Fantasy Football 2017 Tight End Rankings
By Jason Lisk
Gronkowski, or Gronkowski’s midwestern twin who doesn’t get quite the notoriety but has engaged in provocative celebrations and had his own reality show? I have both neck-and-neck in my rankings, but Kelce, who lead all tight ends in scoring last year (and underperformed in terms of touchdowns relative to his yards and catches), gets the nod over the dominant but more recently injured Gronk. Gronk is probably the bigger boom or bust play in terms of highest upside.
After that, there is another tier that includes several veterans led by Jimmy Graham and Greg Olsen.
I’d also like to take a minute on Maxx Williams, who is just inside my top 20, but isn’t in the top 30 in average ADP at the position. Williams was coming back from a serious knee injury, but saw action last week and turned in a big play. Here are the factors that have him as a possible late round sleeper: (1) the same team produced a tight end who led the league in receptions at the position last year (Pitta); (2) multiple injuries now have the depth chart at Ben Watson (coming off his own ACL injury, and 36 years old) and Williams; (3) Williams was the first tight end drafted three years ago, and is just now 23, a breakout age for the position.
Here are the full rankings:
#1 Travis Kelce, Kansas City
#2 Rob Gronkowski, New England
#3 Jimmy Graham, Seattle
#4 Greg Olsen, Carolina
#5 Zach Ertz, Philadelphia
#6 Hunter Henry, LA Chargers
#7 Jordan Reed, Washington
#8 Kyle Rudolph, Minnesota
#9 Delanie Walker, Tennessee
#10 Eric Ebron, Detroit
#11 Jack Doyle, Indianapolis
#12 Martellus Bennett, Green Bay
#13 Tyler Eifert, Cincinnati
#14 Coby Fleener, New Orleans
#15 Julius Thomas, Miami
#16 Austin Hooper, Atlanta
#17 Jason Witten, Dallas
#18 C.J. Fiedorowicz, Houston
#19 Maxx Williams, Baltimore
#20 Charles Clay, Buffalo
#21 Cameron Brate, Tampa Bay
#22 Austin Sefarian-Jenkins, NY Jets
#23 Jared Cook, Oakland
#24 Antonio Gates, LA Chargers
#25 OJ Howard, Tampa Bay
#26 Dwayne Allen, Indianapolis
#27 David Njoku, Cleveland
#28 Vance McDonald, San Francisco
#29 Evan Engram, NY Giants
#30 Zach Miller, Chicago
#31 Ben Watson, Baltimore
#32 Jesse James, Pittsburgh
#33 AJ Derby, Denver
#34 Tyler Higbee, LA Rams
#35 Rico Gathers, Dallas
#36 Seth DeValve, Cleveland
#37 Adam Shaheen, Chicago
#38 Ryan Griffin, Houston
#39 Erik Swoope, Indianapolis
#40 Demetrius Harris, Kansas City