The NFL preseason is finally over. After 15 games on Thursday night, we’re done with the exhibition part of the year and now head into the games that count. This is also the time of year when fantasy drafts kick into high gear and owners finalize their Week 1 starting lineups. It’s an exciting time to be a football fan.
Fantasy football performance of sleeper, bust tight end candidates from preseason Week 4
The preseason wrapped up Thursday night, so let’s take some fantasy stock of the tight ends who played.
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Not many starters played in the final preseason game — teams mostly have their depth charts figured out by now, and we mostly saw just deep reserves play on Thursday. So for the sleeper and bust candidates, we’ll examine only the players who took the field in the fourth game, along with some key injured players whose regular-season status remains uncertain. Let’s take a look at the tight ends.
Potential sleepers
Vance McDonald, Pittsburgh Steelers — The Steelers traded for McDonald last week, giving them an upgrade over Jesse James at tight end. McDonald has teased upside in the past but never quite delivered, so don’t go shooting him up your draft boards yet. Nevertheless, he gets a boost catching passes from Ben Roethlisberger.
George Kittle, San Francisco 49ers — On the other side of the coin is Kittle, who now has a path to the starting TE job with McDonald gone. The fifth-round rookie doesn’t have sky-high upside in what looks to be a run-first offense, but he offers some touchdown appeal as a red-zone target for Brian Hoyer.
Potential busts
David Njoku, Cleveland Browns — Njoku is a gifted athlete and has a world of potential at only 20 years old. That said, he’s pretty dang raw and will have a steep learning curve in the NFL as he tries to master the tight end position. Njoku is a fascinating dynasty league piece, but any fantasy value he provides in 2017 should be considered a bonus.
Evan Engram, New York Giants — He’s in about in the same place as Njoku, but with more polish as a route-runner and a better quarterback situation. Rookie tight ends are just not a smart investment in re-draft leagues, and unless Engram lights it up right out of the gate, it’s hard to see him bucking the trend. At best, he could be a cheap touchdown target in best-ball leagues, but that’s about it.
