Feast or Famine: Take a Look at Those Tight Ends

October 15th, 2009 by Adam Mankuta

Florida State TE Caz Piurowski (thanks Icon SMI)

Is the Tight End position the black hole of Fantasy College Football? In a season that seemed destined to be the year of the Tight End with players such as Jermaine Gresham, Dennis Pitta, Tony Moaeki and Rob Gronkowski being drafted extremely early in expert league drafts, most teams have been left playing TE roulette in 2009 considering how putrid the position has performed. Yet as we entered the year, who would have guessed?

Gresham was ranked as the top Tight End by 4 of the 5 experts, yet he played as many snaps this season as I did- zero. After suffering a season ending injury, Gresham was quick to make the decision that he had played his last down as a Sooner and was going to enter the NFL Draft. If that was not bad enough for owners, Gronkowski, who was ranked by many as the second best Tight End, had back surgery right before the season kicked off and never played a down for the Wildcats in 2009.

While owners who drafted at the last second probably avoided the likes of Gresham and Gronkowski, the loss of Austin Collie to the BYU offense led many owners to over estimate the jump in production of the Cougars Tight End Dennis Pitta. Although he has amassed a solid 28 receptions for close to 400 yards, he has only scored four times and his 4.6 catches per game is not that impressive and definitely not worthy of a 4^th round pick.

So what are owners to do that have been stuck with the guys that got hurt? Well in the season’s first week, Florida State TE Caz Piurowski scored against Miami and followed it up 2 weeks later with another score against BYU. What has he done since? Scored a total of 6 points and is now out for the season with injury.

That’s when you know it isn’t the year of the Tight End. The nation’s top two players in touchdowns by a Tight End were not even ranked in our preseason rankings. Dorin Dickerson (7) and Jesse Rack (5), were each waiver wire ads who have provided owners with a much needed spark. Other fantasy starters such as Cody Slate, Kyle Rudolph, Mike McNeil, and Garrett Graham have all been solid, but yet not spectacular. No one at the position has caught more then 28 passes or gotten more then 400 yards. How is that possible?

Your best bet if trades are still allowed and the deadline has not passed, is to try and pass your Tight End if producing off to someone desperate for the minimum production and try to get a RB2 or WR2 in return. That position player is sure to amass more points then the Tight End, who from week to week is inconsistent at best.

And after you deal that Tight End play the matchups week by week with a little Tight End roulette. Consider NC State’s George Bryan, Northwestern’s Drake Dunsmore, Rice’s Taylor Wardlow, and UAB’s Jeffrey Anderson are all players that have come out of nowhere to earn a spot in your starting lineup at least for this week. That is, until another player from out of the blue gets five catches for 40 yards and a score, while one of these guys puts up a donut. That is just how the year is going for Tight Ends in 2009.

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