Welcome to the Week 15 edition of Keep Trade Cut at Faceoff Sports Network. As many dynasty fantasy football leagues are now entering the playoffs and certain trade deadlines likely passed, the next few weeks will be all about building our rosters with a look to 2024 and beyond. In this series, we’ve looked at three similarly ranked players for dynasty fantasy football purposes. We’ll begin our projections into 2024 with a look at three tight ends under contract for next year with their respective teams, by discussing Tyler Conklin, Dawson Knox, and Tyler Higbee.

In dynasty fantasy football, a player’s week-to-week viability factors into their viability across the season. That can lead to volatile valuations from managers and trades involving the assets trending up and down. If your league still has an active trade market in Week 15, that likely means a few managers are willing to move players. Weekly during the 2023 NFL, we’ve looked at a trio of players valued back to back to back in dynasty rankings. From these rankings, we discuss the three similar players and whether they should be considered worth keeping, trading or “cutting” them. Most of these players are not currently straight cut candidates in most dynasty leagues, but that’s not the purpose of this scenario.

Keep Trade Cut

In this exercise, the keeper is a player who can sustain their current value for the rest of this season and beyond. In other words, the player who should be valued most by managers or potential managers.  The player worth trading is a player who may be more useful to move along from your team’s makeup, whether that’s due to unsustainable volume from the player or the trade value the player possesses. Finally, the “cut” in this scenario is a player who is trending down or has a rapidly changing outlook, therefore being seen as the least valuable asset in this trio.

For Week 15, we’re looking at a set of dynasty rankings from FantasyCalc.com and discussing their current TE29, TE30, and TE31.

Keep: TE30 Tyler Conklin

Our keep of Week 15 is Jets tight end Tyler Conklin, due to his big play ability and surprising 506 yards receiving on the year. Conklin and the Jets have dealt with quarterback questions and fluctuation all season, but Conklin has still found a productive streak. Conklin has six games of over 50 yards on the season and seven in which he’s caught at least four balls. Additionally, his 11 yards per catch average is impressive for his position and proof of his downfield threat. He’s also recorded the highest consistency score of this tight end trio, registering a 1.78 Consistency Score, which is good enough to be a consistent TE2 on the season.

The upside with Conklin, despite not recording a touchdown yet in 2023, is the prospect of the return of Aaron Rodgers in 2024. Conklin yardage production and receiving targets are the highest on this list. It’ll be interesting to see if the Jets further invest in the tight end position or other skill positions in 2024. But right now, Conklin seems established in this scheme and should remain with the team next season. To show such consistency and having a Hall of Fame quarterback returning to this team’s lineup, Conklin is a worthy hold and may even be a savvy cost-efficient purchase over the offseason period.

Trade: TE29 Dawson Knox

The highest-valued player according to these rankings is the Bills’ Dawson Knox, but we’ll currently have him as a trade candidate for this trio. Knox has been one of Josh Allen‘s most secure and consistent targets throughout both of their careers. However, he has missed time in 2023 due to injury. Knox has appeared in eight games for the Bills and recorded his highest yardage total on the season with 36 yards in Week 14. Needless to say, that isn’t gonna be viable for any fantasy manager. However, Knox has youth on his side and clear athleticism as positives in his game.

Furthermore, Knox has a contract that runs until 2026. With possible coaching changes and the emergence of rookie tight end Dalton Kincaid, he could find himself in a new situation sooner rather than later.

Knox is a consistent target for Allen, and while coaching changes may come, personnel changes on offense could also open up targets for Knox in the future. Realistically, Gabe Davis may find a new home in free agency. Plus, with young players James Cook and Kincaid performing so well, Knox may be a familiar target that this offense needs next year. Not to mention Stefon Diggs.

Overall, Knox only has 18 catches and 138 yards this season. But, he always seemingly gets targets when healthy. This would be an ideal hold-and-see situation if you like the player and have a higher upside at the position. However, Knox may be a smart trade this offseason if you can receive good capital or need to rebuild heading into 2024.

Cut:TE31 Tyler Higbee

Our cut of the week is Rams starter Tyler Higbee, a player who is under contract with the team through the 2025 season. He has 34 catches, 367 yards, and a couple of red zone touchdowns on the season.

When healthy, Higbee has seen a majority of tight end snaps for the Rams. It should be expected he steps right back into the starting role this week, despite missing Week 14 with a neck injury. Notably, he has two games over 50 yards this season, with a third game where he produced 49 yards in Week 1. He hasn’t eclipsed 50 yards since Week 4, although his most productive fantasy game came in Week 12 in a five-catch, two-touchdown effort.

Higbee’s been rewarded for his time with the Rams, but his fantasy output has started to slow down for consistency. Outside of that single Week 12 game, he hasn’t scored any other week. Eventually, this team will need to make personnel changes if they don’t make the playoffs or perform in them. With the small glimpse into the skills of Davis Allen in Week 14, this team may need to eventually start putting their future at the forefront of playing time decisions. Getting any capital or player of slight value for Higbee would be a smart pivot at this time.

All in all, these three tight ends certainly may not be league winners in 2024. However, they each have a few more years at the NFL level, and finding value at this position isn’t easy. It’s a week-to-week production situation, sometimes finding a Tanner Hudson on waivers is what keeps your tight end position and season alive.

However, with that low-value outlook on the tight end position possibly being league-wide, that allows us managers to sometimes invest properly and find these low-cost options in the offseason. These players may end up being very necessary come bye weeks next year, so get them while the value is perceived so low. Those third-round draft picks you aren’t too confident about come draft time, are the picks you attempt to shift to these tight end dart throws. They could end up being what keeps you chasing a playoff position next year.

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