Outlook: A gigantic nine-touchdown season in 2021 had many fantasy managers hoping that we were seeing the beginnings of another trustworthy top-level fantasy TE1. That certainly didn't happen in 2022, though, as the Patriots' tight end caught just 41 passes for 509 yards and two scores. Part of the reason for his drop-off in production can be attributed to the unfortunate situation he was in with the Patriots needing help protecting their quarterbacks, which led to Henry being asked to block significantly more in 2022 than he did in previous seasons.

Things didn't really get much better throughout this offseason and with Jonnu Smith gone, it's reasonable to think that Henry may be asked to block even more now that their TE2 is notoriously terrible blocker Mike Gesicki.

It's hard to really be excited about anyone in this Patriots passing game, but the tight end position as a whole is ugly throughout the league. There's always a chance that Henry sneaks back into the low-end TE1 conversation due to a high touchdown efficiency, but that really shouldn't be relied upon and there are plenty of other tight ends who offer similar touchdown upside in much higher-powered offenses.

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Outlook: Hayden Hurst, like each of the Panthers starting pass-catchers, didn't produce much last season. The offseason addition from Cincinnati hauled in 52 receptions for 414 yards and two touchdowns and his 105.4 fantasy points was 21st among tight ends. Hurst averaged just 8.1 fantasy points per game because Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow barely looked his way as he heavily targeted receivers Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins.

The Panthers haven't had a solid tight end since Greg Olsen and that trend will likely continue into 2023. Hurst had off-season surgery for a sports hernia but is expected to be participating at camp. Despite being on a new team with significantly worse receivers, those pass catchers will likely earn more targets than Hurst keeping him in the low-end TE2 range for fantasy purposes.

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Outlook: I'll be perfectly honest, in preparing for this part of the outlook I had to search the Packer depth chart to find the potential starting tight end for Green Bay. The Packers have completely overhauled nearly every pass catcher on this offense in recent seasons, and Musgrave is another of the younglings expected to step into an important role. The 3rd tight end drafted in the 2nd round this spring, Musgrave is just about as raw of a tight end prospect as you can get. With only 47 receptions in his four years at Oregon State, Musgrave is an athletic move tight end that is going to have to learn how to play all dimensions of the position. Learning on the job rarely equates to fantasy relevance, so look elsewhere for production.

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Outlook: Cade Otton was certainly under the radar during his rookie season in 2022, finishing with 42 receptions for 391 yards and two touchdowns. In terms of fantasy football, he had his moments, but offered just four games over 10 PPR points with a high of 17.8 coming against the Los Angeles Rams.

With Godwin, Evans and even Gage the first three options in the passing game, Otton's numbers aren't likely to take a huge leap in 2023, especially since Brady isn't throwing the ball. Because of this, Otton is off the radar in fantasy football leagues and probably won't come off the waiver wire either.

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Outlook: First it was C.J. Uzomah, now Hayden Hurst becomes the latest tight end to bolt the Bengals for a new squad. For the third season in the row the Bengals are forced to turn to a new starter at tight end, but they might have gotten themselves the best pure athlete they've had at the position in some time. Let's keep it real here, Smith was a big bust for the Vikings. Occasionally he flashed that raw natural ability, but was too inconsistent for the Vikings to trust. After struggling to stay healthy last season, Smith was no longer needed after the Vikings dealt for T.J. Hockenson at the trade deadline.

While it never fully came together in Minnesota for the former 2nd round pick out of Alabama, Smith gets a chance to reignite his career on the Bengals. At best 4th or 5th in line for targets, Smith still joins an offense that's been able to get decent production from players with much less athleticism than Smith. The problem here is simply targets. Unlikely to see more than 60 looks, Smith just won't get enough consistent volume to be a starter. Maybe this is the year he puts it together, but that's what fantasy owners have told themselves for a few years, only to eventually cast Smith off to the waiver wire. As a supremely athletic tight end on a dominant offense, he's worth a look late in the draft as a backup, or upside pick on a fantasy team looking to stitch together the position for the season.

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Outlook: While Austin Hooper is the likely Week 1 starter, Mayer is the more interesting name to know for fantasy owners. The Notre Dame product was considered by many to be the safest tight end selection in a deep class, and Las Vegas may have gotten a nice value when they plucked him with the fourth pick of the second round. Mayer is a plus blocker and an advanced route runner, and one that should only get better working with a master like Adams.

Working against him, however, is the long history of tight ends struggling to make an immediate impact as they move from the college game to the pros, and the presence of a veteran like Hooper ensures the Raiders won't need to push it. You can put Mayer on your watch list, but that's it.

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Outlook: Injuries have derailed Logan Thomas' career in recent seasons and the tight end appeared to be on his last legs in 2022. Thomas saw his yards per reception, receptions per game, catch percentage, and yards after catch per reception all take a dive. That led to a pretty ugly fantasy finish overall - one in which he scored just one touchdown in 14 games played.

That type of performance from a veteran typically leads to an NFL team prioritizing the position in the draft, but the Commanders completely avoided drafting a tight end and they will seemingly roll into the 2023 season with no one of note behind Thomas on the depth chart. Of course, that was the situation last year when Thomas was unable to even be a TE2 for fantasy, so there's not much to be excited about here.

Like many others beyond the top eight or so at the position, Thomas is essentially a touchdown-or-bust player on a weekly basis. Unfortunately for him, he plays on a team where he's likely the fourth or even fifth option on most passing plays. Worse yet, his team doesn't possess the realistic potential of ascending into a truly elite offense. That means he's someone who fantasy managers should be avoiding here in 2023, at least to start the season. If we watch the games and find that he's both healthy and much more involved than we initially believed, then sure, we should be willing to pounce on him and add him from waivers, but otherwise, the tight end position in Washington is one to avoid in most fantasy leagues.

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Outlook: A second-round pick last year, McBride collected 20 receptions, 219 yards, and a touchdown over the final five weeks to give the Cardinals hope that they've found a long-term solution at tight end. He may be hard pressed to usurp the starting job from Ertz right away, but don't discount the above scenario where the veteran is moved at the trade deadline. While you'd have to be in a very deep league to consider McBride on draft day, he could be a priority in-season pickup, so stick him on your watch list and be prepared to scoop him up if circumstances dictate.

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Outlook: Mike Gesicki is a player who's stayed in the good graces of fantasy managers for far too long. Following back-to-back 700-yard seasons with the Dolphins in 2020 and 2021, Gesicki slid back to fantasy irrelevancy this past season when he was a complete afterthought in the much-improved Mike McDaniel-coached Miami offense. McDaniel recognized that Gesicki is little more than a glorified big slot receiver who offers practically nothing as a blocker and that meant that he didn't even finish the season as the team's snap leader at tight end despite playing in every game.

He now has a new opportunity for life in New England on a team that is historically effective at getting production out of their tight ends. However, he's also in a situation where the team has a more established traditional tight end in Hunter Henry, along with a more productive slot receiver in JuJu Smith-Schuster. Unless the Patriots completely stray away from their historical offenses and start going toward a much more spread-style offense, it's just tough to imagine a world where Gesicki gets enough opportunities to be fantasy-relevant unless there's an injury to Henry and/or Smith-Schuster.

Even if he does end up playing way more snaps than can reasonably be projected, Gesicki has never truly been a difference-making fantasy tight end anyway. His best single season came back in 2020 when he caught 53 passes for 703 yards and six touchdowns. That's probably the absolute best-case scenario that can be hoped for out of a player like him and his floor is close to what he did with the Dolphins this past season where he was completely worthless other than the one game where he caught two touchdowns.

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Outlook: Jelani Woods is expected to be the Colts TE1 this season even though backups Mo Alie-Cox and Kylen Granson put up very similar numbers last season. Woods finished with 25 receptions for 312 yards and three touchdowns in 15 games, but only two starts. These numbers could definitely use some improvement and Steichen may once again be a major factor in aiding them.

Eagles tight end Dallas Goedert is considered one of the best tight ends in the league after finishing last year ninth in fantasy points (143.2) despite only playing 12 games. Woods now has the opportunity to develop under Steichen's system, but has a lot of work to do in order to thrive in it.

Tight end is the scarcest position in fantasy football. With an ADP hovering around TE33, Woods isn't likely to hear his name called on a fantasy draft day. He is towards the bottom among the 32 starting tight ends in the league, but since he has Steichen there is a possibility for a surprise and he floats off of the waiver wire during the season.

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Outlook: Ertz caught 47 passes for 406 yards and 4 TDs in 10 games last season before, you guessed it, suffering a season-ending injury. In his case, it was an ACL/MCL injury that required surgery. The veteran says he hopes to be ready for Week 1, though at age 32 and with 10 seasons on his odometer that may not be realistic since he sustained the injury in mid-November.

Even if he is healthy, Ertz is likely staring down a diminished role with Trey McBride coming off a promising rookie season. At a shaky position like tight end, though, that's still enough to give the veteran borderline top-20 value. He also figures to be a possible in-season trade target for an Arizona team that's expected to be among the league's worst.

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