After Kyle, it's the Pitts

NFL fans. You get to unwrap all your shining new presence. You get speculate on everything that your team's, your favorite teams are gonna do, where your favorite players are gonna land. And to that end, we've already broken down in previous shows quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers, and today we'll do tight ends and it will be shorter because there's only a handful of relevant tight end in this year's draft. Next week I'll mention you know we record on Fridays,

as you may be aware, and so we will. We'll go through sort of quick twitch reactions to the first round. Now I say we normally my co host Brian Johnson is here. He is He's off today dealing with UM, some dog related issues, get well, Stella, and so just me today. I hope you like the sound of my voice. Let's begin by looking at teams that have an immediate need at tight end, and there are a surprising number of teams that could have a tight end drafted tight

end come in and make an immediate impact. The Jets if the assuming they're ready to move on from the Chris Herndon failed experiment, Cincinnati just has c jo Zuma Houston, Jordan Aikins, the guy who looks the part, but the production just hasn't been there. For Jacksonville, the aged and ever forever broken down Tyler effort is there. That's it. Tennessee is Anthony Firkster, who who looked pretty good after John H. John who left and UM and maybe a

good enough contributor that he doesn't lose his job. But that's probably a spot where they'd like to get some reinforcement. The Chargers have Jared Cook, who's bounced around the league a lot and has generally underperformed where he's been. Caroline

is Dan Arnold. Now, if Brian Johnson were here, he would tell you that Carolina has got all the tight end they need, and Dan Arnold maybe he'll eventually get proven right on his Dan Arnold takes New Orleans has Adam Troutman and Nick Vannette ah and Arizona has Max Williams, and I'll mention Seattle has got will dis Lee. I think these are all teams that are in play for

the tight end position. As you probably already know, by far, the best tight end in the draft, and maybe the best player in the draft, is Kyle Pitts from Florida. His projection is the top end of the first round. And if I had to pick one person from this year's rookie class to go to the Hall of Fame, it would be Kyle Pitts. He's six foot six, two forty five pounds. He's he's a power forward. Now he's a little bit thinner than Travis Kelsey, which is why I think the NFL comparable and I see I see

NFL comparable to him with Kelsey a lot. I think it's closer to Darren Waller myself because of that size. But he's only twenty years old, so Kyle Pitts can fill out his frame at the NFL level, which will help his blocking as well, and if he does fill out that frame, maybe he does become Travis Kelsey. He has had an insane level of production. That Florida offense really ran through him. And get this, Kyle pitts averaged eighteen yards per catch for a tight end. I mean

it's it's amazing for any position, but tight end. That's unbelievable. He is the rare tight end who can get separation against cornerbacks. His footwork and his route running are really at wide receiver levels. And then because he's six ft six, he's got the huge wingspan, just the massive catch radius and then excellent body control with the ball in the air.

Kyle Pitt's head zero drops last year none and then not that not that he needed this, but he ran a four four four at his pro day, which ranks him in the ninety nine percentile among tight ends. Unbelievable. There's so few downsides, two pits. I'll mention just a couple of small things. He doesn't always play super fast and mentioned his four four four, but doesn't always play that fast, and his blocking is not elite at this level.

It's not terrible, but the production production should get better as a blocker as again as he fills out his frame as he gets a little bit older. Uh, definitely in play as early as Cincinnati at pick five, and if p It doesn't go there, I can't see him getting by Carolina at pick eight. And the absolute lowest would be the Charges as as they look to replace Hunter Henry at pick thirteen. But again, I think Cincinnati at five makes a ton of sense that I wouldn't

be at all surprised to see him go there. But he is not the only. Although this is not a great draft for tight ends outside of Pits, he's not the only fantasy relevant tight end that we're going to talk about as we had had into the draft. Pat friar Muth is the pen State kid that is projected to go in the second round. He's about the twentie tight end to be called baby Gronk, but it's more earned here than most. He's incredibly physical. Friar Muth just

punishes potential tacklers very tough tackle. He's got good ball tracking skills, which is common among basketball players turned tight ends like he is. He got open a ton at Penn State and was an excellent blocker, and that offense largely ran through him now. He does not have high end tight end speed and he will get caught from behind. He did drop some passes and this past season. He only played four games this year and then suffered his shoulder injury and opted out of the rest of the season.

Friarmouth currently projects into the second half of the second round, but that's actually a really good landing spot for some good offenses. He could go to the Saints, the Titans, the Seahawks, and Friarmouth would be very interesting on any of those three teams end of the second round. Now, the next the next tight end that's expected to be drafted is not a fantasy notable tight end because he's a run blocker. His name is Tommy Trouble from Notre Dame.

We're not going to spend a lot of time talking about him because he's not very fantasy relevant unless something really changes here. He's Pro Football Focus is top ranked run blocking tight end this year. Um he's two hundred forty one pounds. Expect him to fill into that more excellent speed at the second level and terrific vision and instincts to find the next man to block. But he was not involved in the passing game. And so that's all the more time we're gonna spend on Tommy Trouble.

Next up um is a guy named Hunter Long who played at BC. He was the focal point of the BC offense. He's a do it all tight end with no real holes in his game, including blocking. He's pretty physical, he welcomes contact, he's got above average speed, he's got good hands. You can see him do some good stuff after the past. But he just looks to me to

be very average or above average and and everything. And I didn't see anything that looks that special for Hunter Long, didn't get a ton of separation, looks like an average athlete. I think he's just kind of a guy unless something changes. So he did not do a ton for me. The fifth and final rookie tight end I want to talk to you about is Breven Jordan's. He's more interest now he projects into the sixth round. So here we are the top five tight ends. There might only be five

tight ends drafted through six rounds. It's that week of a position. But from a fantasy standpoint, Brevin Jordan's interesting because he really is a true pass catching tight end only and because of that, he's much more fantasy relevance than than some of the other guys that may get drafted around him or after him. Um problem is, he's a real project who's probably gonna need two to three years to develop if if the development happens at all, and usually in the sixth round. You don't get a

lot of development from tight ends. He's um. He rarely was asked to block at Miami. They just threw to him a ton. He's one of the fastest tight ends in the draft. He ran a four six at his pro day and and that helps him get a lot of separation from lineman and really looks like a running back after the catch. Just a very fluid, natural, big bodied runner who broke twenty one tackles in his three

years at Miami. Again, that's Brev and Jordan's um downsides. Again, rarely asked to block, He's a little on the smaller side, didn't necessarily win a lot of contested catches, and that's again a product probably of him being smaller. So he's somebody could look at if you're in a very deep dynasty empire league. Brev and Jordan, depending on where he falls, could end up being helpful. There you go, the five

rookie tight ends worthy of note. When we come back, I just want to hit on some of the news from around the NFL. Over the past couple of weeks. Because we've been so focused on tight ends, we really haven't hit on some of the Albeit I'll admit it, it's just modest news, but when we come back, some of the news from around the NFL. Welcome back to Fantasy Football Weekly. Paul charging with you again. Brian Johnson off this week, expect him back next week. Some news

from around the league. Julian Edelman retired after eleven seasons. His story is really pretty incredible. You look at you know, where he came from, was not expected to be a wide receiver, and and um, the all the production that he ultimately ended up having and had to really carry a lot of the receiving load for Tom Brady and the Patriots offense, and many many times, um notable, I think mostly for Julian Edelman. And by the way, you know, he was one of those guys nobody ever seemed to

like be happy to pick up Julian Edelman. You drafted him as the twenty five wide receiver off the board, but darn if that guy did not, especially in PPR leagues, end up finishing his like wide receiver fifteen seventeen. Most of the time you got returned on on whatever draft spot you took Julian Edelman in. Now, the Patriots receiver group without Edelman is bad. Nelson Agilare surprised us last year with a shock came out of productivity. I'm not

nearly as confident in this offense. There's Jacobe Meyers, who flashed a little bit last year, and then they gave Kendrick Borne an absurdly big deal, which is a bad decision, I think. And those are your Patriots starters right now. We don't really know the quarterback is going to be yet. I guess it could be Cam Newton, and I know there's a lot of Cam Newton apologists that have will give you every excuse in the book for last year's

terrible play and eight touchdowns in fifteen games played. But if it's Cam Newton, I don't think any of these guys are going to be reliable fantasy producers. Next, James Connor signs with Arizona. That reunites him with Cardinals running back coach James Saxon, who worked as the Steelers running

back coach for or five years now. This does muddy the waters for Chase Edmonds, who already suffered because they never gave him the ball to stripe, and Connor could end up getting that work, and Connor could end up getting some, you know, just regular rotational work. Anyway, I thought kind of terrible last season, and I'm not convinced that he brings a ton to the table here. So

Connor honestly doesn't worry me that much. But I do have concerned that Cliff Kingsbury is going to do a lot of what he did last year, and that's used two guys pretty evenly, and that that would be unfortunate for those hoping for better things ahead for Chase Edmonds. It's um, it's a it's a tricky spot for Edmonds right now and there's a lot of risk and I wouldn't be surprised to see them the Cardinals take a running back in the draft. Last note from around the NFL, Jooe.

Bernard signed with Tampa and that clouds an already murky backfield road. A wire notes that no backfield at a higher drop rate than Tampa's last year, and they had a fourteen and a half percent drop rate, which is double the league's average drop rate of six point six percent. So Giovanni Bernard brings good hands and I think he really walks into the Lashawn McCoy rolled that offense from last year and McCoy was not a fantasy viable player

and I don't think Bernard will be either. And you have the constant frustrations that come with a Bruce arians back. You never know who's going to be the lead back, the guy that's gonna get paid in any given game. That's going to be very frustrating. Um Leonard for Nett, obviously there Ronald Jones returns. Those guys had plenty of drops. Keyshawn Vaughn did nothing last year. Bernard also a good pass blocker. I just think he's gonna be in a

lot and involved in the passing game. But it would be fascinating if he turns into James White, and that would be a best case scenario, is that Brady starts utilizing Geo Bernard like he did James White, and that would be the that would be the best possible outcome. Now, no back was used that way last year, but maybe he just didn't have it back that was good enough to be used that way last year, and perhaps Geo

Bernard is going to be that guy. That would be That would be pretty garden awesome, honestly, and that would be the best case scenario again for Geo Bernard. Thank you for listening to a shorter than normal version of Fantasy Football Weekly. Brian Johnson back next week. Will recap the first round next week. Can't wait for the draft. Thanks for listening, everybody, Bye bye. Fantasy Football Weekly is

a production of i heart Radio. For more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.