Which Tight Ends Fared the Best in Fantasy When Favored/Underdogs?

We’re continuing our run through the positions with a look at which players perform best when favored or when playing as the underdog.

Today, we’re taking a look at tight ends. We’ve already seen which RBs performed best when favored and when playing as the underdog, as well as the best WRs when favored and when underdogs. Yesterday, we reviewed which QBs do best when underdogs versus being favored.

Wrapping up the series, we see that for TEs — like all other positions — players on the favored team do better:

Below are the TEs who performed best when playing as either the underdog or the favorite in 2021. Note that this is an imperfect project because it essentially excludes TEs who were always favored or rarely favored.

We only included players who had at least three games as both favorites and underdogs.

Best TEs when favored

Dalton Schultz, Dallas Cowboys

This shouldn’t be a surprise after Dak Prescott led the way for QBs for “better when favored.” Dalton Schultz, like Prescott, was about two times better when the Cowboys were favored — which may mean good things for him in 2022, as the Cowboys have a 10.5 win total. 

George Kittle, San Francisco 49ers

George Kittle was the most volatile TE in fantasy football last year, and perhaps the favored-underdog dichotomy played a role. He scored nearly two times as many fantasy points when the 49ers were favored last year. Questions still loom over San Francisco’s QB situation, but either way, we can likely expect more rollercoaster performances from Kittle.

Kyle Pitts, Atlanta Falcons

The Falcons were rarely favored last year, but when they were, Kyle Pitts performed significantly better on the fantasy stat sheet. He routinely goes as the third TE off draft boards in 2022, and despite the fact the Falcons have a putrid win total of just 4.5 this year, don’t let this one stat keep you away from him.

Best TEs when the underdog

Mark Andrews, Baltimore Ravens

Mark Andrews was elite when favored and mega-ultra elite when the Ravens were underdogs, scoring over 23 fantasy PPG. He’s coming off draft boards as the second TE behind Travis Kelce, but it would shock nobody to see him end up as the top overall TE again in 2022.

David Njoku, Cleveland Browns

David Njoku scored nearly twice as many fantasy PPG when the Browns were underdogs last year. He’s a trendy breakout TE candidate after Cleveland cleared out the rest of the TE room and gave Njoku a second contract.

Cole Kmet, Chicago Bears

Cole Kmet was only marginally better when the Bears were underdogs last year. However, not many TEs were better when underdogs at all, so he makes the list as the third-most relevant TE to be better when playing as a dog. He’s a breakout candidate for 2022 as the likely second target option in Chicago’s offense behind Darnell Mooney.