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Chris Meaney
We have just one game left in the actual 2021 NFL season, but the 2022 dynasty fantasy football season is already underway.
There’s been a vast disparity in how you’ve fared at the tight end position over the last 10 seasons. A few of you have enjoyed the spoils of Rob Gronkowski or Travis Kelce. A few others have enjoyed the next tier of success. The vast majority have been swimming without a life jacket. Such is the TE life in the NFL recently.
Let’s take a look at early dynasty TE rankings for 2022.
Tier 1
- Kyle Pitts, Atlanta Falcons
Pitts gets the crown after a record-setting rookie season. Moreover, he doesn’t turn 22 until the middle of next season. The Tier 2 players are more established – technically the jury is still out out Pitts – but he’s so young and already so good that it catapults him into a tier of his own. He could be that 10-plus-years guy we talked about in the intro.
Tier 2
- Mark Andrews, Baltimore Ravens
- Travis Kelce, Kansas City Chiefs
- George Kittle, San Francisco 49ers
Andrews leapfrogged Kelce and Kittle in dynasty value this year on account of age (he’s younger than both) and production (he was the TE1 in 2021). Kittle and Kelce are still firmly in the three-year window for dynasty success.
Tier 3
- Darren Waller, Las Vegas Raiders
- Dallas Goedert, Philadelphia Eagles
- T.J. Hockenson, Detroit Lions
These players have either done it before (like Waller) or flashed high enough upside for long enough periods of time (like Goedert or Hockenson) that they belong in their own tier. Waller misses out on Tier 2 because of his age (he turns 30 next season) and the emergence of Hunter Renfrow, who did serious damage to Waller’s target share.
Tier 4
- Dalton Schultz, Dallas Cowboys
- Mike Gesicki, Miami Dolphins
- Dawson Knox, Buffalo Bills,
- Pat Freiermuth, Pittsburgh Steelers
- Noah Fant, Denver Broncos
These players should be good. Schultz was solid in redraft leagues in 2021. So with Gesicki and Knox. Freiermuth was a solid TD producer in Pittsburgh as a rookie, while Fant just continues to tease. You can feel okay about owning one of these players, but you may also just be in TE purgatory — good enough to not stink, but not good enough to consistently win.
Tier 5
- Cole Kmet, Chicago Bears
- Irv Smith, Minnesota Vikings
- Tyler Higbee, Los Angeles Rams
- Zach Ertz, Arizona Cardinals
- Hunter Henry, New England Patriots
- C.J. Uzomah, Cincinnati Bengals
- Logan Thomas, Washington Commanders
Here we have the aspirational/vet tier. Kmet and Smith headline this tier as the aspirational players. The rest are seasoned players with solid-enough roles in their current team’s offense. They can still help your fantasy team on a weekly basis while not being so old that they’re outside of the three-year range we like for dynasty.
Tier 6
- David Njoku, Cleveland Browns
- Gerald Everett, Seattle Seahawks
- Austin Hooper, Cleveland Browns
- Albert Okwuegbunam, Denver Broncos
- Brevin Jordan, Houston Texans
- Evan Engram, New York Giants
- Adam Trautman, New Orleans Saints
- Tyler Conklin, Minnesota Vikings
- Tommy Tremble, Carolina Panthers
There’s no one-size-fits-all descriptor for this grouping. It’s like Tier 5, but if you downgraded talent and/or situation across the board. You should absolutely be looking to upgrade if one of these players is your best option. These are backup-type dynasty TEs that you really only want to use during fill-in weeks — while taking a few shots on young players like Okwuegbunam, Tremble, and Jordan.
Wild Card Tier
- Rob Gronkowski, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
If Gronkowski goes to somewhere like Buffalo, he becomes a strong asset for win-now dynasty teams. Of course, he could just retire, too.
Tier 7+
If your targets aren’t listed above, they are either big-time works in progress or aging vets who may have short-term value for win-now teams but don’t make my rankings for dynasty.
