By Zack Cimini

notjustagame23@gmail.com

Talk about a position that has went from “kicker” type classification in fantasy leagues to a must need necessity. Tight ends have skied to levels of high demand. Back in the days you would have a few tight ends worthy of differentiating from the pack. Yeah the Ben Coates and Shannon Sharpe world days and everyone else being meaningless are done. Teams have configured their playbooks to involve tight ends at a much higher rate. Most quality franchises have tight ends that are going to put up the range of numbers comparable to a second wideout on your fantasy team.

The bait pick of a tight end in drafts usually signals the biggest rip of panic in leagues nowadays. Last year we were calm and had a feeling Brent Celek would be a huge payoff and he was. Good luck finding that this year. Sleeping and holding out on a tight end until late in your fantasy drafts is not a wise choice.

1. Antonio Gates
Injuries have set him back a bit but he still has great hands and the ability to get open. What has hurt Gates the most is the emergence of Vincent Jackson. Still the Chargers have yet to develop a solid second wide receiver. Compared to some of the other tight ends highly ranked which have a solid base of receivers. Gates should hit double digit touchdowns for the first time since 2006 and reclaim top tight end positioning.

2. Dallas Clark
The type of lock on connectedness that Clark and Manning have is approaching video game level. Manning zips the ball in a wide array of aerial art. Clark has gained a unique camaraderie with Manning. It’s the type that barring injury is almost a sure bet to be a statistical monster.

3. Jason Witten
The past two years have been a let down to owners for Witten. Expecting touchdowns from a tight end is what you want. Witten has not been able to achieve that type of success and it can be frustrating to see another tight end with low yardage eating up touchdowns. The only stat you need to look at is that Witten is going to catch a lot of balls. With all the touches he gets you have to expect him to reach at least six touchdowns.

4. Vernon Davis
It was a year that many expected a long time ago.  Davis is finally playing like an NFL athlete. Does he have the determination to continue up that road, or was he just willed by the challenge of Mike Singletary? We’d have him one or tow but we need to see one more year. After coming of an off-season with praise has he kept up his work ethic to come back even stronger?

5. Brent Celek
Celek went from a third tier tight end considered a relative low value bargain tight end. That changed with the quickness and now Celek is in prime position to be one of the better tight ends over the next five to seven years. With the Eagles penchant for throwing the football, only injuries could keep Celek from not being a major factor.

6. Visanthe Shiancoe
7. Jermichael Finley
8. Tony Gonzalez
9. Zach Miller
10. Kellen Winslow
11. Owen Daniels
12. Greg Olsen
13. John Carlson
14. Dustin Keller
15. Chris Cooley
16. Kevin Boss
17. Heath Miller
18. Tony Scheffler
19. Jeremy Shockey
20. Benjamin Watson
21. Todd Heap
22. Marcedes Lewis
23. Anthony Fasano
24. Fred Davis
25. Jermaine Gresham
26. Bo Scaife
27. Brandon Pettigrew
28. Zach Miller (Jacksonville)
29. David Thomas
30. Shawn Nelson
31. Martellus Bennett