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If you cannot draft one of the top tight ends in fantasy football this September, your next best bet is to find a lower-tier tight end who has a chance to be the TE1 on his team – and yours!
Fantasy footballers know who the top tight ends are heading into the 2024 season. Detroit’s Sam LaPorta, Baltimore’s Mark Andrews, and Taylor Swift’s boy toy Travis Kelce are all in the top tier. Fantasy managers also know that Arizona’s Trey McBride, Buffalo’s Dalton Kincaid, and San Francisco’s George Kittle should have monster seasons if they stay healthy.
So what about the tight ends who might not be the TE1 on their teams right now, but could end up becoming the main man by season’s end? Those are the guys fantasy managers can get on the cheap and get big bangs out of later in the season. Here are my picks for fantasy football’s sneakiest TE1 candidates for the upcoming season!
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2024 Fantasy Football Sneaky TE1 Candidates
Taysom Hill, New Orleans Saints
Some fantasy pundits might be writing Hill off due to his age (33 years old), the offense that is being installed by new offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak, or the tight end depth on New Orleans’ roster (Juwan Johnson, Foster Moreau). Fantasy GMs should keep the multidimensional Hill in mind for a multitude of reasons.
Hill has qualified as a tight end in fantasy formats the past two seasons and should again be in most leagues. That makes his fantasy value skyrocket tenfold. He is coming off a season where he accounted for 401 rushing yards, 291 receiving yards, 86 passing yards, and seven total touchdowns. That made him a top-12 fantasy tight end in most scoring formats. I have not heard that Kubiak will utilize Hill less or in a more standard way in 2024, so there is no reason to think Hill cannot be a top-10 fantasy TE this year, especially since the aforementioned Johnson suffered a foot injury this offseason and might not stand in Hill’s way.
Daniel Bellinger, New York Giants
Darren Waller’s one-and-done with the Giants has opened the door for Bellinger’s fantasy value to rise again. After compiling a 30-268-2 line in just a dozen games during his rookie campaign in 2022, his fantasy worth was tackled by the Giants trading for former Pro Bowler Waller at the start of the 2023 season. Just when it looked like Bellinger was destined for a couple of years as a 250-yard TE2 stuck behind a target hog, Waller decided to call it a career early and become the next Usher.
Daniel Bellinger attended Tight End University this year.
The 3rd straight year he's done so.
Bellinger is currently in line to be the Giants TE1 this season. pic.twitter.com/uiHl2I07Jo
— Gridiron Media (@Gridiron_Media_) June 21, 2024
Fourth-round rookie Theo Johnson is the only viable competition standing in Bellinger’s way at the moment. Otherwise, the tight end depth on the Giants is lacking after Waller’s sudden departure. Quarterback Daniel Jones likes tossing to his tight ends and showed a solid chemistry with Bellinger two years ago, so if that gets rekindled then Bellinger posting a 600-yard year with a half-dozen TDs would be a sneaky scenario.
Ben Sinnott, Washington Commanders
Washington’s second-round draft pick from this past April’s draft has potential coming out of the yin-yang. Zach Ertz was signed in the offseason to provide stability and veteran leadership for the young Commanders. The longtime veteran has 709 career catches and 46 touchdowns. He deserves to be the top tight end – for now. However, Sinnott is the future, and that future might be fast-forwarded to the present since Sinnott has more tools than Home Depot and Lowe’s combined.
Sinnott has above-average physical skills for a tight end. He has superb speed for his size. He can rack up YAC. He is too fast for linebackers to cover him and too big for corners and safeties to handle him. All Sinnott has to do is learn the playbook, learn the ropes from Ertz, and learn to block better. If the rookie phenom does those three things, he will be Washington’s TE1 quicker than you think – and will become a fantasy force in dynasty leagues. Entering the NFL at the same time as franchise quarterback Jayden Daniels is a plus for his long-term viability, too.
Hayden Hurst, Los Angeles Chargers
Gone are the days when Antonio Gates was the Chargers’ go-to guy at tight end. The past couple of years it has been a tight-end-by-committee situation with players on the same skill scale. Things are not much different heading into 2024. Hurst was signed in the offseason to join a tight end troupe with incumbent Donald Parham Jr. and veteran Will Dissly, and he is the best pass catcher among the three at the moment.
Parham Jr. is a slow-footed, touchdown-dependent hulk who has not broken the 300-yard barrier in any of his four NFL seasons. Dissly has never had 350 receiving yards in a year. Hurst had 571 yards and six touchdowns back in 2020 and a 414-yard year with Cincinnati in 2022 where he missed four games and could have racked up more numbers. As long as Hurst stays healthy (which is no lock for him), he should post the best stats of the Chargers tight end trio and could be a late-round sleeper if Justin Herbert aims at him a lot inside the red zone.
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