Overrated Tight Ends?
May 7th, 2020
Disrespected.
Joe has always thought the Bucs had one of best pairs of tight ends in the NFL in Cam Brate and O.J. Howard.
Then add Rob Gronkowski to the mix, and you have an unmatched cake of NFL tight ends from top layer to bottom layer.
Joe didn’t think anyone could touch them. And, just a hunch, most Bucs fans agree.
Well, could it be Joe and many other Bucs fans are overrating the tight ends? In a tiered list of best tight ends, John Daigle of Rotoworld.com thinks little of them.
In fact, of Daigle’s five tiers of tight ends – 36 in total – the highest-rated Bucs tight end is Gronk as a third-tier guy, 13th overall.
Rob Gronkowski (TE13) — The last we saw Gronk, his fantasy production per game (6.5) had dipped to a career-low in 13 appearances. He did close the Patriots’ 2018 Super Bowl run with 13/191 and 10 yards per target across three postseason games, but his skill set in his age-31 season following a yearlong hiatus is a mystery. His proven rapport with Tom Brady — a trait no one else among the Buccaneers’ talented surplus can claim — still gets a borderline TE1 nod in his first (only?) year back.
Daigle has Howard listed as a fourth-tier tight end and 27th overall.
O.J. Howard (TE27) — Howard averaged 11 yards per target in his first two years out of Alabama, a feat Rob Gronkowski has only accomplished once across nine Hall of Fame seasons. Unfortunately, being one year removed from averaging 2.24 yards per route won’t do him any favors in a crowded room. Merely a bet-on-talent TE3 for Best-Ball leagues.
Where is Brate rated you ask? Daigle doesn’t even have him listed. Shoot, Brate has 32 touchdowns the past five seasons. Twice (2016 and 2017) Brate led the NFL in touchdowns for a tight end with eight each season.
And that doesn’t even get Brate ranked among the top 36 tight ends in Daigle’s list? That’s outrageous and frankly puts the entire list into question.
Yeah, Joe knows Daigle is a fantasy guy and shades his articles for the fantasy crowd. Still, shouldn’t position ratings somehow be rooted in reality and common sense?
(Once again, Joe doesn’t give two sp!ts about fantasy football but very much cares about real football. And Joe’s idea of fantasy has absolutely nothing to do with football and everything to do with Kate Upton and a secluded island in the Bahamas.)
May 7th, 2020 at 2:07 pm
Never confuse “Fantasy Football” for actual football.
And never quote a “Fantasy Football” guru on a blog actual football people populate.
Bad for the reputation.
May 7th, 2020 at 2:10 pm
I mean you essentially answered your own questions and wrote an article about nothing. From a fantasy perspective none of our Tight ends are consistent or reliable producers.
May 7th, 2020 at 2:14 pm
This article is poorly titled and written. You are talking only about their fantasy value, which does not mean much for this bunch because they are likely to split the production of one full-time tight end between them. In other words, fake news.
May 7th, 2020 at 2:22 pm
Who’s Kate Upton? Poor-man’s Rachel Watson?
May 7th, 2020 at 2:31 pm
If Brate is not on the list…then you throw out this as complete garbage! I think Brate can be better than Gronk, your best ability is your availability. Yes, I know Brate has had injuries as well. I am sick of pundits who do not know my team or watch the games. I bet they watch this year! GO BUCS.
May 7th, 2020 at 2:32 pm
Sorry Joe but…Kate Upton > Rachel Watson
May 7th, 2020 at 2:34 pm
Thats why they can’t trade either one you can draft a tight end just as good in the fourth or fifth round.
May 7th, 2020 at 3:16 pm
I disagree with LJsDaddy about Brate but agree with him on Kate Upton.
May 7th, 2020 at 3:51 pm
They don’t want to trade him. If you’re a true bucs fan you’d be behind the players the bucs have. So can you name me some teams who have drafted tight ends in the 4th and 5th round with 27 TDs? Who are you referring to?
Brate has missed 3 games in 6 years. He has 27 tds. Don’t understand why you want to get rid of him.
May 7th, 2020 at 3:52 pm
That’s simply inaccurate. How can a guy lead the NFL for tight ends in touchdowns caught in two straight seasons and be considered not “consistent?”
May 7th, 2020 at 4:05 pm
“Brady and Brees are very similar
Both wants some separation from there recievers or else they will throw it to another read
Reason Saints and Brees cut Brate was because Brate cant separate quickly away from pass defenders
Brate needs an anticipation thrower throwing to a spot…
He however is now studying at New Orleans and without glasses”
Kobe Faker
May 7th, 2020 at 4:20 pm
I’m talking about from a fantasy perspective joe. Game in and game out you cant rely on one to consistently put up a respectable score because they have to split reps with eachother in an offense where the wide receivers are the focal point.
Also, 2016 and 2017 might as well be ancient history. As we all know the NFL is all about “what have you done for me lately?”
May 7th, 2020 at 4:22 pm
Another reason to ignore rotoworld.
May 7th, 2020 at 4:26 pm
Cobraboy Says:
May 7th, 2020 at 2:07 pm
Never confuse “Fantasy Football” for actual football
____________________________________
Ding ding ding!
👏👏
May 7th, 2020 at 4:39 pm
Again with this officer Dangle cat. I wonder what Barney Phifer would have to say about our TEs.
May 7th, 2020 at 4:44 pm
Joe, please stop doing articles about fantasy rankings. That’s a completely different ball game. Fantasy is just that; fake football. Fantasy production is largely dependent on usage. As many weapons as we have I would expect O.J. and cam to be on the lower end of production considering there is only so many footballs to go around. Like they have been. But that has no bearing on the amount of talent they possess or the matchup nightmares they create. In real football their mere presence on the field will make our offense dangerous because defenses won’t know where the ball is going on any given snap. It all depends on who Brady delivers the ball too at the end of the day.
May 7th, 2020 at 4:53 pm
Cam Brate is pretty much a red zone only player. He offers low yards per catch and doesn’t separate at all in the middle of the field. He’s great around the red zone because he has a good dependable pair of hands but his feet are slow. He also benefits from Evans and Godwin getting extra attention.
May 7th, 2020 at 5:01 pm
cam brate might just be the sleeper guy on the squad who will benefit most from the brady deal…
he might have a career year…i would say he definitely will have a career year, but the team is just so loaded at tight end and receiver, that it might not be possible…
but expect a big year from cam if he stays healthy
May 7th, 2020 at 5:13 pm
Hoops I never said they needed to trade either one of them. That’s what the press has been saying. They need to create some cap space and when you carry six tight ends with a coach that’s not a tight end guy it doesn’t make sense. They could always release Leggett and Hudson.
May 7th, 2020 at 5:43 pm
The ones that are saying our TEs aren’t good from a fantasy perspective are 100% on point. From a fantasy perspective you want a TE like George Kittle. He’s targeted I’d guess double digit times each week and not only gets lots of YAC but TDs as well. We have too many weapons for our TEs to be of much value in the fantasy football world. But I prefer the real world so I’m good with our weapons and our TEs.
May 7th, 2020 at 7:10 pm
I can understand where he is coming from ONLY because of how we have used our tight ends in the past! Put any of those 3 on a tight end using offense they would all 3 be rated Much higher!
May 7th, 2020 at 8:36 pm
No. 13? Lol. The guy’s underweight, coming out of multiple injury retirement. He’s not gonna get All-Pro number of snaps and Bruce doesn’t run a lot of receiving pass plays. It’s just the hype from Gronk asking Tom if he could get him $10 million from the Bucs. Of course I can.
They’re obviously going to have more TE receiver plays and Brate is the best TE. Gains yardage and is good in the red Zone. Him and Jameis had a great connection. Like to see him and Tom do the same.
May 7th, 2020 at 8:38 pm
*lot of TE receiving pass plays.
May 8th, 2020 at 5:56 am
I mean, in terms of Fantasy Football, these rankings are perfectly fine. Gronk shouldn’t be viewed as a TE1 out of the gate. OJ Howard and Brate shouldn’t be drafted in fantasy this year.
Tbh, Im probably not gonna touch any Bucs player in fantasy this year except Rojo. He is the only one that will come at a discount. Too many mouths to feed in the passing game to know who will be the most consistant stats wise. Before Gronk I was willing to take Godwin Top-10.
May 8th, 2020 at 7:41 am
@ Joe … I understand you don’t care about fantasy football, so if you don’t have the knowledge to put fantasy football articles in context, it may be best to not comment on them. The correlation between real football ability and fantasy production is not as strong as you seem to think. From a fantasy perspective this grouping makes perfect sense – because of the time share at the position, none of the Bucs TE’s are likely to put up good stats, which is the basis of fantasy football. You do a great job with real football, why not be content with that and pass on commentary on fantasy football articles.
May 8th, 2020 at 10:16 am
If we could trade Brate and Howard before the season started that would be great.
May 10th, 2020 at 1:26 am
im sure nobody cares about me personally. But I’m happy to report I’m back I’m my home star of Florida!! I was born in a Brandon in 1980 I grew up in Bloomingdales right next to a golf course man they hated me as a kid snatching up golf balls we didn’t know better. I went to Alafia elementary school. When I was a kid there was about 15 to 20 houses and swamps everywhere, In fact my dumb arse used to throw rocks at alligators on the way to school. Also there was a HUGE landfill they eventually just covered up and built homes on!! I’m so happy to Be home and see moss again. Ok back ta bidness. These so called experts are just a bunch of donkey Pellets. Hell JOE should make up his own NFL expert commentators. Like Joe Bucs fans nfl expert joe number 3 refutes the stupid rankings of nfl expert such and such and finds the ranking system to Be hugely biased and not factual. Seriously Joe should call themselves NFL experts and do ranking likes espm does. They got about 75 NFL experts who are more than willing to tell you what’s right and wrong and make stupid predictions because they are exper cuz say so.