3 Tight Ends Ready to Make the Leap
Adam Risman
Jimmy Graham was off the draft board before you finished that first Bud Light. Gronk was invited to another league manager’s Labor Day pool party, and Julius Thomas has galloped into the arms of your rival. Rather than going all-in on an aging wonder such as Jason Witten or hoping Vernon Davis keeps his head straight for two consecutive years, here at the Dingo, we preach patience and value. Bet on one of these TEs who are poised to break out.
Greg gets thirsty.
Greg Olson
Carolina Panthers
2013 Stats: 73 catches, 816 yards, 6 TDs
Average draft position: 61st overall (7th TE)
Olson is more forgotten soldier than newcomer in the TE game. Holder of a reserved parking spot in the red zone, he’s scored 5 or more TDs in each of the last 6 years — and hasn’t missed a game since his rookie season. Olson is a top candidate to make the leap to stud in 2014, primarily because of who will no longer be lining up alongside him. Steve Smith, Ted Ginn and Brandon LaFell, who made up ~57% of the team’s receiving targets and yards in 2013, have all found new employers. Replacing those three: raw rook Kelvin Benjamin and near-retirement has-beens Jerricho Cotchery and Jason Avant. For Superman Scam (Newton), Olson is ol’ faithful.
Not pictured: Kyle's moon boot from last season. Injury-free in 2014, he could become Bridgewater's new BFF.
Kyle Rudolph
Minnesota Vikings
2013 Stats: 30 catches, 313 yards, 3 TDs (8 games)
Average Draft Position: 72nd overall (9th TE)
Rudolph might have made the #TEleap already, but a fractured foot cost him the second half of last year. Hype up the 8 missed games to your opponents, but know he could have come back in 4–6 weeks had the Vikings not been so stinky from either lack of skill or too much partying at Lake Minnetonka and folded the season early. Rudolph put up 97 yards and a TD against the feisty Panther D and at 6’6”and 259 lbs is tailor-made for the red zone. His QB situation cannot possibly be worse than 2013. There’s also the Norv Turner effect: Rudolph’s new offensive coordinator turned a raw basketball player named Antonio Gates into a stud in San Diego and transformed Jordan Cameron into TE1 material during his short stay in Cleveland.
Gator legend could blossom in Gruden offense.
Jordan Reed
Washington Redskins
2013 Stats: 45 catches, 499 yards, 3 TDs (9 games)
Average Draft Position: 90th overall (10th TE)
Reed is another TE who was locked up when his team jet took a dive toward Tank City. He’s comparable in size (6’2”) to former Florida teammate and current federal inmate #174954 Aaron Hernandez. Yes, that means he could lose a few potential touches in play-action scenarios where the TE is affixed to the offensive line, but it also makes him a more agile weapon in the slot. Reed has sure hands, catching 45 balls on 59 targets under shaky QB play. As RGIII bounces back in 2014, expect Reed to rise with him.
Adam Risman is a Senior Dingo Analyst and co-host of the weekly Dingo Unchained podcast. His fantasy football trophy case is too large for his Brooklyn studio apartment, and he will never draft a QB in Round 1.