts. When I look for a breakout quarterback, I look for two things. Passing touchdown upside and rushing ability. Garoppolo still has question marks in both regards, which makes him mostly a play on the passing yardage potential he showed a year ago. His receiving unit hasn’t shown a lot of TD upside as Pierre Garcon has never scored more than six times in any of his 10 seasons, Marquise Goodwin has eight touchdowns in 55 games played, and George Kittle is still a developing player. Garoppolo also has 19 rushing yards in his seven career starts. In my opinion, if you believe in Garoppolo, you should be looking to grab Garcon, Goodwin and Kittle as those players are actually discounted with respect to their position compared to Garoppolo at his.

Running Back Rankings

Staff	Player	Evan	Ray	Pat	Nick	Rich	Jesse
RB1	Todd Gurley	1	1	3	1	3	1
RB2	Le’Veon Bell	2	2	2	2	1	2
RB3	David Johnson	3	3	1	3	2	3
RB4	Ezekiel Elliott	5	4	5	4	4	4
RB5	Alvin Kamara	4	5	4	6	6	5
RB6	Saquon Barkley	6	6	6	5	5	6
RB7	Kareem Hunt	7	8	7	9	10	7
RB8	Melvin Gordon	8	10	8	8	8	8
RB9	Dalvin Cook	12	7	10	7	9	11
RB10	Leonard Fournette	9	9	13	13	7	9
RB11	Devonta Freeman	11	14	9	11	12	12
RB12	LeSean McCoy	10	12	12	15	11	10
RB13	Jerick McKinnon	13	11	11	10	14	14
RB14	Christian McCaffrey	14	13	17	14	15	13
RB15	Joe Mixon	15	17	14	12	13	15
RB16	Jordan Howard	16	19	16	16	16	16
RB17	Kenyan Drake	18	15	15	17	17	17
RB18	Alex Collins	17	16	18	19	22	20
RB19	Rashaad Penny	19	23	19	18	18	18
RB20	Derrius Guice	20	26	25	21	19	19
RB21	Jay Ajayi	24	20	22	22	21	21
RB22	Lamar Miller	22	18	21	23	23	27
RB23	Derrick Henry	25	28	20	24	20	25
RB24	Sony Michel	21	27	23	20	27	26
RB25	Dion Lewis	23	21	26	25	26	23
RB26	Ronald Jones	28	24	24	29	30	28
RB27	Marshawn Lynch	26	30	31	27	29	24
RB28	Mark Ingram	33	22	36	31	24	22
RB29	Tevin Coleman	27	33	34	28	25	33
RB30	Royce Freeman	29	34	30	30	28	29
RB31	Rex Burkhead	30	29	32	32	35	31
RB32	Chris Thompson	41	25	27	37	31	40
RB33	Aaron Jones	32	38	28	33	37	38
RB34	Jamaal Williams	31	36		35	40	30
RB35	Isaiah Crowell	38	31	29	39	36	34
RB36	Marlon Mack	37	37	38	38	33	32
RB37	Tarik Cohen	34	39	37	34	32	42
RB38	Duke Johnson	48	32	42	26	34	36
RB39	C.J. Anderson	35	43	33	40	46	37
RB40	Kerryon Johnson	40	35	54	36	41	39
RB41	Carlos Hyde	36	49	35	44	49	35
RB42	Giovani Bernard	45	41	39		38	47
RB43	Devontae Booker	42	45	44	41	45	46
RB44	Nick Chubb	43	44	45	50	47	43
RB45	Bilal Powell	52	47	46	43	42	44
RB46	LeGarrette Blount		42	43	48		50
RB47	Theo Riddick	46	48	40	49	43	49
RB48	James White	47	40	53	46	44	45
RB49	Peyton Barber	44			47		48
RB50	Nyheim Hines		46	52	54	39
RB51	D’Onta Foreman			55	42
RB52	Kenneth Dixon	54		48	45	48
RB53	Austin Ekeler	50
RB54	Charles Sims					50
RB55	Ty Montgomery	53		41		52	55
RB56	Doug Martin		51	50
RB57	Corey Grant			47	55
RB58	Latavius Murray				51
RB59	Chris Carson						51
RB60	Matt Breida	49				53	52
RB61	Corey Clement		50		53	51	54
RB62	Jordan Wilkins	51	52			54
RB63	Frank Gore	55		49			53
RB64	C.J. Prosise		54	51
RB65	Javorius Allen		53
RB66	Darren Sproles		55		52
RB67	T.J. Yeldon					55

Running Back Outliers

Patrick Daugherty had Devonta Freeman 9. The composite rank was 11.
Last season was Freeman’s worst year as a feature back, and he still finished as the RB12 in standard and RB14 in PPR. Freeman’s struggles were mostly due to injury, with knee and concussion issues especially impacting his second half. Despite Freeman’s woes, 1B backup Tevin Coleman could not take advantage, providing a measure of clarity to their timeshare. An all-purpose talent with soft hands and a nose for the end zone, Freeman should bounce back to the RB6-10 range.

Nick Mensio had LeSean McCoy 15. The composite rank was 12.
McCoy gutted through numerous nicks and bruises last season and averaged a career-worst 3.97 yards per carry. He’s now 30 years old playing in an offense where he’s the lone playmaker. Defenses will have no reason not to sell out to stop him with A.J. McCarron/Josh Allen under center and a receiver trio led by slow-footed Kelvin Benjamin followed by Zay Jones, who caught a pitiful 41.5% of his targets as a rookie, and Jeremy Kerley. As my colleague Patrick Daugherty noted on Twitter earlier this offseason, only four running backs age 30 or older have had a 1,000-yard rushing season this decade. McCoy will be trying to become the fifth in a talentless offense behind a bad offensive line that lost LT Cordy Glenn, LG Richie Incognito and C Eric Wood all in one offseason. Good luck, Shady.

Nick Mensio had Sony Michel 20. The composite rank was 24.
I’m not as in love with the player as I am with the situation. In fantasy, I’m immediately intrigued by anybody thrust into the Patriots’ offense. Michel is being injected into Dion Lewis’ roster spot. That’s not to say he’s going to take Lewis’ role, but Lewis was the overall RB12 last year, and the Patriots did nothing else at the position. Rex Burkhead and James White are back for their roles, and Burkhead’s could easily expand in year two with New England. However, he suffered multiple injuries last year, and it remains a mystery whether he can handle a bigger workload. Michel was an electric back at Georgia, playing in college’s top conference. He’ll face soft defensive fronts with plenty of space to operate. The Patriots didn’t use a first-round pick on Michel to not give him every opportunity to take lead of this backfield.

Rich Hribar had Alex Collins 22. The composite rank was 18.
Collins wasn’t even on Baltimore’s roster at this time last season, and even after his surge over the back half of 2017, the Ravens only gave him a one-year exclusive rights tender of $630,000 instead of a longer-term commitment. When given the lead role after the Week 10 bye, Collins went from 5.6 YPC to 3.8 YPC but was able to control the backfield with 19.8 touches per game. The Ravens didn’t add a back in free agency or the draft but do have Kenneth Dixon returning from a torn ACL. Collins only had 37 percent of the Baltimore backfield touches on second or third down with six or more yards to go, an area where Dixon figures to challenge him for opportunities immediately. Collins finds himself in a bucket of early-down backs alongside Jay Ajayi, Derrick Henry and Derrius Guice, but I slightly prefer that trio to him in a vacuum.

Jesse Pantuosco had Lamar Miller 27. The composite rank was 22.
Aren’t you guys tired of Lamar? I said this in an article recently, and it still applies – if Miller was going to have a breakout season, it would have happened already. Despite his size (5’10”/220), the 27-year-old was never a true workhorse in Miami, and maybe there’s a reason for that. After logging a career-high 268 carries in 2016, Miller looked flat-out gassed last season, slumping to a career-low 3.7 yards per carry while also registering his fewest rushing touchdowns (three) since 2013. A subpar offensive line was partially to blame for that, but even with the offseason additions of Zach Fulton and Senio Kelemete, did Houston’s O line really get THAT much better? I still have Miller ranked higher for now, but it wouldn’t surprise me if D’Onta Foreman passed him on the depth chart this year, or at least made it a 50/50 split.

Evan Silva had Duke Johnson 48. The composite rank was 38.
Duke Johnson has endured three seasons of underutilization since entering the NFL, topping 50 catches in all three but averaging just 10.3, 7.9 and 9.8 touches per game, the latter two under Hue Jackson. Carlos Hyde and Nick Chubb’s additions strongly suggest the Browns will continue to stereotype Johnson as a low-volume passing-game back. Cleveland’s expected improvement after a flurry of offseason additions indicates the Browns will face fewer pass-first game scripts, further decreasing Johnson’s usage. Johnson is being egregiously over-drafted in the early-ish middle rounds of early fantasy drafts.

Patrick Daugherty had Jamaal Williams unranked. The composite rank was 34.
Draft capital “earned” Williams the first shot at replacing Ty Montgomery last season, but it was Aaron Jones who quickly showed greater promise in the Packers’ backfield. Jones’ 5.5 yards per carry was nearly two more than Williams’ 3.6. A sub-par athlete by NFL standards who was frequently injured at BYU, Williams also offers little in the passing game. In the battle for early-down duties, there is no area where Jones does not have the advantage. Williams will need an injury ahead of him to be fantasy-relevant in 2018.

Wide Receiver Rankings

Staff	Player	Evan	Ray	Pat	Nick	Rich	Jesse
WR1	Antonio Brown	1	1	1	1	1	1
WR2	DeAndre Hopkins	2	3	3	2	5	2
WR3	Odell Beckham	4	5	2	4	2	3
WR4	Julio Jones	3	4	4	3	3	4
WR5	Keenan Allen	5	2	9	5	7	6
WR6	Michael Thomas	6	6	7	6	4	5
WR7	A.J. Green	8	7	5	8	6	7
WR8	Davante Adams	7	8	6	9	9	8
WR9	Mike Evans	10	11	8	7	8	9
WR10	Doug Baldwin	9	9	12	13	10	10
WR11	Larry Fitzgerald	11	12	10	10	11	13
WR12	Adam Thielen	13	10	15	11	13	12
WR13	T.Y. Hilton	16	13	11	14	14	14
WR14	Tyreek Hill	12	16	17	12	17	11
WR15	Stefon Diggs	15	14	13	18	12	17
WR16	Amari Cooper	17	19	16	17	16	15
WR17	Golden Tate	21	17	18	15	20	22
WR18	Allen Robinson	22	18	21	21	15	20
WR19	Demaryius Thomas	24	15	25	19	18	18
WR20	Marvin Jones	14	28	19	20	22	19
WR21	JuJu Smith-Schuster	18	24	14	22	23	23
WR22	Alshon Jeffery	19	25	20	26	21	16
WR23	Josh Gordon	20	27	24	16	19	21
WR24	Chris Hogan	26	22	22	30	25	27
WR25	Jarvis Landry	34	23	23	27	26	24
WR26	Julian Edelman	25	26	28	23	24	34
WR27	Brandin Cooks	23	33	27	29	27	25
WR28	Michael Crabtree	37	21	26	28	28	26
WR29	Pierre Garcon	29	20	29	33	32	30
WR30	Robert Woods	32	29	35	24	31	28
WR31	Emmanuel Sanders	28	31	36	32	29	33
WR32	Devin Funchess	30	30	37	34	37	31
WR33	Sammy Watkins	27	38	38	25	44	29
WR34	Cooper Kupp	33	36	30	31	45	32
WR35	Corey Davis	39	34	33	36	43	37
WR36	Randall Cobb	40	35	31	38	33	45
WR37	Will Fuller	31	37	45	35	39	38
WR38	Jamison Crowder	35	32	49	40	36	36
WR39	DeVante Parker	41	40	34	42	30	46
WR40	Robby Anderson	42	49	32	37	41	35
WR41	Jordy Nelson	44	39	40	46	35	43
WR42	Marquise Goodwin	38	52	41	44	42	41
WR43	Kelvin Benjamin	51	41	47	39	38	42
WR44	Nelson Agholor	36	45	48	41	53	40
WR45	Sterling Shepard	48	43	39	49	50	44
WR46	Rishard Matthews	43	46	50	54	34	48
WR47	Dez Bryant	49	48	52	48	46	39
WR48	Kenny Stills	45	56	46	51	40	49
WR49	Marqise Lee	52	47	42	47	49	52
WR50	Allen Hurns	63	42	51	55	52	56
WR51	Martavis Bryant	50	55	61	50	58	47
WR52	DeSean Jackson	54	54	66	45	47	57
WR53	Cameron Meredith	57	50	53	60	57	51
WR54	Mike Williams		44		57	63
WR55	Kenny Golladay	56	66	54	43	62	60
WR56	Josh Doctson	59	61	63	56	48	54
WR57	Mohamed Sanu	47	73	58	58	51	55
WR58	Paul Richardson	55	64	60	52	55	58
WR59	D.J. Moore	61	57	55	59	65	50
WR60	Quincy Enunwa		51	56		60	67
WR61	Keelan Cole			44		61	73
WR62	Ted Ginn	53	53	62	73	54	64
WR63	Tyler Lockett	46	67	43	75	71	62
WR64	Tyrell Williams	58	62	57		73	61
WR65	Ryan Grant		58	59	65	69
WR66	Anthony Miller	67		68	53	64
WR67	Willie Snead	71	59		61		63
WR68	Calvin Ridley	72	63	64	67		53
WR69	Dede Westbrook	60					68
WR70	Taywan Taylor	64
WR71	Michael Gallup	66	60	75	68	56
WR72	John Brown	62	71	71		67	59
WR73	Albert Wilson	65	65		64	70
WR74	Chris Godwin		70	65	63	59	75
WR75	Taylor Gabriel				66		70
WR76	Jordan Matthews	68			69		69
WR77	Terrance Williams	69
WR78	Geronimo Allison	70	68
WR79	Dante Pettis			69
WR80	Cole Beasley			73		66
WR81	Donte Moncrief		69	74	62	75
WR82	Mike Wallace	73				72	66
WR83	Christian Kirk	74	72	67	70	68	71
WR84	Brandon Marshall		74			74	65
WR85	John Ross				71
WR86	Corey Coleman			72			72
WR87	Danny Amendola		75	70	74
WR88	James Washington	75			72
WR89	Jermaine Kearse						74

Wide Receiver Outliers

Raymond Summerlin had Keenan Allen 2. The composite rank was 5.
I did not expect anyone to be as high as me on Keenan Allen, but him not being a universal top-five option was surprising. Sure, Odell Beckham’s return and some better touchdown luck from Julio Jones could push Allen down from his WR3 finish from a season ago, but the reality is there is room for improvement for Allen as well. While he ended the season with six touchdowns, his usage created almost nine expected scores, and that was with Hunter Henry and Antonio Gates hogging 42.2% of the targets inside the 10. With both gone, Allen should see a larger chunk of those looks this season, and he is certain to be a target vacuum. As long as his health cooperates, Allen should be an elite option.

Rich Hribar had Stefon Diggs 12. The composite rank was 15.
Diggs has teased us with an elite ceiling for a portion of each of his first three seasons but has failed to put it all completely together through injuries. In 2018, Diggs opened the season on fire, posting 93-yards receiving or more in three of his opening four games with four touchdowns. He then suffered a groin injury that forced him out for the next week and the next three games afterwards, never regaining that opening month fantasy sizzle. Still, in the 12 games that he was fully on the field, Diggs maintained a high floor, finishing as the WR9 in overall scoring those 12 weeks. He then led the Vikings with 14 catches for 207 yards and a touchdown in the postseason. With the addition of Kirk Cousins, year four is the one where it all comes together for Diggs.

Nick Mensio had Josh Gordon 16. The composite rank was 21.
Playing his first regular season game since 2014, Gordon looked like he didn’t miss a beat when he returned in Week 13. In five games with erratic DeShone Kizer, Gordon posted a respectable 18-335-1 line. He’ll now have a full offseason to concentrate on football instead of a reinstatement hearing and also gets a quarterback upgrade with Tyrod Taylor/Baker Mayfield. Gordon’s supporting cast was also upgraded with Jarvis Landry. Some will say that takes looks away from Gordon. While that may be true, the quality of the targets he does get may be easier with less defensive attention devoted to him. Gordon is still just 27, remains in phenomenal shape and was the closest thing we had to Randy Moss before his suspensions. I’ll bet on talent all day long. With more talent around him and with OC Todd Haley that’s just a plus.

Jesse Pantuosco had Alshon Jeffery 16. The composite rank was 23.
Hey, I get it. Alshon is coming off shoulder surgery and has a history of soft-tissue injuries. He also has a PED suspension on his resume and hasn’t gone for 1,000 yards since ‘Nam (it was actually 2014, but still). Nothing about him says “sure thing.” However, I’ve been in the fantasy game long enough to know that touchdowns don’t grow on trees. Even with said shoulder injury, Jeffery still dominated in the touchdown department last year, leading the Super Bowl champs with nine end-zone visits. Among wide receivers, only Jarvis Landry scored more red-zone touchdowns than Alshon in 2017. That’s not a mirage. Jeffery (6’3”/218) is a matchup nightmare in the red zone, and Carson Wentz – who would have been MVP if not for a late-season injury – is just getting started. I never pegged myself as the “Alshon guy” of the group, but sure, why not?

Rich Hribar had DeVante Parker 30. The composite rank was 39.
I understand many not wanting to buy into the hype for another season as Parker has not met expectations to date, but you really don’t have to invest much this season, and his opportunity is the greatest it has ever been. He also hasn’t even been that bad, the expectations have just been too high. In 2018, Parker’s targets (7.4), receptions (4.4) and yardage (51.5) per game all improved as they have in every year of his career. He also was a PPR WR3 or better in eight of the 10 games in which he had at least four targets, a target threshold he’s surely going to hit much more with Miami missing target-hog Jarvis Landry in the lineup this season. Miami also has the most vacated targets (25), receptions (17) and touchdowns (13) from inside of the 10-yard line from a year ago. We’ve left guys like Davante Adams, Devin Funchess and Nelson Agholor for dead over the past few years after they failed to deliver during their first few seasons, but there’s still reason to take another shot on the 25-year-old receiver now that he doesn’t even require you to invest in him as a starter.

Evan Silva had Jarvis Landry 34. The composite rank was 25.
Landry thrived on volume in Miami, averaging 9.5 targets per game but only 10.5 yards per reception with one season above 5 TDs among four. Now in Cleveland, Landry’s fit is suspect with “bridge” QB Tyrod Taylor, whose teams ranked 31st, 32nd and 31st in pass attempts in three years with Buffalo. No Bills player exceeded 60 receptions during that three-year stretch. I expect Landry to break that trend with a 75-85-catch season, but Landry’s volume dependency would still place him in precarious fantasy position. The sooner the Browns turn to Baker Mayfield, the stronger Landry’s statistical outlook will be.

Tight End Rankings

Staff	Player	Evan	Ray	Pat	Nick	Rich	Jesse
TE1	Rob Gronkowski	1	1	1	1	1	1
TE2	Travis Kelce	2	3	2	2	2	2
TE3	Zach Ertz	3	2	4	3	3	3
TE4	Jimmy Graham	5	4	6	5	6	6
TE5	Evan Engram	7	6	3	7	5	5
TE6	Delanie Walker	6	7	5	6	4	7
TE7	Greg Olsen	4	5	11	9	9	4
TE8	Kyle Rudolph	8	8	7	4	7	8
TE9	Jack Doyle	9	9	8	8	8	12
TE10	Jordan Reed	10	11	9	10	10	9
TE11	Trey Burton	12	10	10	12	12	10
TE12	Tyler Eifert	11	13	13	11	11	11
TE13	George Kittle	14	14	12	18	13	14
TE14	Charles Clay	16	19	14	14	16	15
TE15	David Njoku	20	16	15	15	17	17
TE16	Vance McDonald	19	12	17	17	15	24
TE17	Cameron Brate	15	20	19	16	24	13
TE18	Jared Cook	17	18	21	20	14	18
TE19	O.J. Howard	13	15	23	24	23	16
TE20	Mike Gesicki	24	17	20	13	22	20
TE21	Austin Seferian-Jenkins	23	22	16	23	19	21
TE22	Austin Hooper	18	28	22	19	20	23
TE23	Eric Ebron	22	21	24	25	25	19
TE24	Ricky Seals-Jones	21	26	18	27	21	25
TE25	Benjamin Watson	25	24	32	21	18	22
TE26	Ryan Griffin				26
TE27	Antonio Gates		27
TE28	Hayden Hurst	28	25	25	32	27	27
TE29	Rico Gathers			28	22	32	29
TE30	Jake Butt		31			26
TE31	Vernon Davis	29	32	26		30	26
TE32	Adam Shaheen	26				34
TE33	Michael Roberts	31		31		28
TE34	Jonnu Smith			29		31
TE35	Ed Dickson	33	23		29	33	35
TE36	Stephen Anderson		30	27	35
TE37	Virgil Green	27	34			35	28
TE38	Luke Willson	30	29		34		31
TE39	Gerald Everett	32		35	28	29
TE40	Jesse James				30		33
TE41	Garrett Celek						32
TE42	Tyler Higbee	34		30	31		34
TE43	Tyler Kroft	35					30
TE44	Blake Jarwin		33
TE45	Mark Andrews				33
TE46	Marcedes Lewis			33
TE47	Jordan Leggett			34
TE48	Clive Walford		35

Tight End Outliers

Patrick Daugherty had Evan Engram 3. The composite rank was 5.

Engram had an unusually strong rookie season for a tight end. Admittedly, he could have trouble bettering it as a sophomore. Much of Engram’s 2017 production was related to the fact that nearly every Giants receiver was injured. However, even with Odell Beckham and Sterling Shepard returning, Engram is set up for success. Eli Manning has made a career-long habit of targeting his tight ends, especially in the red zone. Engram is also part of an unsettled climate at the top of the tight end fantasy board. Engram probably won’t see as much raw volume this season – his 108 2017 targets were second amongst tight ends – but he should also be more efficient. His 59.3 rookie catch percentage was 57th amongst qualified TEs. With Beckham and Sterling back commanding defensive attention, Engram’s targets should be of higher quality. Engram has a solid floor and much higher ceiling than the other tight ends in his ADP range.

Jesse Pantuosco had Vance McDonald 24. The composite rank was 16.

Am I missing something? What is the fantasy community’s obsession with Vance McDonald? It’s like Gretchen from Mean Girls trying to make “fetch” happen. He wasn’t even the most productive tight end on his own team last year. McDonald played the majority of snaps in just two of 10 regular season contests while averaging an embarrassing 16.7 yards per game. He broke out for 112 yards in Pittsburgh’s playoff loss to Jacksonville, but neither team played defense in that game (the final score was 45-42). Even if McDonald does function as more of a receiving tight end this year with Jesse James moving into a blocking-centric role, how can we rely on him to stay healthy? The last time he played a full 16-game slate was…never. I guess what I’m saying is, don’t save a seat for me on McDonald’s bandwagon.