Ideal Landing Spots in Free Agency: Quarterbacks and Tight Ends

The 2022 NFL free agency period is around the corner, which means we’ll get to see plenty of familiar faces land in new places.

The fantasy fallout is always a mystery. Some landing spots will be great, some will be terrible. When a player leaves one team and lands on another, it also opens up opportunity on the team they left and closes some on their new team. 

Let’s take a look at some of the top free agent QBs and TEs in 2022 and pick out their ideal fantasy landing spots.

(Check out our ideal landing spots for the running backs and wide receivers here.)

Quarterback

Jameis Winston (Age at Week 1: 28)

Ideal spot: Tampa Bay Buccaneers

This is the reunion everyone wants at this point.

Every other available QB as of this writing is backup-level with minimal fantasy impact. None of these options has huge fantasy implications, however.

• Cam Newton may be best in San Francisco behind Trey Lance.
• Ryan Fitzpatrick may be best back in New York — but this time with the Giants — in case they bail on Daniel Jones halfway through the year.
• Mitchell Trubisky may be worth a second chance look for the Houston Texans. 

Tight End

Rob Gronkowski (33)

Ideal spot: Buffalo Bills or Cincinnati Bengals

Rob Gronkowski will either retire or join a team with an elite QB and passing offense. He’s expressed interest in both the Bills and Bengals, and it’s easy to like both choices. Gronkowski was very solid in 2021 when healthy, and if he joined a team with a good QB, there’s no reason to think he wouldn’t at least be a low-end TE1 in fantasy again.

Zach Ertz (31)

Ideal spot: Arizona Cardinals

Zach Ertz clicked with Kyler Murray, notching target totals of 9, 7, 11, 13, 9 and 10 in the second half of the year after a midseason trade. It feels extremely unlikely the vet finds a more suitable fantasy environment outside of Arizona. If he sticks with the Cardinals — who do need a TE — he’d be viable once again in PPR formats.

C.J. Uzomah (29)

Ideal spot: Green Bay Packers

Give Aaron Rodgers a semi-competent TE, and I think we see big fantasy numbers. If Rodgers can make Robert Tonyan lead TEs in TDs one year, he could certainly make a much better player like C.J. Uzomah relevant.

Evan Engram (28)

Ideal spot: Tennessee Titans

Evan Engram couldn’t work in New York, but he could be more serviceable in Tennessee on an offense that can actually move the ball reliably. He’s not going to work out as a featured piece, so with a strong run game and an elite WR (A.J. Brown), Engram would find a good home as a tertiary weapon in the offense.

O.J. Howard (27)

Ideal spot: Los Angeles Chargers

O.J. Howard should be good at football. At this point in his career, we should probably just accept that he isn’t elite like we want and probably never will be, but what’s the fun of a dream free agency landing spot article with an attitude like that? Make Howard the featured TE on an offense with a rising start at QB and give his career a chance to rebound.

Maxx Williams (28)

Ideal spot: Indianapolis Colts

Maxx Williams was hyper efficient with the Cardinals last year, catching 17-of-18 targets for 12 yards per reception and 1 TD. It was enough to make him intriguing as a potential late-career breakout TE. Put him on a TE-needy team, make him the primary option, and see what happens.

Other TEs

The rest of the free agent TEs don’t really have ideal landing spots, such as Jimmy Graham, Kyle Rudolph, Eric Ebron, Gerald Everett and Jared Cook. Wherever they go, they are bound to be vultures.