For the past few seasons, the Tight End spot has been a wasteland for fantasy and if you didn’t take Travis Kelce or sometimes Mark Andrews or even less occasionally George Kittle, it was better to punt the position and just stream TEs on a week-to-week basis.   The recent emergence of a new tight end class coinciding with the slow demise of the previous group has created the golden era of TEs.  It’s no longer a stop gap position for fantasy and like any suburb in America, it’s about keeping up the Jones.

In 2022 only four TEs averaged at least 12 fantasy points per-game (PPR), last season it jumped to seven and this season it’s almost assuredly going to be double digits.  2022 saw Kelce, TJ Hockenson, George Kittle and Mark Andrews average 12 points and Evan Engram was the only other TE to even hit double digits (10.4).  Whether it’s the demise of the deep ball due to two-high looks, the lack of quality middle linebackers or simply a boom at the position, we saw Sam LaPorta, David Njoku and Engram all join the previous elite four and also average over 12 fantasy points last season.  Now we are looking at least four more TEs who are primed to make the leap from solid to star and soon going to be if you don’t draft an elite TE, you might start the season with a serious handicap.

Dalton Kincaid, Buffalo Bills

The Bills just vacated 241 targets and 15 TDs and didn’t really do anything to fill the void except draft a WR in the second round.  Kincaid only averaged 9.4 fantasy points last season, but that’s mostly because he had the same number of TDs (two) as Drew Sample and Brevin Jordan, who? Exactly.  Kincaid is as primed to make the leap as few players in football and while Dawson Knox is still a threat to vulture some TDs, it’s not crazy to predict that Josh Allen-to-Dalton Kincaid is going to be the new Patrick Mahomes-to-Travis Kelce.

Kincaid is special, but the Bills kept him in in the stable last season as his yards-per-reception ranked 31^st among TEs.  One of the questions people love to ask when drafting a TE early is, do they have the chance to finish as the TE1?  With Sam LaPorta grabbing the mantle last season scoring 239.2 total fantasy points, it’s not going to be easy, but with an ADP in the 70’s, its nothing but upside for the young Bill.  As someone who is a self-professed TE addict, Kincaid will be on every single one of my fantasy teams.

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