The tight end hasn’t been a very deep position in fantasy football, so we generally accept a majority of landing spots for incoming rookies. That said, there are a few teams that don’t utilize the position very well or have trouble developing young talent. These teams are the worst landing spots for tight ends.
Green Bay Packers
Let’s begin with one of the more unusual situations. The Packers are typically one of the best teams in the league and have one of the best all-time quarterbacks leading their offense.
However, their ineptitude with the tight end position defies logic. How can Aaron Rodgers not figure this one out? Green Bay’s tight ends are known for two things: being underutilized and underdeveloped. The Packers’ tight ends have received just 18% of the team’s targets over the last four years – two percent below league average. They also ranked 26th in the league in tight end success rate during that span.
They’ve had multiple guys come into town, fail, leave, and go on to succeed elsewhere. Jared Cook and Martellus Bennett are perfect examples of guys who came to the Packers and completely busted but succeeded with the Saints and Patriots, respectively. Cook had one of his worst seasons with the Packers finishing with just 30 receptions 377 yards and one touchdown in 2016. Bennett caught 24 passes for 233 yards and played just seven games after Green Bay waived him for failure to disclose a medical condition designation. Interestingly enough he signed with New England on their Super Bowl run shortly after, not so sure we got the entire story out of Green Bay. Probably more drama than they let on.
Most recently, they acquired Jimmy Graham who has been underwhelming since he touched down in Green Bay. Graham was supposed to be the main red zone threat for the Packers, especially with their lackluster receiving core. He finished third on the team in red zone targets in 2019 behind Aaron Jones, the teams running back. He’s also received the fewest receptions per game in his career since he landed in Green Bay in 2018. This makes sense considering they’re below league average in targets to the tight end.
They’ve also had a tough time developing the position. Take Jermichael Finley for case and point. He was drafted in 2008 and while everybody thought he was the one, it never really panned out. Finley had one good season in 2011 when he finished with 55 catches for 767 yards and eight touchdowns. He struggled with drops throughout his career but injuries were his downfall. He bruised his spinal cord and was temporarily paralyzed in 2013, effectively ending his career. The Packers haven’t developed a serviceable tight end since.
The Packers drafted Jace Sternberger in the 2019 NFL draft who received, *checks notes,* zero targets in the regular season despite Graham being mediocre at best. Let’s just face the facts, Green Bay is a terrible landing spot for tight ends while Rodgers is in charge.
Arizona Cardinals
One statistic that really stands out about the Arizona Cardinals is their propensity to use the “10” personnel grouping. This grouping uses zero tight ends, one running back, and four wide receivers. The Cardinals run this personnel grouping 26% of the time, over four times more than the next highest team. They do not utilize the tight end position at all. They also hold the second-lowest target rate (15%) to the position over the last four years.
Arizona thinks so much of the position that they made Caleb Wilson, “Mr. Irrelevant,” the final pick of last year’s draft. He was placed on the practice squad, before being released and joining the Redskins’ active roster.
Miami Dolphins
The Dolphins are a team looking to change the narratives of the past and take on a new identity. They took major steps last off-season by hiring former Patriots defensive coach Brian Flores as their head coach. He seemed to do a good job initiating the culture shift but it’s difficult to escape the decades-long stigma. The Fins started the season 0-6 and traded away their best young talent in Minkah Fitzpatrick but still managed to finish the season strong. They beat the Patriots in Week 17, spoiling their chances at a first-round bye in the playoffs. The Dolphins had a winning record over the last half of the season (5-4). That’s a fairly solid finish for a team that was stripped of all its talent.
Before the current regime, Miami was known for its poor tight end development and production over the years. Randy McMichael had the most productive season in the last 16 years at the tight end position for Miami before Mike Gesicki broke out in 2019. They’ve acquired once fantasy-relevant tight ends like Julius Thomas, Anthony Fasano, and Dion Sims. Thomas finished as the TE23 in 2017, his lone season in Miami. Sims and Fasano never finished within the top 25 with the Fins.
I know the entire community had Gesicki as a total bust before he proved his skill set this season. But it does appear he’s turned it around. He finished with 51 receptions for 570 yards and five touchdowns in 2019 after catching just 22 passes for 202 yards in 2018. His yards per reception increased from 9.2 to 11.2 as well, meaning he’s getting downfield and creating more yards.
Offensive Coordinator Chan Gailey hinted that he would be much more involved in 2020.
Although the Dolphins have historically been a poor landing spot with the inability to properly develop the position, they seem to have stumbled into a talented tight end. While a mild second-year breakout by Gesicki is helping change that narrative, it wouldn’t be absolute that all of sudden Miami knows how to draft and develop tight ends.
New York Jets
This selection is directly tied to the head coach and also to our last landing spot – the Miami Dolphins. Adam Gase has a truly unfortunate history regarding tight ends. He was the architect of the Dolphins from 2016-2018 where he brought in an old and broken Thomas and couldn’t get any kind of production out of Fasano or Gesicki. Thomas was supposed to come in and reestablish the role he played in Denver, but we quickly discovered it was all Peyton Manning running the show.
His real failure though was not being able to develop Gesicki who was able to turn it around as soon as he left for New York.
Now he has another chance with fantasy darling Chris Herndon. But after only catching one reception for seven yards in 2019, I don’t believe anyone has much faith Gase can get much out of him.
The Jets have had the lowest target rate to tight ends over the last four years (14%). To make matters worse, in Gase’s first season they threw to the tight end just 11% of the time. I have no interest in any prospects being contaminated by Gase or the Jets.
Pittsburgh Steelers
Pittsburgh exhibits similar behavior to the Jets in that they tend to underutilize the position. The Steelers’ target rate to the tight ends was just 16% last year and 18% over the last four, both well below league average (20%). Vance McDonald had a decent season in 2018 but that was a notably poor year for the overall position fantasy-wise. They haven’t truly produced a usable fantasy tight end since Heath Miller in 2012.
Vance McDonald was supposed to break out in 2019 but a mixture of underperforming and Ben Roethlisberger suffering a season-ending injury derailed his season. He finished as the TE31 on the year. Pittsburgh also traded for Nick Vannett mid-season as more of a blocking tight end. McDonald is under contract through 2021 so they clearly feel comfortable moving forward with him. All this solidifies the fact that not only are they ok with settling for mediocrity at the position, but they are a terrible landing spot for tight ends none-the-less.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Most teams would do unspeakable things to have the tight end talent Tampa Bay flaunts around unused. On paper, Tampa has two really good options at the position in O.J. Howard and Cameron Brate. Howard is a former first-round draft pick who hasn’t cracked the top 12 in fantasy a single time in his career. He’s a 6-6 251 pound physical specimen with insane measurables. He finished in the 90th percentile in the 40-yard dash, 3-cone drill, and 60-yard shuttle but he’s been unable to produce at a high level in the NFL.
Some can be attributed to Jameis Winston being the quarterback, but the coaching staff also hasn’t put him in the best position to succeed. The coaching staff, head coach included, have a share in the blame. They’ve been below league average in target rate to the tight end position over the last two years. Bruce Arians is known for avoiding tight ends at all costs. I don’t think he’s ever explained his contempt for tight ends but can anyone recall a single tight end from his four years as head coach of the Arizona Cardinals? I mean a single one? Me either. This is the WORST landing spot for a tight end.
Thank you for reading. If you have any thoughts or would like to discuss, you can find me on Twitter @WillieBeamanDFF
