5 Must-Draft Tight Ends for 2024 – Fantasy Football Advice
The 2024 fantasy football season is nearly here as the season kicks off a week from today. As fantasy football drafts are wrapping up, the tight end position is looking rough this year. Outside of the top few options, it gets ugly quickly. With that, I’ll be giving you 5 must-draft tight ends for 2024. Take this fantasy football advice with a grain of salt, and if you already finished your drafts, you might consider trading for one of these tight ends before the season starts.
5 Must-Draft Tight Ends for 2024 Fantasy Football
If you’re not sure what to do with the tight end position this year, there are a few options. Your first option is that you can either pay up and draft Travis Kelce or second-year standout Sam LaPorta. Trey McBride is a bit cheaper but still is going to cost you a fairly high draft pick this year. After that, you can wait a few rounds and have your choice of high-upside veterans such as George Kittle or Mark Andrews. Finally, you could wait for a later round option with, hopefully, top 10 upside.
After the first four or five tight ends, it gets a bit ugly. However, there are some solid options. Continue reading for my 5 must-draft tight ends for 2024. Personally, I don’t want to leave any fantasy football draft without one of these TEs. I won’t include Kelce or LaPorta, but for what it’s worth, they’re both absolutely worth paying up for if you want to go that route.
Mark Andrews TE Baltimore Ravens
If you missed out on Kelce or LaPorta, Mark Andrews is the next big-name tight end that you can draft in confidence. We all know that Lamar Jackson loves to feed him the ball. Additionally, there isn’t any competition for targets outside of Zay Flowers.
Since entering the league in 2018, Andrews has finished as the TE1 once (2021) and has four straight seasons as a top 7 or higher tight end. Notably, he has two seasons where he finished outside the top 12. Those being his rookie year and last year, where he only played in 10 games. Don’t overthink it, Andrews is as good as they come and is in fact, the Ravens WR1 you want on your fantasy football rosters.
Trey McBride TE Arizona Cardinals
Heading into his third season in the NFL, Trey McBride is coming off a very impressive second-year campaign in 2023. He didn’t do much in his rookie campaign, but Zach Ertz has still lingered around as the team’s TE1 for the last few seasons. Ertz was injured back in Week 7 last year and didn’t play anymore after that.
Over the final 10 games last year, McBride racked up 655 yards and three touchdowns. Heading into his first full season as the team’s TE1, McBride should easily see 100+ targets once again and not to mention, Kyler Murray is back and healthy. At this point, McBride is the safest option next to rookie Marvin Harrison Jr. All in all, McBride is as safe as they come this year, barring injury, of course.
Dalton Kincaid TE Buffalo Bills
Similar to McBride, opportunity is the key here. Despite scoring just twice in his rookie season, Dalton Kincaid still finished as a TE1, being the TE12 in PPR scoring. Now, he heads into his second season with the QB1 in our fantasy football rankings, Josh Allen. Additionally, he now has a significantly different outlook, thanks to the new opportunity.
Last year, Stefon Diggs saw 160 targets, which was 7th for all wide receivers, according to our free fantasy football tools. Additionally, Gabe Davis had 81 targets and 7 touchdowns to go along with it. As we know, both are now out of Buffalo and with new teams. That leaves 241 targets and 15 touchdowns up for grabs, as we can expect Allen to finish as one of, if not the best QB in fantasy football for a fifth-straight season. Look for Kincaid to help fill the void and have a big breakout season this year.
Evan Engram TE Jacksonville Jaguars
Fresh off of his best fantasy football season to date, Evan Engram just finished as the TE2 overall. Since landing with the Jaguars, he’s been a top-five fantasy tight end two years in a row. Talent has never been the issue for Engram, and it seems he has landed in a very safe role with Trevor Lawrence and this offense.
With the addition of rookie Brian Thomas Jr., look for some new faces to make some noise this year in Jacksonville. They’ve been needing a WR1, and Thomas might just be the answer. Christian Kirk is solid and they also added Davis, who will be a decent boom-or-bust player for fantasy football purposes. Most likely, for best ball leagues.
After a career-high in targets last year with 143, Engram led all tight ends in targets last year. Yes, even more than Kelce and LaPorta. This year, look for Engram to have another 100+ target season. Keep in mind, that he might fall off a bit with these new weapons in Jacksonville and the competition for targets. Notably, he was a regression candidate in one of our recent articles. However, he’ll likely have another top 8 season under his belt when all is said and done.
Jake Ferguson TE Dallas Cowboys
Outside of CeeDee Lamb, there really isn’t a solid WR2 option for the Dallas Cowboys this year. Brandin Cooks and Jalen Tolbert are the top two wide receivers on the depth chart this year. That leaves Jake Ferguson, who is coming off a very solid season where he saw over 100 targets. Ultimately, he caught 71 of 102 targets for 761 yards and 5 touchdowns. He finished as the TE9 in PPR leagues and there’s a very good chance all of those numbers increase this year. The only tight end competition in Dallas now is Luke Schoonmaker who played in all 17 games last year as a rookie and only saw 15 targets.
Heading into his third season with Dak Prescott, Ferguson should be a lock to finish as a top-10 TE this year, barring injury. Right now, Sleeper has him as the TE11 off the board. This makes him the last of the “late-round” tight ends that I’d be comfortable with as my starting TE this year.
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