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Tight Ends

Welcome to the 2006 FantasyGuys preseason tight end rankings for fantasy football. While it may not be a glamour position in most fantasy leagues, the tight end spot is often responsible for the difference in close games. That’s because most fantasy leagues allow one starting tight end at most, and the difference between a top tier player and a bottom tier player is substantial. On top of that, the weekly fantasy output from even the best tight ends can vary considerably so you want to make sure you get a guy who is at least capable of a big performance now and then. Barring that, make sure you avoid the guy who will leave you with a goose egg every second or third game.

Onto the rankings, and good luck with them – as long as you’re not playing against me.

Ranking	Player	Team	Comments
1	Jeremy Shockey	NYG	Shockey was the #2 scoring tight end in 2005 and now has a more experienced Eli Manning to throw him the ball. The Giants don’t have too many receiving threats in the red zone so expect Shockey to continue scoring TD’s at a respectable pace.
2	Tony Gonzalez	KC	Gonzalez’s TD total in 2005 was his lowest since 1998, despite catching 78 balls. Not much has changed with the Kansas City offense since last season, but common sense suggests that the Chiefs’ coaching staff will want to get Tony involved in the red zone more in 2006. Herm, are you listening?
3	Todd Heap	BAL	Heap is coming off a career year in terms of both receiving yards and touchdowns. He’ll now have Steve McNair throwing to him. Historically, McNair has thrown a lot of balls towards his TE’s and the Ravens offense has also. Heap should be consistent and productive in 2006 as a result.
4	Jason Witten	DAL	Witten has performed well over the last two seasons and would have been ranked higher except for the questions resulting from Dallas’ offseason offensive upheaval. Will the addition of superstar WR Terrell Owens and highly touted draft pick TE Anthony Fasano take Witten’s catches away or free him up to make more of them?
5	Alge Crumpler	ATL	Crumpler has had a couple of highly successful seasons complements of Mike Vick. Without any wide receivers added to the Falcons roster, Crumpler should once again play a prominent role.
6	Antonio Gates	SD	Gates has been far-and-away the best fantasy TE in the game the last two seasons. It’s not even close. But the Charger offense with Drew Brees is not the same as the Charger offense with Philip Rivers. How many trips to the red zone will the Chargers enjoy when opposing defenses can zero in on L.T. and the short passing game? Unless Rivers shines as a first-year starter, Gates’ numbers will drop significantly.
7	Heath Miller	PIT	Tight ends often show a big jump in production between their rookie and second seasons. Miller had a strong rookie season and the Steelers need his pass catching ability even more in 2006 with the departure of Randel El to the Redskins.
8	L.J. Smith	PHI	Smith’s output has steadily increased over the last three seasons, and he probably would have enjoyed even more success last season had McNabb stayed healthy. Assuming that happens this year, L.J. should break out for a big year.
9	Chris Cooley	WAS	Cooley had a terrific 2005, emerging as the Redskins go-to guy on third down. Washington has more receiving options in 2006 but Brunell and Gibbs prefer to dump the ball to Cooley rather than risk a shot downfield unless it’s wide open.
10	Jerramy Stevens	SEA	Stevens is finally growing into his position and his numbers started to reflect it in 2005. He should continue his upward trend in 2006 and be a steady fantasy starter.
11	Randy McMichael	MIA	No one can say for sure how McMichael will develop chemistry with Harrington and/or Culpepper. He should see his fair share of receptions, but his strong 2004 campaign appears now to be the exception rather than the rule.
12	Dallas Clark	IND	Clark has never established himself as an equal receiving threat alongside the Colts’ impressive stable of wideouts. There is no reason to expect anything different in 2006, although his solid numbers certainly grant him regular fantasy starting status.
13	Ben Watson	NE	In 2005, Watson averaged more yards per reception than WR’s Deion Branch, David Givens, and Troy Brown. He seems have replaced Daniel Graham as the fantasy TE to draft on the Patriots and may be great value as a sleeper pick for 2006.
14	Jermaine Wiggins	MIN	If Wiggins was going to be a great fantasy TE, he would have done it by now. He has up and down seasons and up and down games.
15	Erron Kinney/Ben Troupe	TEN	Both Kinney and Troupe had nice seasons in 2005 as the Titans’ 2^nd and 3^rd leading receivers. The fantasy problem here is obvious – which one do you draft?
16	Marcus Pollard	DET	Pollard had a decent year for the Lions in 2005. With a new head coach and a new offense courtesy of Mike Martz, there is reason to believe it won’t be repeated. All the offensive fireworks generated by the Martz-led Rams never caused a decent fantasy tight end to emerge. And Martz has a lot of talented wideouts to design plays for in Detroit just like he did in St. Louis.
17	Kellen Winslow, Jr. Vernon Davis Joe Klopfenstein	CLE SF STL	Take your pick of inexperienced pro tight ends with lots of potential. They are all a risk, but in fantasy leagues allowing keepers or with roster space for a second TE they are worth considering.
20	Jeb Putzier Alex Smith Courtney Anderson Zach Hilton Stephen Alexander Matt Schobel Adam Bergen Kris Mangum Bubba Franks/Donald Lee/David Martin	HOU TB OAK NO DEN CIN ARI CAR GB	This group of players average around 300 yards and 2 TD’s per season. There is no reason to expect any of them to do anything spectacular in 2006, but if you have a draft pick to burn you could roll the dice and hope I’m wrong.
29	Various	Various	If you really need to know whether it’s better to draft a TE off the Jets roster or Bills roster, you have bigger problems than fantasy football. Teams with poor offensive expectations need tight ends to block and don’t have the luxury of throwing them touchdown passes. As a result, they don’t merit consideration.

Tight Ends