Fantasy Football Tight End Draft Busts and Surprises: Darren Waller, Kyle Pitts, Sam LaPorta, Cole Kmet are Guys that Stand Out
We’re at the halfway point of the NFL season, which makes it a great time to look back on our fantasy football drafts from a couple months ago.
Who were some of the biggest draft busts and surprises? We already looked at the quarterback position, so let’s move next to tight ends.
Tight end is typically the hardest position for fantasy owners to figure out, and this season has been no different. The big names like Travis Kelce, Mark Andrews and T.J. Hockenson have delivered, but after those guys, it’s pretty much been a mess. A few injuries have ruined fantasy teams, while some of the top performers at the position were guys that weren't even drafted.
Explore the best in-season tool to manage lineup/start decisions including predictive waiver analytics to help prioritize waiver pickups, projections, auction values, trade suggestions, trade value charts, rest of season rankings, power rankings, and tons more with Fantasy Assistant. Use our fantasy football trade analyzer to break down trade scenarios.
Draft Busts
New York Giants’ Darren Waller is the biggest draft bust of the season, and that’s likely to remain true as he’s battling an injury now.
Waller seemed primed to serve as the leading pass catcher for the Giants, but only topped 50 receiving yards three times in eight games. Even worse, Waller only scored once.
Waller had an Average Draft Position (ADP) of 60, making him the fifth tight end drafted overall. He currently sits as TE14, and will continue to drop in the next couple weeks as he’s on injured reserve. It seems unlikely that Waller will be able to do much when he returns, as the Giants' offense is a mess and is currently starting their No. 3 option at quarterback.
Atlanta Falcons’ Kyle Pitts isn’t too far behind Waller for the top spot, but at least Pitts is still playing. He had an ADP of 73, making him the seventh TE selected. Pitts is TE 16 right now.
Pitts only has 389 receiving yards and one touchdown this season. He’s being outperformed by teammate Jonnu Smith (422 yards and two touchdowns), who wasn’t even a thought in fantasy drafts.
Pittsburgh Steelers’ Pat Freiermuth is another tight end that’s struggled and is currently on IR. In four games, Freiermuth caught eight passes for 53 yards and two touchdowns. He had an ADP of 93, making him the ninth TE selected. Freiermuth currently sits as TE43.
Draft Surprises
Like the quarterback position, most of the surprises at tight end are guys that went undrafted in many leagues.
Washington Commanders’ Logan Thomas had an ADP of 329 (which made him the 39th TE drafted), yet sits as TE13 with 80 fantasy points. Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Cade Otton had an ADP of 308 and now is TE19 with 70 points. Arizona Cardinals’ Trey McBride had an ADP of 274 and now is TE20 at 63 points.
Dallas Cowboys’ Jake Ferguson is another surprise. He was the 26th TE selected at 207th overall, but now is TE12. Atlanta’s Smith (no ADP data but now is TE11) and New Orleans’ Saints Taysom Hill (ADP of 202 but now is TE9) also have been top performers after not much draft interest.
The two biggest surprises are Detroit Lions’ Sam LaPorta and Chicago Bears’ Cole Kmet.
LaPorta looks like the steal at the position - and one of the best of any position. He was the 18th tight end selected but now is TE4.
LaPorta has at least 35 receiving yards in every contest, and has topped 50 yards five times in eight games. He’s scored four touchdowns and has at least three grabs in every game. He’s one of the reasons why the Lions are as good as they are this season.
Kmet had an ADP of 141, which made him the 14th tight end taken in drafts. He’s up to TE4 and has scored 110 fantasy points.
Even though he’s been without quarterback Justin Fields (a draft bust so far) for a few weeks, Kmet has 35 or more receiving yards in six of the team’s nine games. He’s topped 50 yards three times and has scored five touchdowns.
The crazy part about the tight end position is that so many players sit with a similar amount of fantasy points, meaning one strong showing could take away a player’s “bust” designation.
There’s five tight ends between 90-95 fantasy points, and those guys sit between 6-10 in the overall rankings so far. There’s four players between 80-86 points and five guys between 70-78 points. The list of busts and surprises could drastically change by the time the season wraps up.
