2010 Fantasy Football Rankings: Tight Ends
It's never too early to begin preparing for the upcoming fantasy football season -- even if it's nearly five months away.
Here are our 2010 Fantasy Football wide receiver rankings (excluding rookies) based on standard scoring and no point(s) per reception:
1. Dallas Clark, Colts: What's not to like? With a line of 100-1106-10, Clark ranked first in receptions, second in yards and third in touchdowns among tight ends.
2. Antonio Gates, Chargers: Not really the #2 fantasy TE; more like the 1(a). Gates led tight ends -- and set a career-high -- in receiving yards (1,157) in 2009.
3. Vernon Davis, 49ers: The wait is over. Davis finally broke out. Last year's numbers (78-965-13) were essentially better than his two previous seasons combined (83-867-6).
4. Brent Celek, Eagles: Two of Celek's three 100-yard games came in the only two in which Kevin Kolb started. It's hard to not picture an even better season than what he produced in his breakout campaign (76-971-8).
5. Jason Witten, Cowboys: Imagine complaining of a down season for a tight end that catches 94 passes for 1,030 yards. That's what fantasy owners did about Witten, who had only two scores in 2009, but he should be more productive in the redzone in 2010.
6. Owen Daniels, Texans: In an injury-shortened half-season, Daniels caught 40 passes for 519 yards and five touchdowns. His pace (80-1038-10) would have ranked him fourth in receptions, third in yards and tied for third in TDs among tight ends.
7. Jermichael Finley, Packers: In his final eight games (including the Packers' post-season game), Finley finished with 44 receptions for 575 yards and four touchdowns. Despite missing three games, Finley still finished in the top ten in receiving yards among TEs in his second (and breakout) season.
8. Kellen Winslow, Buccaneers: He's a bozo, but he has talent. And considering the weakness of the Buccaneers' receiving corps, he's the only legitimate weapon in the Bucs' passing attack.
9. Tony Gonzalez, Falcons: Arguably the greatest tight end ever. While Gonzalez is no longer the clear-cut top tight end in fantasy, he provides excellent value near the bottom of the top ten.
10. Visanthe Shiancoe, Vikings: Shiancoe has never surpassed 596 yards in one season, but he has been a touchdown machine over the past two seasons (18 TDs).
11. Chris Cooley, Redskins: Cooley missed nine games last year due to a broken ankle, but he had 83 receptions for 849 yards in his last full season (2008).
12. Heath Miller, Steelers: Miller set career highs in receptions (76) and receiving yards (789) in 2009. How much will Ben Roethlisberger's six-game suspension affect his production in 2010?
13. Zach Miller, Raiders: Only seven TEs had more receiving yards than Miller (805) had in 2009. In his three seasons, his receptions (44 to 56 to 66) and yards (444 to 778 to 805) have increased every season.
14. Greg Olsen, Bears: Typically, tight ends don't flourish in a Mike Martz offense. Olsen posted solid season totals (60-612-8) but he had less than 10 yards in four games.
15. John Carlson, Seahawks: Carlson has been respectable but not spectacular in his first two NFL seasons(55-627-5 and 51-574-7, respectively), but he enters 2010 with a four game touchdown streak.
16. Dustin Keller, Jets: I expected Keller to have a breakout season in 2009, but 2010 could be his year as he had a highly productive 2009 post-season (12-181-3 in three games).
17. Jeremy Shockey, Saints: In 26 games over two seasons as a Saint, Shockey has only 98 combined receptions for 1,052 yards and three touchdowns. In the Saints' get-the-ball-to-the-open guy offense, his average of 40.3 and 40.6 yards per game over the past two seasons are the two lowest of his eight-year career.
18. Kevin Boss, Giants: In the final three weeks of his season, Boss finished with 15 receptions for 176 yards and one touchdown. That was an average of 58.7 yards per game during that span. He had 391 yards in his first 12 games for an average of 32.6 ypg.
19. Brandon Pettigrew, Lions: Before suffering a season-ending ACL injury in week 12, Pettigrew had 15 receptions for 165 yards and two touchowns in his previous three games. That said, the addition of Tony Scheffler somewhat dims Pettigrew's outlook for the 2010 season.
20. Todd Heap, Ravens: If the Ravens draft Jermaine Gresham, which some mock drafts project, Heap would fall outside the top 20 tight ends in my rankings.
Within the next couple of weeks, we will update our rankings to include this year's rookie class. Then we will continue to update the rankings throughout the off-season as conditions warrant.
Also, check out our other 2010 Fantasy Football rankings: Top 25 QBs | Top 40 RBs | Top 50 WRs
