- In 2023, rookie tight ends combined to catch 341 passes on 469 targets. Those are the highest totals ever at the position for an incoming rookie class.
- Last season, we had five different tight ends with a target share of 20% or more after four in 2022 and just two in 2021.
- Not only are tight ends being used more, but that usage is being concentrated at an increasing rate among the top of the position.
As we continue to roll on through the offseason and prepare for the 2024 fantasy season, we are taking a top-down look at production for each fantasy position.
On Monday, we kicked things off by looking at how offenses have lagged as a whole across the league over the past two seasons.
Spinning off that look at the league as a whole, we dug into trends occurring within the quarterback, running back, and wide receiver positions.
Now, let’s take a look at the tight ends.
Leaguewide Tight End Usage Since 2010
| Year | Tgt/Gm | Lg. TGT% | Rec/Gm | League% | Yd/Gm | League% | Td/Gm | League% | PPR/Gm |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 13.7 | 21.34% | 9.8 | 22.47% | 99.6 | 21.08% | 0.6 | 22.81% | 23.5 |
| 2022 | 13.4 | 21.09% | 9.3 | 21.69% | 97.5 | 20.81% | 0.7 | 26.40% | 23.4 |
| 2021 | 13.9 | 20.92% | 9.5 | 21.42% | 101.0 | 20.68% | 0.7 | 24.05% | 24.3 |
| 2020 | 14.2 | 21.05% | 9.6 | 20.96% | 103.5 | 20.31% | 0.9 | 26.75% | 25.5 |
| 2019 | 13.9 | 20.76% | 9.5 | 21.42% | 103.2 | 20.50% | 0.8 | 24.84% | 24.5 |
| 2018 | 13.4 | 19.93% | 9.1 | 20.29% | 103.5 | 20.35% | 0.7 | 22.55% | 24.0 |
| 2017 | 13.8 | 20.66% | 8.9 | 20.95% | 98.1 | 20.48% | 0.8 | 26.59% | 23.3 |
| 2016 | 14.4 | 20.45% | 9.5 | 21.19% | 105.1 | 20.55% | 0.7 | 23.54% | 24.4 |
| 2015 | 15.1 | 21.35% | 9.8 | 21.84% | 107.6 | 20.77% | 0.8 | 25.06% | 25.6 |
| 2014 | 13.9 | 20.20% | 9.1 | 20.73% | 100.2 | 19.90% | 0.8 | 26.77% | 24.1 |
| 2013 | 14.5 | 20.81% | 9.3 | 21.53% | 106.9 | 21.19% | 0.9 | 29.48% | 25.5 |
| 2012 | 15.0 | 21.90% | 9.6 | 22.71% | 104.6 | 21.26% | 0.8 | 26.68% | 24.8 |
| 2011 | 14.6 | 21.85% | 9.2 | 22.58% | 106.9 | 21.85% | 0.8 | 26.98% | 24.6 |
| 2010 | 14.3 | 21.55% | 9.0 | 22.03% | 99.8 | 21.13% | 0.8 | 25.83% | 23.5 |
The tight end position has not quite had a renaissance, but the position has received a bump with more NFL defenses increasing their rate of zone coverage.
On Monday, we highlighted how defenses were leaving the middle of the field open pre-snap at an increasing rate in each of the past four seasons.
As a result, tight ends had the largest share of the league’s targets since 2015.
They had their largest share of the league receptions since 2012 and the largest share of the receiving yardage since 2013.
Tight ends matched their most receptions per game in a season in the sample above.
The drawbacks are that overall scoring remained low due to the depressed conditions of the league and the lack of touchdowns within the position.
Tight ends had their fewest touchdowns per game since 2008 and their lowest share of the league receiving scores since 2018.
The way defenses were changing was a large part of why I was bullish on a good-looking rookie class last season.
In 2023, rookie tight ends combined to catch 341 passes on 469 targets. Those are the highest totals ever at the position for an incoming rookie class.
We had two rookies, Sam LaPorta (86) and Dalton Kincaid (73), elevate those totals nearly entirely themselves.
It was the first time we had two rookie tight ends go over the 70-reception mark in the same season.
Those two rookies and two other players in their second season (Trey McBride and Jake Ferguson) injected much-needed youth into the position for fantasy, but TE1 scorers as a whole followed suit with No. 1 WR options that we covered yesterday.
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Fantasy TE1 Positional Output Share Since 2010
| YEAR | TGT% | REC% | REYD% | RETD% | PPR % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 34.59% | 35.56% | 36.82% | 34.88% | 35.89% |
| 2022 | 30.29% | 30.43% | 32.19% | 32.32% | 32.71% |
| 2021 | 31.99% | 32.06% | 36.70% | 31.99% | 35.64% |
| 2020 | 32.21% | 32.47% | 34.30% | 34.33% | 33.53% |
| 2019 | 33.13% | 34.56% | 37.01% | 33.33% | 35.29% |
| 2018 | 35.75% | 36.03% | 37.55% | 36.13% | 36.69% |
| 2017 | 33.20% | 34.48% | 34.14% | 36.55% | 34.73% |
| 2016 | 33.51% | 34.48% | 35.60% | 34.59% | 34.84% |
| 2015 | 33.41% | 34.67% | 37.69% | 40.76% | 36.97% |
| 2014 | 34.42% | 35.62% | 38.43% | 41.20% | 37.77% |
| 2013 | 33.81% | 34.90% | 36.27% | 40.51% | 36.79% |
| 2012 | 33.17% | 34.84% | 35.28% | 39.60% | 36.04% |
| 2011 | 36.11% | 38.00% | 39.69% | 42.29% | 39.78% |
| 2010 | 31.74% | 33.71% | 35.13% | 39.18% | 35.42% |
Just as we showcased with the top fantasy wide receivers creating a larger gap on the field at the position, the same was true for the top-scoring tight ends.
TE1 scorers accounted for 34.6% of the targets that the position received, the highest rate for the top scorers since 2018 and the third-highest share above.
As we discussed with wide receivers, offenses have been trending towards being more concentrated and better at getting the ball to their top targets.
Last season, we had five different tight ends with a target share of 20% or more after four in 2022 and just two in 2021.
16 different tight ends had a target share of 15% or more, the most in a season since 2015.
TE1 scorers made up 35.6% of the receptions, the highest since 2018.
They had 36.8% of the yardage from the position, the highest since 2019.
Even though touchdowns were down across the position as a whole, the front-end scorers accounted for 34.9% of those touchdowns, their highest rate since 2018.
The other element in play here is that the TE1 scorers as a group were more diverse than in previous seasons in which Travis Kelce was lapping the position regularly.
Last year’s TE4 produced 91.5% of the total points of the TE1, the second-highest rate of point-matching from that spot over the past 30 years.
TE9 produced 74.0% of the scoring that the TE1 had, also the second-highest rate over the past 30 seasons.
Leaguewide Use of Tight Ends Since 2013
| Year | 2+TE% | Inline% | Pass Block% | Run Block % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 26.99% | 61.10% | 6.71% | 43.14% |
| 2022 | 27.76% | 63.45% | 6.28% | 44.66% |
| 2021 | 28.82% | 63.40% | 7.02% | 43.86% |
| 2020 | 28.81% | 65.49% | 8.00% | 43.33% |
| 2019 | 28.20% | 65.97% | 8.10% | 42.77% |
| 2018 | 25.10% | 64.26% | 8.19% | 42.60% |
| 2017 | 29.43% | 67.15% | 8.81% | 44.88% |
| 2016 | 25.30% | 67.17% | 9.36% | 42.81% |
| 2015 | 30.98% | 65.77% | 8.75% | 43.22% |
| 2014 | 28.96% | 65.93% | 8.58% | 43.95% |
| 2013 | 28.59% | 66.91% | 10.22% | 43.42% |
Front-end tight ends are grabbing a larger share of production because fewer tight ends are getting playing time.
Looking at how tight ends were utilized last season, snaps with multiple tight ends on the field continued to decline, a rate that has gone down in each of the past two seasons.
When the position is on the field, they are being asked to play inline less, run more pass routes, and be tasked to run block at a lower rate, which in turn is good for fantasy points.
As a whole, tight ends were pass-blocking or run-blocking at their lowest rate over the past 11 seasons of recorded data.
Pass blocking is significantly down the past two seasons compared to the onset of that sample.
Tight ends were used in-line in a traditional sense at their lowest rate over those 11 seasons as well.
Tight End Usage Per Alignment, 2019-2023:
| Alignment | Air/Tgt | Yds/Rec | 1D/TD% | Pts/Tgt |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inline | 5.7 | 10.5 | 39.2% | 1.61 |
| Slot | 8.3 | 11.1 | 40.1% | 1.75 |
| Wide | 8.6 | 11.1 | 36.8% | 1.65 |
Teams are using their tight ends as “big slot” receivers more often, giving them access to more mismatches and targets that have density for fantasy production compared to opportunities attached to the line.
We only have individual alignment metrics from the past four seasons, but you can easily see how the value of targets spikes when tight ends are in the slot.
What is interesting is that not only do targets from the slot have a higher conversion of first downs and touchdowns per target among the alignments, but the position averages the same amount of yardage per catch as lined up out wide.
We have talked about this with Kyle Pitts and his usage to open his career, but it is better to utilize your tight ends in the middle of the field attacking zones, linebackers, nickel backs, and safeties as opposed to lining them up out wide and asking them to beat corners.
When lined up wide, Pitts has been a depreciating asset.
After averaging 2.95 yards per route run out wide as a rookie, that dipped to 1.85 YRR in 2022 and then cratered to 1.02 YRR last season.
Since we know all tight ends are not the same and tasked with different assignments in different offenses, I took the top-36 players in the current ADP at Underdog and laid out their usage rates in 2023 playing inline, in the slot, out wide, and the rate of snaps they were asked to block.
Top 36 TEs by ADP Usage Rates:
| Player | POS ADP | Inline% | Slot% | Wide% | Block% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sam LaPorta | TE1 | 59.9% | 20.3% | 18.3% | 46.3% |
| Travis Kelce | TE2 | 35.6% | 40.8% | 21.2% | 30.2% |
| Trey McBride | TE3 | 57.7% | 35.2% | 5.1% | 45.3% |
| Mark Andrews | TE4 | 12.3% | 69.7% | 14.1% | 36.8% |
| Dalton Kincaid | TE5 | 31.4% | 49.8% | 17.8% | 31.2% |
| Kyle Pitts | TE6 | 21.3% | 48.4% | 29.8% | 33.5% |
| George Kittle | TE7 | 72.6% | 20.5% | 6.3% | 46.2% |
| Evan Engram | TE8 | 33.1% | 46.2% | 17.7% | 29.1% |
| Jake Ferguson | TE9 | 58.5% | 32.0% | 7.4% | 37.4% |
| Brock Bowers | TE10 | x | x | x | x |
| David Njoku | TE11 | 63.3% | 28.4% | 7.3% | 43.7% |
| Dallas Goedert | TE12 | 52.8% | 34.5% | 8.3% | 43.7% |
| Dalton Schultz | TE13 | 65.7% | 23.4% | 7.9% | 38.6% |
| Pat Freiermuth | TE14 | 59.0% | 33.1% | 7.7% | 39.5% |
| Cole Kmet | TE15 | 60.1% | 31.1% | 6.5% | 49.2% |
| T.J. Hockenson | TE16 | 60.4% | 29.0% | 10.2% | 32.7% |
| Luke Musgrave | TE17 | 62.9% | 30.6% | 6.3% | 38.3% |
| Hunter Henry | TE18 | 58.8% | 35.3% | 5.0% | 42.0% |
| Ben Sinnott | TE19 | x | x | x | x |
| Noah Fant | TE20 | 58.2% | 27.8% | 7.6% | 41.1% |
| Cade Otton | TE21 | 56.2% | 30.0% | 10.3% | 43.6% |
| Tyler Conklin | TE22 | 48.9% | 43.0% | 7.9% | 35.8% |
| Isaiah Likely | TE23 | 47.0% | 43.6% | 5.5% | 39.4% |
| Chigoziem Okonkwo | TE24 | 38.3% | 41.8% | 7.1% | 38.4% |
| Jonnu Smith | TE25 | 42.5% | 40.6% | 12.2% | 40.2% |
| Jelani Woods | TE26 | x | x | x | x |
| Mike Gesicki | TE27 | 17.3% | 61.1% | 20.4% | 34.0% |
| Juwan Johnson | TE28 | 47.7% | 41.2% | 10.8% | 42.5% |
| Colby Parkinson | TE29 | 55.9% | 23.2% | 9.6% | 52.0% |
| Ja'Tavion Sanders | TE30 | x | x | x | x |
| Dawson Knox | TE31 | 61.8% | 24.6% | 10.8% | 48.2% |
| Tucker Kraft | TE32 | 76.7% | 17.2% | 6.0% | 50.5% |
| Hayden Hurst | TE33 | 48.6% | 36.1% | 15.0% | 23.8% |
| Theo Johnson | TE34 | x | x | x | x |
| Greg Dulcich | TE35 | 36.7% | 50.0% | 6.7% | 33.3% |
| Zach Ertz | TE36 | 40.6% | 46.8% | 11.2% | 33.1% |
| Michael Mayer | TE37 | 73.2% | 19.9% | 5.7% | 53.2% |
*ADP From Underdog 7/18/22
An immediate standout is Mark Andrews, who had the ideal usage we want to see from our fantasy tight end.
Among the 32 non-rookies above, Andrews played in-line at the lowest rate of the group, was in the slot at the highest rate, and was 22nd in rate of snaps spent blocking.
Andrews was also targeted on 46.5% of his routes when he was in the slot, the highest rate at the position.
Despite missing a chink of the season, Andrews led the position with five touchdowns from the slot. Isaiah Likely was second with four.
Sam LaPorta, George Kittle, and Trey McBride all block a little more than we would prefer due to their offenses being successful running the rock, but there are a few differences between them.
The only tight ends above to play a higher rate of their snaps attached to the line than Kittle were Tucker Kraft and Michael Mayer, two players who hardly played any snaps to begin with.
Both Kittle and LaPorta were at the bottom in the rate of snaps from the slot, but Kittle was used lightly outside while LaPorta was only behind Pitts, Kelce, and Mike Gesicki in the rate of snaps lined up outside.
While perimeter targets have been more volatile for tight ends, this was an area where LaPorta excelled in college and it carried over into his rookie season.
Coming out of Iowa, LaPorta led last year’s draft class in routes run as an isolation receiver (35.5% of his routes) while he ran a class-high 20.2% of his routes lined up out wide.
As a rookie, he led the position with four touchdowns lined up outside while his 1.39 yards per route run out wide were third behind the ghost of Darren Waller and Kelce.
LaPorta was targeted on 22.5% of his routes out wide (third behind those same two players).
McBride had access to much more slot opportunities than both Kittle and LaPorta, and he made them count.
McBride was targeted on 43.9% of his routes from the slot, which trailed only Andrews.
We love it when our guys are not blocking at all, which is what we have from several players at the position holding high draft capital.
Evan Engram, Kelce, Dalton Kincaid, Pitts, Andrews, and Jake Ferguson all are being drafted as TE1 options who were asked to block fewer than 40% of their snaps.
Kincaid and Engram had overlapping usage rates, all aligning with what we are looking for from the position.
Both were in the bottom-five position in the rate of snaps in-line and snaps spent blocking while subsequently leading to a role that was more of a slot receiver than an actual tight end.
We would like to get more touchdowns out of each player moving forward, but both profile as high-floor assets in full-PPR settings.
For the TL: DR crowd, let’s put a bow on things with a few bullet points:
- With the increase of more zone coverage and defenses leaving the middle of the field open, tight ends have seen an uptick in league usage despite poor touchdown luck in 2023.
- Not only are tight ends being used more, but that usage is being concentrated at an increasing rate among the top of the position.
- Teams are using fewer 2TE sets, asking their tight ends to block less, and getting their top tight end into the slot more than ever.
- Diverse usage is the path to fantasy points, particularly a high slot rate.
