(Updated) 2010 Fantasy Football Rankings: Tight Ends (TEs)
The NFL pre-season gets underway a month from Thursday (Hall of Fame game between Cowboys and Bengals).
Over the next month, we will release our rankings keeper rankings, point-per-reception (PPR) rankings and our top 150 cheat sheets as well as in-depth player analysis and projections. For now, here is our updated list of the top 20 tight ends for fantasy football:
1. Antonio Gates, Chargers: Despite only ranking sixth among tight ends in targets (114), Gates led tight ends -- and set a career-high -- in receiving yards (1,157) in 2009. With the three-game suspension (and potential holdout beyond that) of Vincent Jackson, Gates should see more targets in 2010. Therefore, I swapped Gates and Dallas Clark in the updated rankings.
2. 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.
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. 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.
6. Jason Witten, Cowboys: Witten had a "down" year of 94 passes for 1,030 yards (and only two touchdowns). Many tight ends (or wide receivers) would love to have a "down" year like that. By drafting Dez Bryant in the first round, the Cowboys have another weapon competing for targets.
7. 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.
8. Kellen Winslow, Buccaneers: Considering the weakness of the Buccaneers' receiving corps, he's the only legitimate weapon in the Bucs' passing attack. Last year, Winslow ranked fourth among tight ends in targets (127).
9. Tony Gonzalez, Falcons: Arguably the greatest tight end ever. Gonzalez had more targets (135) than any other tight end and finished with 83 receptions for 867 yards and six touchdowns in 2009.
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).
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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. 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. And Miller should benefit from having quarterback Jason Campbell, a huge upgrade over JaMarcus Russell.
13. Heath Miller, Steelers: Miller set career highs in receptions (76) and receiving yards (789) in 2009. How much will Ben Roethlisberger's suspension affect his production in 2010?
14. 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.
15. 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). Plus, Jets coach Rex Ryan expects Keller to "get more touchdowns" in 2010.
16. 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.
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. Jermaine Gresham, Bengals: Gresham significantly upgrades the Bengals at the tight end position. In my rookie rankings, I had Gresham a notch ahead of New England's Rob Gronkowski.
Also, check out our other 2010 Fantasy Football rankings: Top 25 QBs | Top 40 RBs | Top 50 WRs
