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Once starting tight end Larry Donnell went down for the Giants during week eight of the 2015 football season, Will Tye was called upon to step in, and the Giants didn’t miss a beat. From week nine on Tye finished with 34 receptions, 387 yards, and 3 TDs.
Coming into this season Tye enters a battle for the starting TE spot with Donnell, Matt LaCrosse, Will Johnson and rookie Jerell Adams. Tye will win this battle, and be an effective fantasy starter this season.
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A Deeper Dive into Will Tye
During the team’s first eight games of the season, Larry Donnell was the starting tight end. He averaged 4.59 fantasy points-per-game during the first seven weeks of the season (excluding week eight, when he got hurt in the first half). This was behind players like Kyle Rudolph, Jordan Cameron, and Richard Rodgers. His per-game averages of four receptions and 29 yards made him extremely TD dependent for his fantasy points. He was able to pull down two through those seven games, but if you drafted him to start for your team you were disappointed with that production. In steps Will Tye. From week nine on, Tye averaged a little over four catches, (4.25 to be exact) and 48 yards, while catching three TDs in his last four games. Tye’s standard scoring average over those weeks was 7.09 points, which put him on par with Antonio Gates over that time frame, and above players like Julius Thomas and Travis Kelce. Tye’s 6.5% drop percentage ranks above the likes of Julius Thomas (8.8%), Tyler Eifert (8.1%), and Austin Seferian-Jenkins (10.3%). Now in his second full season, even if Tye marginally improves on this number he will be among the better tight ends when it comes to catching passes.
Tye was better from a fantasy perspective than Donnell last season, and his other competition has potential, but likely not much to show this season. LaCrosse has looked good in training camp, and according to beat reporter Jordan Raanan, he may be the best all-around tight end during OTA’s. However, he hasn’t proven anything in the NFL yet. He was signed as an undrafted free-agent last season, and was waived in training camp last year due to a hamstring injury. He has made his way back onto the roster, but has proven so far to be a better blocking tight end. Jerell Adams is a sixth round rookie, and rookie tight ends have notably not done much in their first years in the NFL. Adams has potential, but will need to make adjustments to an NFL style of play before he can be effective. Will Johnson may make the team, but it would be more of a tight end/full back hybrid-type player, like the roll he played with the Pittsburgh Steelers. The team will likely carry three tight ends and run two tight end sets often, but Will Tye offers the most upside as an offensive playmaker in this offense. It remains to be seen which of these four has the highest likelihood to be cut if any are.
The New York Giants are high-volume passing offense. They attempted a whopping 623 passes last season, which ranked sixth most in the league. Becoming acclimated to Tye, Eli Manning targeted him over six (6.25) times per game when he was the starting tight end. With Reuben Randle now out of the picture, there are even more targets up for grabs. The Giants did draft wide receiver Sterling Shepard in the second round of the 2016 NFL Draft, but wide receivers tend to take some time to adjust to pro competition. Victor Cruz is also still around, but he hasn’t played a full season since 2012. This leaves Dwayne Harris, who made some nice plays last season but is mainly seen as a speedy special teams threat. Will Tye will have plenty of opportunities to make plays in this style of offense. After several weeks of building a rapport with Manning, Tye will benefit this season.
For where he is being drafted, Will Tye the Giants Guy (thank you /u/yankeegentleman) has all the potential to be a solid return on your investment. He is currently being drafted as the 28th tight end off the board according to FantasyPros (https://www.fantasypros.com/nfl/adp/te.php). Tye can be drafted extremely late and provide solid if unspectacular tight end numbers. If you plan is to wait on one until the end of the draft, keep Tye on your radar and reap the benefits of him as a starter in one of the highest volume passing offenses in the league. He has the potential to finish among the top-10 to 15 tight ends in the league.
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