To finish off my fantasy series, here is a list of the top four value tight ends. There are a lot of tight ends that are taken as borderline TE1s, and if you can invest very little in the position and return with a stud, then that’s an absolute win.
Honorable Mentions: Darren Waller – LVR, Jack Doyle – IND, Dalls Goedert – PHI, Tyler Eifert – JAX.
Jared Cook – NO
When we saw Cook with Drew Brees, he looked like a stud. As the TE3, you would think that Cook would cement himself as a top eight guy. He isn’t being respected though, and taken as the TE10 behind Gronk despite his excellent play in 2019. If Cook is with Brees in 2020 you can expect a great fantasy TE, and a great value.
Jonnu Smith – TEN
Jonnu’s stats may not look great, but that doesn’t make him a bad player. For the last few seasons, Jonnu was groomed by former Tennessee Pro-Bowler TE Delanie Walker, and he learned from the regressing veteran as he improved his skills. With a smaller workload in 2019, Jonnu showed flashes of stardom, but now that he has the TE role to himself, we could see a Mark Andrews-type breakout in 2020.
TJ Hockenson – DET
Hockenson’s hype seems to have died down compared to last offseason, although all signs point towards 2020 being his breakout year. In 2019, although he was hurt, Hockenson had moments where he looked like an elite tight end. However, people look at the dark spots in an attempt to justify his ADP of TE20, even though rookie TEs aren’t meant to succeed in the first place. If he gets the opportunity, TJ Hockenson could very easily do what his truthers expected him to be last year, and become a top 12 tight end.
Hayden Hurst – ATL
Hurst is my favorite tight end pick this year. The athletic former 1st rounder was just traded to a TE-friendly scheme which has made OJ Howard and Austin Hooper stars, so why won’t Hurst do the same? With the success that we should expect from him, he should be taken many spots higher than where he is being taken as the TE12, but the public has yet to realize how good he is.
Photo credit: Pro Football Focus
