Follow @cimini

An ever-growing vital position is at tight end for fantasy football owners. The cream of the crop is a dandy with high caliber players that would even complement a wide receiver one statistically. After that it becomes a notorious crap shoot. Do you settle for a primary red-zone target or one that heeds yards but is non-existent in the red zone. It’s a gamble some take if they see higher value in a wide receiver two or key depth at other positions.

But if you look at the teams that succeed for fantasy playoffs it’s becoming more and more evident that they’re securing the twelve to sixteen lock points every week with a non roller-coaster tight end. Sure they’re paying the draft pick price for it. But when you scan a waiver wire for tight end value it’s just as pitiful at any point of the year.

The tight end position is invaluable, and here are updated tight end rankings after week two of the preseason.

1. Jimmy Graham
2. Rob Gronkowski
3. Jason Witten
4. Tony Gonzalez
5. Kyle Rudolph- Expect Rudolph to expound on last year’s statistics. He will assuredly be a top fantasy tight end surpassing the old veterans Witten and Gonzalez.
6. Vernon Davis
7. Owen Daniels
8. Antonio Gates
9. Jermaine Gresham- The wake up call has come for Gresham, and I think he will respond even with the drafting of Tyler Eifert. Before another tight end being brought it was a detractor for players currently on the roster. Teams are mixing it up more with two tight ends that are versatile. Gresham should continue to be fine and is still young enough to blossom into an even better fantasy tight end.
10. Greg Olsen
11. Jermichael Finley
12. Ed Dickson – Familiarity is often a quarterback’s best friend. Gone is Anquan Boldin and Dennis Pitta to injury. Insert Dickson who lacks the skillset of Pitta but has been and will be a viable option for Flacco once again.
13. Brandon Myers
14. Jordan Cameron- While the preseason hype is on Sudfeld, I believe it has more to do with the Patriots lore than anything else. Cameron has been the big surprise. The display and show he has put on is not going to end once the regular season comes. He’ll continue to do damage and be a safe keep as your TE2 or legitimate depth there as well.
15. Martellus Bennett – With the injuries plaguing and surround the tight end position, Bennett has climbed up the middle tier tight end position rankings. Now he needs to showcase that last season was not a one year wonder.
16. Brandon Pettigrew
17. Dwayne Allen
18. Zach Sudfeld
19. Jared Cook
20. Charles Clay
21. Marcedes Lewis
22. Rob Housler
23. Delanie Walker
24. Heath Miller
25. Scott Chandler
26. Fred Davis
27. Zach Miller
28. Jacob Tamme
29. Jeff Cumberland
30. Brent Celek
31. Tyler Eifert
32. Anthony Fasano
33. Zach Ertz
34. Jordan Reed
35. Tony Scheffler

Follow @cimini

Preseason can be one of the harsh gray areas for fantasy football participants to over predict. Just because someone has a stellar preseason does not mean it will carry over into the regular season. Actual sleepers tend to come during the season and are because of injury. With Rob Gronkowski’s rehabilitation dragging into the season, many are quick to wrap their sights and take Sudfeld as a sleeper now.

Before you pull that trigger on Sudfeld lets calm the storm before you get tossed into it. It’s evident that Sudfeld would step into a significant role with New England. As Tom Brady has been one of the better quarterbacks in the league at diagnosing mismatches with his tight ends. The skill set that Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez had over Sudfeld is obvious. They were more athletic and possessed the speed to whirl by their opposing defenders. Seam routes were fantasy havens for owners of Gronk and Hernandez especially when it came down to red zone opportunities.

Defensively teams had to pick their poison on who was at-risk in one on one coverage especially when both Gronkowski and Hernandez were on the field at the same time. Their ascent to the rise of tight ends in the NFL was largely due to their complementary abilities of each other, and the fact that they were deemed elite tight ends coming out of college.

Before Brady had the duo of Hernandez and Gronk, Brady never had even close to the success statistically over the first nine years of his career. In the pre-Gronk and pre-Hernandez era Brady had unreliable fantasy tight end targets. Remember the names of Kyle Brady, Ben Watson, and Christian Fauria? I’d guess maybe ten percent of you had Ben Watson as your fantasy tight end during those bottom tier years of tight end significancy out of New England.
Watson’s top year receiving yards wise was 643 yards and he also topped out another year with six touchdowns. Christian Fauria and Kyle Brady were did not even touch the blips of waiver wire consideration.

My point with New England is they’ll likely figure out a shuffle of guys not just Sudfeld to make due for however long Gronkowski is out. The Patriots will not let it be known just yet what the time table for Gronkowski return is. More than likely the team will keep him out as long as possible to ensure proper prevention is met this time, as he has been unstable with injuries over the past year.

Sudfeld sure had an great performance in the first game of the preseason. Teams have no true game plans going in and sure as heck did not have Sudfeld in mind for assignment attention. Regular season will be a different story. If he is going to see twenty plus plays on the field, the opposing defenses will be ready for him. He is a big target at 6’7 with soft hands but does not possess the physical or speed attributes that New England had with Gronk and Hernandez.

Sudfeld’s three touchdowns in the preseason are bound to cause some fantasy football owners to reach out for Sudfeld as a *sleeper*. Others can buy low on Sudfeld as I do believe his three touchdowns in two weeks of the preseason are an aberration. Come the regular season I’ll be shocked if he reaches that touchdown total for the entire season.

Follow on Twitter @cimini

The spike and rise of offenses in the NFL involving their tight ends as focal points has seen a large shift of use over the past few years. We know about the Jimmy Graham’s, Rob Gronkowski’s, Jason Witten’s, and Tony Gonzalez’s of the first tier automatics. One can argue that as teams have platooned out their running backfields the same has happened at tight end.

Teams have an arsenal at their disposal when it comes to a tight end, and they can use them for an array of situations. The big down playmaker tight end is there, along with the short yardage tight end that can block for pass protection. Mixing the two together forms that added advantage to an offense. While the scale of high fantasy numbers won’t come close to the yardage and touchdowns of the first tier tight ends, you can land yourself a solid six to twelve fantasy points with the depth that is now at the entire tight end position in football.

There were plenty of moves in offseason at tight end and though none are expected to fly off the board in your drafts, drafting an appropriate tight end can be all the difference in squeezing out a win or a loss.

1. Jared Cook
Cook has always had the skill set that’s impressed people. For Cook though I believe it was more of an situational issue with the Tennessee Titans. The Titans offense never found itself with poor play from Jake Locker and CJ2K’s decline. Reuniting with Jeff Fisher and an offense that has weapons should put Cook in a decent TE2 with a possibility of spot starts.

2. Dustin Keller-
Miami did a lot of investing on the defensive side of the football and with Mike Wallace’s contract. Tannehill will have a safety net with Keller, but will Tannehill have enough time to throw the football with a revamped offensive line? Keller did enough as a Jet with the worst quarterback in Mark Sanchez, so that’s why I rank him second of new tight ends in new places.

3. Delanie Walker-
If Vernon Davis had went down to injury at any point, Walker would have been a fine fill in. A lot of Walker’s success came with Alex Smith, who had issues targeting and finding a number one wide receiver as a 49er. That was partly due to the toned down pass plays the 49ers had in place for Smith. Walker possibly fed off of Davis more than anything. Landing in Tennessee could be a big problem for Walker if Locker does not show any advancements on the field.

4. Martellus Bennett-
Bennett looks like a great signing but I’m going to categorize him as a one year wonder for now. He had opportunities his entire career, and finally had a break through as a New York Giant a year ago. I believe teams did not see Bennett as a threat and that’s how he snuck back on the fantasy radar a year ago. Chicago has an offensive minded coach now, and if Bennett struggles I would not be surprised for him to see limited snaps.

5. Brandon Myers-
I may have Myers rated too low in this ranking out of anybody listed so far. In actuality the difference statistically from Cook to Myers thus far should not be much of a difference between a tenth and twelth round pick. Myers shined last year as Raider, which was a team that produced for fantasy owners late in games when behind. As a Giant, Myers automatically steps in to a great situation.

6. Kellen Winslow Jr-
This is the last hooray for Winslow to showcase whatever he has left. His years as a Cleveland Brown seem far distant, before he washed out as a Buccaneer. The Jets are going to give him every opportunity to produce again. If he has came back to full health, Winslow Jr could be a backup tight end in deeper fantasy leagues.
7. Anthony Fasano-
Fasano is on the far backside of his tight end career. But over the years Andy Reid has always been one to have an off balance when it comes to percentages of the run game to pass game. Kansas City is expected to be balanced with Alex Smith and a quarterback friendly game plan. That alone could give Fasano a breakout game or two during 2013. His value is not worth drafting at this time.

8. Visanthe Shiancoe-
This was an emergency veteran signing by the Baltimore Ravens when their young stud Dennis Pitta went down. Schiancoe was non-existent on the fantasy radar last season because he did absolutely nothing. A resurrection at age 33 would be a huge shock. Baltimore signed him for a reason though, and New England has been a destination that has limited careers before. Two years ago in his last season as a Viking, Schiancoe had just 400 yards receiving with and just a few scores. One highlight for Schiancoe is that Joe Flacco loves to get the ball to his tight ends.