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Free agency is long over and the NFL draft is in the books too. Who came out as a winner or loser after all teams picked their freshest assets in time for the 2022 season?
We've already covered the top running back risers and fallers after the 2022 NFL Draft. Now, it's time to move on to tight end.
We'll review actual ADP trends later in May to see how they have changed among fantasy GMs as we start to gear up for the real-life draft and our very own fantasy draft season. For now, let's review some projected risers and fallers for 2022 fantasy football drafts.
Tight Ends - ADP Risers
Mark Andrews - Baltimore Ravens
Not a lot to say about this. Baltimore lost its WR1 in Marquise Brown, has a receiving corps led by an average-at-best Rashod Bateman, and the very own Andrews is coming off his best season as a pro with 154 targets and 107 receptions for 301.1 PPR points and obviously a TE1 finish, the second top-five rank in his four-year tenure with the Ravens. Lamar Jackson is going to hate the situation, but at least he will still have Andrews around. The Ravens did draft two tight ends but both came in round 4 and won't pose any threat to his target share. And of course, Andrews will go on to put up some gaudy statistics by extension. Not ruling out the 175+ target, 125+ reception season for the TE.
Pat Freiermuth - Pittsburgh Steelers
I guess Patty wins by default here. Pitt signed a new quarterback (Mitchell Trubisky) and drafted another one (Kenny Pickett) with a first-round pick. Any of those two options is better than a washed and retired Ben Roethlisberger. Also, Pitt lost JuJu Smith-Schuster this past of season along with James Washington while only adding a rookie WR (George Pickens) that doesn't currently project to more than a WR3 in the Steelers offense.
Robert Tonyan - Green Bay Packers
The Packers are going to struggle on offense. Well, they won't because they still have MVP Aaron Rodgers around somehow (cazhhhh) and that should be enough for the residing pass-catchers to get some saucy numbers. Tonyan was always going to regress last year, but suffering injuries is what killed his outcome more than anything else reducing the TE4 of 2020 to a measly 6.3 FPPG average in his silly-low eight games played (five starts). If Tonyan is healthy (even missing the odd game or two), then Rodgers will be forced to look his way. Such is the status of Green Bay's receiving corps.
Tight Ends - ADP Fallers
Kyle Pitts - Atlanta Falcons
Not a huge hit, don't get me wrong, but Pitts will at least have some minimal competition this year while not playing under veteran QB Matt Ryan anymore. Marcus Mariota (or worse, rookie Desmond Ridder) will be the man throwing Pitts the ball... when he does. I say that because the Falcons are coming off the draft having snatched their freshest WR1, Drake London, with a top-10 pick. Funny that Atlanta will have a TE playing WR and a WR playing TE, ain't it?
Dallas Goedert - Philadelphia Eagles
Imagine getting rid of your main antagonist at the superbly-scarce TE position... only to see your franchise land a bona fide WR1 that will get the targets said TE opened and then some. That's Goedert's outlook for 2022, folks. Goedert will need to fight a good developing WR in DeVonta Smith, and now he will also see A.J. Brown command targets at a hella high rate. Goedert will be fine for a TE2 finish, but I wouldn't bet on a top-12 finish re-do.
Trey McBride - Arizona Cardinals
I mean, yeah, Trey McBride might be the best tight end of the 2022 class and all you want, but why adding him to a team that already has a legit one (even regressing and aging of late) in Zach Ertz while in the middle of a win-now window? Why is Arizona picking a TE of the future so early in the draft after trading for WR2 Marquise Brown to partner with WR1 DeAndre Hopkins and the couple of A.J. Green/Rondale Moore? Why do so with James Conner getting rep on top of rep, touch on top of touch? Not liking McBride's upside at least for a year.
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