Looking at this 2024 TE draft class, consensus says that Brock Bowers is in a tier of his own, followed by another one-man tier of Ja’Tavion Sanders. After these two prospects, things get a bit murky. The common favorites after Bowers and Sanders are Cade Stover and Jaheim Bell, but I believe this third tier could include several more names. Two guys are flying under the radar and could be great late-round rookie picks for your dynasty team: Ben Sinnott and Dallin Holker. I want to compare these two players’ resumes, strengths, and weaknesses, and discuss which way I would lean if I had my choice between the two.
Dallin Holker – TE, Colorado State
Dallin Holker was a 4th-year transfer for the Rams this season, playing his first three years at BYU. Holker’s college football journey is one of the most unique I’ve run across. He was actually in the class of 2018, rated as a 3-star prospect by ESPN, but is only a redshirt junior. Holker played in all 12 games for the Cougars as a freshman, totaling 19 receptions, 235 yards, and one touchdown. Following the 2018 season, Holker took a two-year hiatus to go on a mission trip, finally returning to BYU in 2021 to resume his football career.
Holker experienced the sophomore slump in 2021, posting worse numbers than his freshman season across the board. But when you take a two-year break from football, this shouldn’t come as a surprise, so I’m not taking too much away from this down year. As a junior in 2022, Holker was dealing with a lingering knee injury and ended up redshirting, only appearing in three contests. So, despite enrolling at BYU in 2018, Holker was a redshirt junior for Colorado State in 2023.
Holker had a massive breakout season for the Rams in 2023, putting him on the map for the 2024 NFL Draft. He finished with 108 targets, which was 23 more targets than the next-highest TE in the nation (Justin Joly, UConn – 85). Holker and WR Tory Horton dominated the shares in this Rams offense, combining for nearly 52% of the receiving volume. (I also completed a Tory Horton devy profile article during the 2023 season, which you can check out here.)
Dallin finished the season with 64 receptions, 767 yards, six touchdowns, and a 21.6% target share. Demanding that kind of production as a tight end is incredibly impressive, regardless of the competition faced.
Ben Sinnott – TE, Kansas State
Like Holker, Sinnott was also a redshirt junior this season but is significantly younger, as he was in the class of 2020. Sinnott has been with the Wildcats his entire collegiate career, redshirting as a freshman in 2020. He was listed as a fullback in his redshirt freshman season, seeing just five total touches (three carries, two receptions) for 27 yards and one touchdown.
As a redshirt sophomore, Sinnott moved to tight end and established himself as the TE1 for the Wildcats, hauling 31 receptions for 447 yards and four touchdowns. His official breakout was in 2023 when he amassed 49 receptions for 676 yards and six touchdowns. He led his team in receiving yards and touchdowns and was second in receptions. Clearly, Sinnott was Will Howard‘s go-target all year, especially in the red zone. Sinnott has made leaps and bounds in his four years at Kansas State, emerging as one of the best TE prospects in this draft class.
Now that we’ve discussed their college production let’s dive into some of the strengths and weaknesses of Holker and Sinnott.
Strengths and Weakness
Dallin Holker
Holker stands at 6’5″ and 241 lbs, so a bit lighter for NFL tight end standards. His pass and run blocking is technically sound, but his biggest strength comes as a pass catcher. Holker has tremendous hands and is a solid route runner. He displays a huge catch radius and knows how to create yards after the catch. For a tight end, he’s pretty shifty in open space. Holker has some of the best one-handed catches on his 2023 highlight reel I’ve seen from any tight end. Check it out below:
Dallin lacks some explosiveness in his game and struggles to create separation at times. I don’t see him being a serious deep threat in the NFL. Due to taking two years off, Holker is an older prospect; he’ll be 24 before the NFL Draft begins. He played some decent competition at BYU, but his breakout season was for Colorado State, playing against Mountain West competition at age 23. The best team the Rams played all year was Air Force (9-4).
Ben Sinnott
Sinnott’s strengths and weaknesses are very closely aligned with Holker’s. Sinnott is an excellent route runner and pass catcher. He knows how to high-point the football and haul in receptions over smaller defenders. He’s a good ball tracker and can create separation from his defenders as well. At 6’4″ and 254 lbs, Sinnott has the size and strength to fight through contact and provide a big boost as a blocker.
Like Holker, Sinnott also lacks that elite top-end speed, and he sometimes struggles to get off the line of scrimmage. He may not be a deep threat, but he possesses the route-running skills to get open in the short and intermediate areas of the field.
Side by Side Comparison
Below is a chart of some factors I am taking into consideration when evaluating these prospects. Green means they are better in that particular category, while red means worse.
* According to NFL Draft Buzz
** According to NFL Mock Draft Database
As you can see, Holker beats out Sinnott in terms of 2023 production and efficiency, but Sinnott is the younger, bigger, stronger prospect that faced tougher competition throughout his career.
Conclusion
Both these prospects have a lot of similarities to their game, and both guys have the receiving skills to be fantasy-relevant assets in the future. The 20+ percent target share for Holker is outstanding, but the production numbers are close enough to where I prefer Sinnott comfortably. Sinnott posted similar numbers in the Power 5 at two years younger. He has the size advantage and is projected to have the superior draft capital. Both guys were late bloomers; if you look at pictures of these two as incoming freshmen, they look like completely different people now. The lack of early production doesn’t concern me too much with these prospects.
If Holker ends up in the better landing spot with superior draft capital, I’ll need to reassess my rankings. But for now, Sinnott is a prospect I think deserves to be in the same tier as Cade Stover and Jaheim Bell, and I wouldn’t be opposed to picking him as high as TE3 in this class. I think he’s clearly Top-5 in his class. If Sinnott falls to the late third of rookie Superflex drafts, don’t be afraid to grab him. And I would be comfortable taking Holker as my flier in the 4th round. On film, he stands out as a truly elite pass-catcher for his position. I think Holker deserves to be in this third tier as well, but his age and the lack of competition make me hesitant to reach too much on him.
Thank you for taking the time to read this article, and I hope you got some valuable information you can use for your fantasy team! If you’d like additional insight into Dynasty Football news and analysis, please follow me on Twitter at @jim_DFF. Until next time, keep grinding out there, DFF family! #DFFArmy #AlwaysBeBuilding
