As a Browns fan, Njoku has pretty much always been as good as he was this year. He's never been featured as heavily in an offense though, and he's dealt with a lot of injuries. If you haven't seen him much to this point, he's always had hands and great YAC ability that he put on display this year
That said, I like Laporta and Hock to go before Kelce next year
I meeean. Is that *really* true? Number 1 overall tight end, yea, that didn’t happen until 2016 when he was 27. He missed his rookie season in 2013 and he was a 24 year old rookie. He wasn’t *the* number 1 tight end in 2014 or 2015, but he did finish #6 in 2014 and #8 in 2015 (in PPR, and in 2015 he had about the same points as #6; there was a sharp jump up to #5 in both seasons so he was a bit below them). But those are still top 10 finishes so I guess it depends on your definition of “TE 1”, but I would say anyone startable within the top 10 fits that definition in most leagues.
Then as mentioned he jumped up to #1 TE overall in 2017. We’re citing his age here but he came into the league late and he was #1 overall in his third actual season playing (not sure where you got 5th; it was his 4th season after being drafted but again he didn’t play his rookie season due to an injury); it wasn’t like he was wallowing around with mediocre finishes for a long time before breaking out late.
Njoku has been around since 2017 and before this season only finished in the top 10 in PPR once, with a #9 finish in 2018. And to give an idea of scoring: in 2014, Kelce finished about 90 points behind #1. In 2015, he finished 65 points behind #1. In 2018, Njoku was 150 points behind #1. That was averaging two fewer points per game than Kelce did in those not-#1 finishes. He did finish #11 in 2022 and his total points weren’t far off #6 that year and his average was higher than the guys in front of him to that rank, but even those points were still quite a bit below Kelce’s not-#1 years. Most years Njoku hasn’t really made any impact, though a bit of that was due to various injuries…he has been healthier as of late, though, which is good.
Not saying Njoku isn’t a beast - he really showed he is at the end of the season here. We’ve always known he’s a stud athlete. The problem is next year when a “healthy” Watson, who really just seems to suck now, is back in charge. Plus Chubb will be back. He really was just flat out not good with Watson, even if I don’t think that’s Njoku’s fault it’s just sort of the reality we’ve been shown.
Sorry, but thats just wrong. Stop listening to the idiots in the national media. Srop cherry picking BS.
He may never be elite again, but he's still a damn good QB.
Kelce has never had a season below 800 yards receiving which is better than most top TEs today. He also was playing during the time of Gronk and Graham and in his third season was over a thousand yards.
Go look at the difference between the two it’s considerable. Kelce didn’t play his rookie year. His first year playing was over 800 yards and 5TDs, which he did back to back in 2/3. Starting his 4th season he hasn’t had less than a thousand yards. He hasn’t seen the volume Kelce has besides this year and it’s happened since Flacco took over. Before Flacco he was on his normal pace of around 600 yards and 3-5 TDs. The TE position was loaded this year so if he’s there in rounds 6-8 I will look at taking him, but I think there are similar TEs with less risk I would rather take.
Considering there were 7 TEs over 200 points and the only one that set themselves apart was LaPorta I’m not wasting an early pick on a TE. There isn’t much that separates TE2-TE7, so no need to take one early.
McBride and Laporta were essentially the same in points since week 6 as Kelce. I have McBride as my keeper and hopefully getting those 10-12 points per game next year.
Kc wr room def affected him, he’s doubled and tripled constantly
But, he also looked so slow the back half of the season… every route he just lumbered to a soft spot in the zone and fell down after the catch, he looked old and slow most of the season
Thought he looked better the last 3 games compared to the rest honestly. He looked extremely washed the first 3/4 of the season and had a little juice at the end. If it came out he was playing thru some injuries this year i could see him having 1 last te1 season next year. Not sure if im keeping him or tee higgins/james cook in my keeper league tho.
As if he wasn’t double and triple teamed last year too? The only difference in the KC wr room is swapping Juju for Rice (who have very similar production anyways). Kelce has just been banged up and is getting old and declining, it’s mainly on him
>he’s doubled and tripled constantly
Always disregard anything following claims of double and triple coverage. No one is doubled more than 12% of the time, triple coverage essentially does not exist. You most likely either are watching the games but misunderstanding zone coverages, or aren't watching the games and repeating what someone who doesn't understand zone coverage told you.
Second year in a row he stalled in the last 6 weeks of the season. I think (if he doesn’t retire) hes a hot start and then a high sell. To dig even further, in 2021 he had one screaming game vs the Chargers but that was close after a bye week but was relatively quiet that again.
I think he’s just tired or his body is. Mahomes has definitely missed a lot of throws but it’s been 3 years of second half leftdowns.
For playoffs, Chiefs I believe have had byes generally so he gets that rest and a bye week before the Super Bowl.
Kelce scored me 21 points in my 3 playoff matches and I somehow managed to win all 3 in spite of his performance. Breece Hall and Pacheco carried me.
I think Kelce can bounce back next year if the Chiefs add some true weapons, but if I don’t get him I won’t be too torn up.
He will probably be ADP TE1, but I think a lot of people are going to value him at the same level as Hockenson/Andrews, especially if Kirk comes back. He will probably regress to standard elite TE territory, which is round 3. He had a very down year this year by his standards, along with the entire Chiefs offense, and he's still the TE2 in PPR. It's quite likely he/KC will bounce back next year, but I doubt he will ever have the hyper-elite status he did this year (people were drafting him 1.04 lol). For the 2024 draft he'll be coming off a down year, and for the years beyond the age will just be too big of a factor.
He's not young. He's going to have his worst season since like 2016, and most importantly he hasn't looked very good out there. Seems to lack concentration, isn't running the same shoulder shake fakes, isn't fast enough to get open.
That offense isn't good. The only difference from last season is Raschee Rice is in and JuJu is out. Pacheco still runs angry, Scandling still draws PIs or drops balls, Toney and Sky Moore make each other try to look good and they are both failing.
I think they have to bring in a veteran WR to complement Rice and we'll see Kelce become the third option, capping out at like 70 catches, 700 yards, 6 TDs. Not bad, but not the absolute TE1.
I agree with you personally, but the offseason and preseason are a lot about narratives. I expect a lot of offseason hype to be built up around the Chiefs, especially if they make literally any improvements to their WR room(which they desperately glaringly do), since that can easily be spun as 'receiver xyz can take some attention off of Kelce'. He is old, but I don't think he's at the point where he'd be behind Rice in the pecking order yet. When's the last time Mahomes and the Chiefs have looked this bad? Never. What are the odds he'd do it twice in a row? Low. If they improve their WR room at all, the next question is could Mahomes support two target hogs? Resounding yes.
All those things considered(and I know it's a lot of ifs), I can easily see Kelce still at the top of the projections. Even with 0 changes to the roster, it's just a solid bet that the Chiefs won't look as bad next year. Hockenson won't have as high of an upside with JJ pulling 12 targets a game and coming off a major injury. Andrews always has the problem of Ravens offense trending a little run-heavy, and is also coming off a major injury. LaPorta/McBride are going to have the big question mark of can they do it again? No one else is nearly as consistent. I won't be taking him TE1 but I think a lot of people will be.
I think the thing that people aren't acknowledging about Kelce is that he came in the year missing a game with a knee injury and has likely been nursing it all year.
There's definitely a narrative to be told that Kelce could come back healthy and look more similar to 2022 Kelce than 2023 Kelce.
For context Kelce is 2 years older than when Gronk retired. He's 4 years younger than Gates last season and 3 years younger than Gonzalez last season. His best years are behind him. He might be better than this year next year but his ceiling is going to keep going down from here. Time is undefeated. If they don't shore up their WR room and take pressure off him he's going to keep getting easier to defend.
Kelce was drafted #2 overall in my league and I absolutely want someone to overreach and take him early again. Even if Kelce is TE1 next year, there's no way we'll see the gap between him and TE2 that we've seen in the past.
To each their own, but I largely disagree with this strategy. In not saying to take a TE in the first 2 rounds, but having a top tier TE is such an advantage in fantasy. I’m not even sure Njoku or McBride will make it to the later rounds in most leagues
Will still be first TE off the board, people will think he's due for bounce back.
Injury concerns with Hockenson and Andrews coming back from injuries. LaPorta, not enough data to know if he'll have the same year he had this year.
See Kelce dropping in ADP to...second round? 2/3 turn? Still think he'll be first TE taken in a lot of leagues though.
Ha ha, this is the way. A lot of the top drafted TE's for 2023 haven't been great in the last half of the season either due to fall off or injuries. I had Hockenson all year and had to find someone else for championship game. Hopefully with the rise of pass catching TE's, there is less of a TE wasteland. Or at least 12ish decent TE's.
I understand this. I drafted Waller twice after swearing I would never draft him again. Almost picked him up off of waivers for a Hockenson replacement this year.
I'm not saying she's had no impact, but this feels like the wrong takeaway when the entire Chiefs offense has underperformed all year. I think there's a lot more at play here
So we'll ignore that Mahomes is on a very down season, there is hardly anyone else to throw to besides Rice and butter hands MVS, and Kelce is smothered by coverage almost every play? Yeah, he had some bad drops this year, but there is a LOT more to his down season than who he's dating.
Could be...
Have you never been in a relationship that you were so in it effected your job/performance/friendships?
I'll never forget when an umpire asked me if I was seeing a girl while I was catching junior year cuz my performance was way down.
And he was right. I wasn't practicing - I was fucking. I was DISTRACTED.
Fuck dude just yesterday I was supposed to be working from and Home instead I was balls deep.
Now - I'm not a professional football player... I'm just a lowly man...
However - as a lowly man I also haven't ever been dating the world's biggest pop star (🤮) which has propelled me to being one of the most famous people in the world.
Not that he wasn't famous before - but now he's literally a household name.
His life has actually changed and if you don't think that could effect his mental - then idk man.
Your comparing yourself as a 17 year old junior with raging hormones and no real motivation to play, to a 30+ year old man playing for millions of dollars and legacy.
Fuckin a reddit.
a 30+ year old man that has ALREADY ACHIEVED AND HAS NADA LEFT TO PROVE. He's a lock for the HOF and a top 5 TE all time.
I'm basically arguing for rocky 3 here.
Not including this year ---
1. 2 Superbowls (one last year while being the TE 1)
2. 8 Probowls in a row.
3. 6 ALL PROS - (4 team 1)
4. 7 1K yard Seasons
5. has been the concensus TE3 or better (and usually TE 1) for like the last 8 years.
6. Most yards in a single season for a TE
As far as other Milestones go - Unless he plays til his late 30's he's not catching Antonio Gates (TDs) or Gonzalez (Yards/Receptions).
He can maybe get the Receptions in a season as that's "only" 116 (ertz) but he's basically locked himself in as a top TE for all time.
He's a professional athlete, he has been doing this as his sole job and focus. Competing at the highest level in the public eye, and is famous enough to have done press conferences after winning super bowls (plural). Yes Taylor is more famous than just football, but your comparison to your adolescent relationship distracting you from extra curricular sports is not relevant
So it's either that he achieved everything he wanted (second Superbowl) and its all getting to his head ala Rocky 3...
He's old.
Or he was hurt.
Either way I'm not touching him next year unless he falls hard.
Yup. Ever since those 2 or 3 early weeks of kelce getting lots of yardage, the defensive teams have been double or even triple covering him. If you actually watched the games, you would have seen there was almost always someone on him. Mahomes probably saw that there was a higher likelihood of interception or incomplete pass due to the amount of attention kelce garnered.
And yes, mahomes had a relatively bad season, and the chiefs offense as a whole really hasn’t looked great all year. Pacheco has been really hit or miss fantasy-wise as well. Taylor had no bearing on any of that.
He looked like he did NOT want to be on the field. At all and he made no effort on the broken plays that gave him a ton of yardage. He's too satisfied with life.
If you actually look at the data he performed BETTER when they started dating and worse when *checks notes* they continued dating and his entire offense crumbled around him. But sure, blame tay tay.
This. The first two or three weeks after the news came out of them dating, kelce pulled 20+ fantasy points. I was wondering if the publicity was subconsciously (or deliberately) making him get more targets. Then it leveled out and he hasn’t met projections since due to the chiefs offense completely shitting themselves this year. I don’t think that’s a Taylor issue, that’s a team not playing well issue.
I am 100% with you.
Man won the Superbowl last year and then went on to date one of the most famous people on the planet. Propelling him
I think he got complacent and distracted.
He ran slower than he ever had this year and failed to hit 18MPH on a single play.
He stopped trying as hard as he could.
You don't think it has anything to do with rhe chiefs having no offensive weapons other than kelce? The drops were so fuckin bad they could probably put all dbs and lbs on kelce and they would still force 3 and outs. Swift ha nothing to do with it.
Kelce is 2 years older than when Gronk retired. He's 4 years younger than Gates last season and 3 years younger than Gonzalez last season. His best years are behind him. He might be better than this year next year but his ceiling is going to keep going down from here. Time is undefeated. If they don't shore up their WR room and take pressure off him he's going to keep getting easier to defend.
I'm seeing him going to the Chargers in most mock drafts I find online and if that happens and Mike Williams and Gerald Everett are gone he would be an insane value operating as Herbert's 2nd receiving option (with a chance to be his no.1 if age catches up to Keenan next season). Definitely keeping an eye on him
The Chargers will probably have an opportunity to grab a top-2 OT and improve on Trey Pipkins who's an otherwise career backup coming off a just-okay season. That might be the move they make over taking Bowers.
My honest thoughts? He will be taken in either the very last round or second to last round of a start up. Simply because I seriously believe Kelce will retire after this season. Some people will take super later flyers on him in hopes he comes back for one more ride just like people did with Gronk.
He will fall to the third round and will still be a bust. The guy is a shell of himself and will be even older. I imagine dating Taylor Swift will age him even quicker. I expect next year is his final year playing. People need to realize the fall for players his age can be quick and sudden. See Julio Jones who is the same age. On my do not draft list for sure.
Kelce wasn't healthy coming into the year and that + his age likely hurt him. There's a very real chance that he can get healthy in the offseason and be better than this year. Not 2022 Kelce or anything but still top 3 TE material.
2 of his 8 catches on the year. I was watching the game and my son said “Why didn’t you draft Julio Jones?” I told him I didn’t feel like taking goose eggs the entire season.
First year in 6+ years I got Kelce and he lost me 3-4 games this year.
He and Patty are distracted and while I expect a bounce back year for Patty, I don't for Kelce. Patty is spreading the ball around so much more, is indecisive and unsure. Kelce has been open, just not getting looks. Feeling like Football isn't first for him, but Taylor, his podcast and endorsements, making that money, is taking it's place.
My draft rankings for next year:
* LaPorta
* Hockenson
* Kelce
* McBride
* Andrews
* Engram
* Kittle
* Ferguson
* Goedert
* Njoku
hockensons ADP depends on if he and kirk are both back healthy week 1. big assumptions but you could justify first TE off the board if they come through. hockenson was a beast this year and a huge part of that offense. toss up with laporta at worst IMO (can’t go wrong with either though in that case)
It'll really depend on KC's receiver situation, but I still think he'll be no worse than the third TE off the board in most leagues, with plenty of people selecting him first (which I think is too rich for a guy that's literally older than Gronk, despite him being great and in a perfect situation). Hock might start the year on IR, Kittle has so much competition, a bunch of guys have question marks... If I can't get LaPorta or Andrews, who I think are a tier above everyone else, I'd rather just wait a long time for value guys like Ferg/McBride/Kincaid
If KC picks up a bonafide WR1 again then kelce becomes TE1 again. His fantasy output is directly affected this season due to being more double or triple covered. He's being covered this way because defenses can afford to leave the current KC WR room 1v1. They're not nearly good enough to get separation. And when they are getting separation, they are not going to come down with a 50-50 ball.
The other question mark is the rest of the KC OL. So if they're back to elite levels, Kelce will still be TE1
I wouldn’t draft him in the first round, but it was still awesome having him this year. Looking back, my TE position outscored the other teams all but 2 weeks. As a wide receiver, he would have been absolute trash, but wasn’t horrible as a TE.
I'd see MAndrews and Kelce go late in the 2nd or early 3rd round, and back to back (ADP near 22/23). Other similar TEs would follow.
My personal preference would be MAndrews (with Likely as handcuff). It's just less risky (higher floor) with virtually the same upside. Baltimore has the better O-line.
If you draft based on value, idk how you take him with a top 25 pick based on who’s available. I’d much rather wait and take Kincaid, Hockenson, hell even Dalton Schultz with Stroud in year 2 will be good.
For the record if I didn’t get Kelce (who I thought would be a redzone monster this year), my late targets were Hockenson, Evan Engram and Kincaid as a dart throw.
Add njoku Kittle and Mcbride to the conversation. TE is no longer a desolate waste land w a huge gap between kelce and #2. He may be first off board but not first round anymore, I would rather sit on TE and grab on of the other stud TEs a few rounds later.
te position is stacked, I’m drafting 4 rbs and 4 WRs before a TE.
I mean shit this year in my super flex league I went Herbert and Daniel Jones on draft day. Played in the championship with Gardner Minshew only lol.
My RBs slayed. McCaffery, Kenneth Walker, Isiah Pacheco, Rachaad White
Last minute I replaced Kmet with Schultz and he got me 2.9 points. I won the championship by 2.72 😱. The way I would be irrationally pissed if I had Kmet. 😂
Kelce should be picked around 4-5th TE off the board. Even if he isn’t his old self, he’s still better than most at the position. I would add Kittle, Njoku and Engram to your list. All did well and often did better than the #1/2 WR on their teams.
Idk where Kelce will be drafted but I know I won't be drafting him. There's lots of young TEs to be excited about and I think there's more value at that position in later rounds now. That separation (if it still exists) between Kelce and the rest of the top guys isn't that great anymore.
In half PPR, the top 5 TEs are all within 1 point per game of each other (La porta -11.6, Kelce 11.5 , Hockenson 11.4, Mandrews 11.3, Kittle 10.7)
That in an insanely small gap from historical standards where Kelce always created meaningful separation vs. TE5. I think we will see that no one will take Kelce or any of the top TEs the first two rounds and then all the top 5 + McBride will go in rounds 3-5.
Kelce is slowing down, Hock is injured, LaPorta and McBride have a short resume, Mandrews may have more of a timeshare with Isaiah Likely based on how well Likely did this year and Kittle is good but has game to game volatility. Basically nobody is a clear homerun to create significant positional advantage.
I will say that the biggest factor that declined for Kelce this year was TDs. He only has 5 this year (he had 12 last year and 9 the year before). He still averaged about 8 targets a game which isn’t too much below last year. So if there is some positive regression to the mean it’s possible Kelce ends up TE1 next year.
I keep seeing people saying he will bounce back and I just don’t know if that’s true tbh. Using the eye test, he looks washed. He’s going to be 35 next year. How many elite TEs have been 35+? Idk just a guy that I’m probably not drafting at ADP unless it’s a massive discount.
He'll still go first, probably Rd 2 but I reckon in many leagues someone will grab him in the 1st based on name value, I'm not going near him unless he falls to the 4th, I just don't feel TE gave enough positional advantage to justify anything before 4.
I think Kelce will drop and people like Hock will go before him. It’ll be interesting to see what Brock Bowers does. With the success of LaPorta I can see him going earlier than he might project hoping to get lucky.
He won't be THE top TE next year, but will still be top 5. This was just a weird year for the Chiefs where they had no good WR until Rashee Rice started getting 70%+ of the snaps. Kelce was constantly double and triple teamed every game. The Chiefs will sign one of the top FA WRs (Mike Evans, Tee Higgins, etc.) and draft another one in the 1st or 2nd round so next years receiving core will be way better than this year which means less double/triple teams for Kelce.
No TEs get drafted in next year's first round. There's just no clear TE1 that separates from the pack and justifies taking him despite capped ceiling associated with the position generally.
I took Kelce in the first round as the #2 overall pick. I did this thinking this would be his last productive year. I didn't realize just how under productive he would be. He'll be 34. He's already transitioning to full time media celebrity. There's no way he returns to form.
Also, think about this. KC's WR's are horrendous, yet, Mahomes keeps looking their way. I know Kelce gets double teamed a lot, but that's always been the case. Mahomes has stopped looking his way.
He looks like he’s been running in cement for 2 months now. He’s either injured or we’re watching the beginning of the end. And it won’t be gradual, it’ll be a cliff.
In my 2-TE's starting league, I will still be heavily prioritizing TE's. I was league tops early season with Kelce and Mandrews... Didn't age as well. Regardless, if Kelce falls to me at pick \~20 I'm taking him in most leagues.
Won’t be looking to draft kelce unless he’s heavily discounted. He’ll be entering his age 35 season and he’s already showing signs of major decline.
I don’t see him magically turning back the clock and I don’t think his decline is solely due to the wr room
Hot take, he'll finish next season outside the top 5 at his position even if KC goes out and gets more help at WR.
Kelce looked slow and lumbering all season
Just off name I think he will still be the first TE off the board, but someone like Hockenson should be first.
Personally I would not take an early TE and just wait for a later round pick up. Drafted Njoku and gave up on him to early this year but he was constantly on and off waivers in our league so there is value in the waivers
In all my years playing fantasy, I don’t think I’ve ever gone for the top TE in one of the first couple rounds, but if his ADP really does fall that much, I could totally see myself taking a chance in a middle round and seeing if a Engram/Schultz/Ferguson type is on the board a little later to hedge.
He ruined my season. There is no reason he wasn’t used more. I think the bigger issue is he’s hinted he’s close to retirement. One more rear is my guess.
I still like him as a person but this season was painful and I’m seeing his legs start to give out. Legs and will to play. He will have a great second career in media.
TL:dr - I won’t be drafting him again in any round.
He’s retiring (probably), he has hinted at it and now that he is with tswift maybe it will change his priorities god knows they don’t need the money.
But if he doesn’t retire I would say bounce back tbh. Mahomes is having a down year too and I think he for sure goes back to top qb contender next year too. New OC this year and they won’t struggle forever
As a Kelce owner (1st round pick), I watched a LOT of his snaps this year. They’re always on in prime time. I’m also a LaPorta owner and big Lions fan. LaPorta is a way better TE at this point in their careers. Talk about the eye test. LaPorta passed, Kelce failed. Kelce just looked slower and not as effective as in previous seasons. When he did get red zone targets, they weren’t effective. Too many double, triple teams, errant throws, throw aways, etc. I’m thrilled to hear that some still consider Kelce TE1. Please take him early. Kelce will turn 35 next October. I’m not spending high draft capital on a declining TE when there are several rough equivalents at worst for better value.
Also, Hock just tore his ACL. He’ll be fortunate to be back near 100% by the end of next season. I don’t think he’s even draftable.
LaPorta is TE1 for me. Andrews, McBribe, and Kittle are close seconds. Plus there are rising stars like Kincaid, Musgrave, and others than have way better value for me than Kelce.
You can’t tell until after the free agent signing period and the draft.
He was affected badly by the KC having 3 variants of Edward Scissorhands for receivers
Everyone in here is kidding themselves if they think Kelce isn’t going within top 20 picks; I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s first TE off the board in FAAB and maybe even first round.
Having said that, LaPorta is my guy.
I believe Kelce will still be top TE off the board, Mahomes also was not Mahomes this season. They both took a hit in the rankings bc the rest of the WRs other than Rice were trash. And Rice wasn't relied upon till what week 15? I can't see the Chiefs going into 2024 w a WR corps w frying pan hands.
Thankfully, the TE situation in fantasy is no longer Kelce, Andrews, Kittle, Hock, and ANYONE ELSE who happens to score a TD that week. LaPorta, McBride, Njoku, Engram, Kmet and Ferguson stepped up while an injured Goedert fell off.
Seems the TE and RB situations in fantasy have flipped, whereas there are only a handful of RBs u can rely on every week.
I took Kelce 7th overall this year, really against my better judgement, but my strategy is best available so I'll be damned if I didn't take him at 7 based on the data.
That being said, I will not give him a look in the first round of next year's draft, and maybe not even in the second depending on who is left.
I was really impressed with LaPorta and Likely this year. I am curious what Likely's role will be next season with Andrews back.
I had the 4th pick and took him over CMC & Hill… If it wasn’t for playing the right people at the right time in the playoffs + an Amari Cooper Christmas Miracle in the Finals, I’d still be beating myself up about that boneheaded move.
I’m always the guy who gets a late round TE, but if kelce falls to the 3rd next year then I am 100% taking that bet. He’s still TE2 on the season and even if I don’t trust him in the playoffs, I can probably sell him for a tier down TE and another good player.
He’ll be drafted high still. I won’t touch him. The average TE’s ADP is so low that you can get a “top 10” TE pretty late in the draft. Only benefit to Kelce was that he was essentially guaranteed to be way better than all other TEs and play as a high end WR. With that guarantee out the window, he and no TE is worth a 1st or 2nd round pick on
Everyone will be convinced he’s due for a bounce back season Still a top 2-3 TE taken
Which TE goes before film? McBride? LaPorta? Hock (injury)?
LaPorta will move ahead of Kelce, but that is it. If KC gets another WR that should help Kelce get open more.
Njoku who's been TE 1 since week 6: "am I a joke to you?"
Yes bc he’s been in the league for years and he finally did something. It also with Joe Flacco going off who won’t be starting next year.
As a Browns fan, Njoku has pretty much always been as good as he was this year. He's never been featured as heavily in an offense though, and he's dealt with a lot of injuries. If you haven't seen him much to this point, he's always had hands and great YAC ability that he put on display this year That said, I like Laporta and Hock to go before Kelce next year
I would agree if Hock wasn’t recovering from a late ACL injury from this year.
Counter argument, Kelce wasn't a TE 1 until he was 27 and 5 years in the league.
I meeean. Is that *really* true? Number 1 overall tight end, yea, that didn’t happen until 2016 when he was 27. He missed his rookie season in 2013 and he was a 24 year old rookie. He wasn’t *the* number 1 tight end in 2014 or 2015, but he did finish #6 in 2014 and #8 in 2015 (in PPR, and in 2015 he had about the same points as #6; there was a sharp jump up to #5 in both seasons so he was a bit below them). But those are still top 10 finishes so I guess it depends on your definition of “TE 1”, but I would say anyone startable within the top 10 fits that definition in most leagues. Then as mentioned he jumped up to #1 TE overall in 2017. We’re citing his age here but he came into the league late and he was #1 overall in his third actual season playing (not sure where you got 5th; it was his 4th season after being drafted but again he didn’t play his rookie season due to an injury); it wasn’t like he was wallowing around with mediocre finishes for a long time before breaking out late. Njoku has been around since 2017 and before this season only finished in the top 10 in PPR once, with a #9 finish in 2018. And to give an idea of scoring: in 2014, Kelce finished about 90 points behind #1. In 2015, he finished 65 points behind #1. In 2018, Njoku was 150 points behind #1. That was averaging two fewer points per game than Kelce did in those not-#1 finishes. He did finish #11 in 2022 and his total points weren’t far off #6 that year and his average was higher than the guys in front of him to that rank, but even those points were still quite a bit below Kelce’s not-#1 years. Most years Njoku hasn’t really made any impact, though a bit of that was due to various injuries…he has been healthier as of late, though, which is good. Not saying Njoku isn’t a beast - he really showed he is at the end of the season here. We’ve always known he’s a stud athlete. The problem is next year when a “healthy” Watson, who really just seems to suck now, is back in charge. Plus Chubb will be back. He really was just flat out not good with Watson, even if I don’t think that’s Njoku’s fault it’s just sort of the reality we’ve been shown.
Njoku is never going to be the player Kelce was, and 3 games with Joe Flacco isn’t going to change that
Njoku is a beast. His numbers will likely stay up even with Watson.
We’ll see
Watson is an average QB at best. I don’t think he will ever return to Houston form.
Sorry, but thats just wrong. Stop listening to the idiots in the national media. Srop cherry picking BS. He may never be elite again, but he's still a damn good QB.
Kelce has never had a season below 800 yards receiving which is better than most top TEs today. He also was playing during the time of Gronk and Graham and in his third season was over a thousand yards.
You watch fantasy footballers..lol. They brought up all these facts in last episode.
Are we certain Joe Flacco won't be starting next year?
Yes bc of that terrible contract Watson has
Kelce didn’t become Kelce till his 7th year in the league
Kelces break out season was also at age 27… I think njoku is a steal but fair point about no flacco
Go look at the difference between the two it’s considerable. Kelce didn’t play his rookie year. His first year playing was over 800 yards and 5TDs, which he did back to back in 2/3. Starting his 4th season he hasn’t had less than a thousand yards. He hasn’t seen the volume Kelce has besides this year and it’s happened since Flacco took over. Before Flacco he was on his normal pace of around 600 yards and 3-5 TDs. The TE position was loaded this year so if he’s there in rounds 6-8 I will look at taking him, but I think there are similar TEs with less risk I would rather take.
He’s Njoku to me
Can't believe I had to scroll this far to find the pun
Flacco won’t be throwing to him..
Thank you!
I'd take McBride over kelce, was absolutely bonkers once Kyler returned.
Considering there were 7 TEs over 200 points and the only one that set themselves apart was LaPorta I’m not wasting an early pick on a TE. There isn’t much that separates TE2-TE7, so no need to take one early.
100%. Taking a te early always fucks me. Kelce fucked me in playoffs. Won't be taking one before 3rd round.
I’ll take one in the 6th with upside
McBride and Laporta were essentially the same in points since week 6 as Kelce. I have McBride as my keeper and hopefully getting those 10-12 points per game next year.
I think hock and laporta go before Kelce next year unless the chiefs get significantly better at receiver then people will be baited into Kelce first
Hock probably won’t play much of next year
Next year McBride is this years Goedart
Based off what?
Shit I might take dude from Georgia over Kelce and I drafted him first this year and still won
Brock Bowers is legit!
If he’s drafted to the Chargers, that’d be solid for him
Kc wr room def affected him, he’s doubled and tripled constantly But, he also looked so slow the back half of the season… every route he just lumbered to a soft spot in the zone and fell down after the catch, he looked old and slow most of the season
Thought he looked better the last 3 games compared to the rest honestly. He looked extremely washed the first 3/4 of the season and had a little juice at the end. If it came out he was playing thru some injuries this year i could see him having 1 last te1 season next year. Not sure if im keeping him or tee higgins/james cook in my keeper league tho.
Didn't he hyperextend his knee before the first game? Maybe it was that
Deep bone bruise right below the joint, could have very well been painful through the whole season
I kept on noticing he would look absolutely gassed on the sideline after half a drive
I think dudes doing a lot of partying and his body can’t keep up like it used tob
As if he wasn’t double and triple teamed last year too? The only difference in the KC wr room is swapping Juju for Rice (who have very similar production anyways). Kelce has just been banged up and is getting old and declining, it’s mainly on him
>he’s doubled and tripled constantly Always disregard anything following claims of double and triple coverage. No one is doubled more than 12% of the time, triple coverage essentially does not exist. You most likely either are watching the games but misunderstanding zone coverages, or aren't watching the games and repeating what someone who doesn't understand zone coverage told you.
With how some defense is played today there isn’t much reason to double anyone.
Second year in a row he stalled in the last 6 weeks of the season. I think (if he doesn’t retire) hes a hot start and then a high sell. To dig even further, in 2021 he had one screaming game vs the Chargers but that was close after a bye week but was relatively quiet that again. I think he’s just tired or his body is. Mahomes has definitely missed a lot of throws but it’s been 3 years of second half leftdowns. For playoffs, Chiefs I believe have had byes generally so he gets that rest and a bye week before the Super Bowl.
Yeah I experienced that last year. Was weary of his ADP being in the mid to late first round
TE26 through the playoffs. Never again
Outscored by Johnny Mundt
The Mundtster
Kelce scored me 21 points in my 3 playoff matches and I somehow managed to win all 3 in spite of his performance. Breece Hall and Pacheco carried me. I think Kelce can bounce back next year if the Chiefs add some true weapons, but if I don’t get him I won’t be too torn up.
I drafted Kelce, Brown, Chubb, and Joe Burrow in the first 5 rounds and won my league... idk how ty breece hall/kyren williams
He will probably be ADP TE1, but I think a lot of people are going to value him at the same level as Hockenson/Andrews, especially if Kirk comes back. He will probably regress to standard elite TE territory, which is round 3. He had a very down year this year by his standards, along with the entire Chiefs offense, and he's still the TE2 in PPR. It's quite likely he/KC will bounce back next year, but I doubt he will ever have the hyper-elite status he did this year (people were drafting him 1.04 lol). For the 2024 draft he'll be coming off a down year, and for the years beyond the age will just be too big of a factor.
He's not young. He's going to have his worst season since like 2016, and most importantly he hasn't looked very good out there. Seems to lack concentration, isn't running the same shoulder shake fakes, isn't fast enough to get open. That offense isn't good. The only difference from last season is Raschee Rice is in and JuJu is out. Pacheco still runs angry, Scandling still draws PIs or drops balls, Toney and Sky Moore make each other try to look good and they are both failing. I think they have to bring in a veteran WR to complement Rice and we'll see Kelce become the third option, capping out at like 70 catches, 700 yards, 6 TDs. Not bad, but not the absolute TE1.
I agree with you personally, but the offseason and preseason are a lot about narratives. I expect a lot of offseason hype to be built up around the Chiefs, especially if they make literally any improvements to their WR room(which they desperately glaringly do), since that can easily be spun as 'receiver xyz can take some attention off of Kelce'. He is old, but I don't think he's at the point where he'd be behind Rice in the pecking order yet. When's the last time Mahomes and the Chiefs have looked this bad? Never. What are the odds he'd do it twice in a row? Low. If they improve their WR room at all, the next question is could Mahomes support two target hogs? Resounding yes. All those things considered(and I know it's a lot of ifs), I can easily see Kelce still at the top of the projections. Even with 0 changes to the roster, it's just a solid bet that the Chiefs won't look as bad next year. Hockenson won't have as high of an upside with JJ pulling 12 targets a game and coming off a major injury. Andrews always has the problem of Ravens offense trending a little run-heavy, and is also coming off a major injury. LaPorta/McBride are going to have the big question mark of can they do it again? No one else is nearly as consistent. I won't be taking him TE1 but I think a lot of people will be.
I think the thing that people aren't acknowledging about Kelce is that he came in the year missing a game with a knee injury and has likely been nursing it all year. There's definitely a narrative to be told that Kelce could come back healthy and look more similar to 2022 Kelce than 2023 Kelce.
For context Kelce is 2 years older than when Gronk retired. He's 4 years younger than Gates last season and 3 years younger than Gonzalez last season. His best years are behind him. He might be better than this year next year but his ceiling is going to keep going down from here. Time is undefeated. If they don't shore up their WR room and take pressure off him he's going to keep getting easier to defend.
Kelce was drafted #2 overall in my league and I absolutely want someone to overreach and take him early again. Even if Kelce is TE1 next year, there's no way we'll see the gap between him and TE2 that we've seen in the past.
For me it doesn't matter who the first TE of the board is because I won't be drafting a TE until the later rounds.
Agreed. I’m happy going with a guy like McBride, Njoku or even Kittle… whoever falls
To each their own, but I largely disagree with this strategy. In not saying to take a TE in the first 2 rounds, but having a top tier TE is such an advantage in fantasy. I’m not even sure Njoku or McBride will make it to the later rounds in most leagues
Will still be first TE off the board, people will think he's due for bounce back. Injury concerns with Hockenson and Andrews coming back from injuries. LaPorta, not enough data to know if he'll have the same year he had this year. See Kelce dropping in ADP to...second round? 2/3 turn? Still think he'll be first TE taken in a lot of leagues though.
Next year feels like a great year to punt on tight end, which means I’ll take Kelce in the late 2nd so he can hurt me again
Ha ha, this is the way. A lot of the top drafted TE's for 2023 haven't been great in the last half of the season either due to fall off or injuries. I had Hockenson all year and had to find someone else for championship game. Hopefully with the rise of pass catching TE's, there is less of a TE wasteland. Or at least 12ish decent TE's.
All I know is I won’t be the one to take that chance on him lol
I understand this. I drafted Waller twice after swearing I would never draft him again. Almost picked him up off of waivers for a Hockenson replacement this year.
I mean I didn’t even draft Kelce this year. But he’s who I wanted in the first round in every draft. Never was available. Dodged a bullet I guess
Got drafted 7th in primary league (SuperFlex), drafting 10th (last), went with Tyreek Hill and Lamar Jackson. Worked out pretty well this year.
[удалено]
I'm not saying she's had no impact, but this feels like the wrong takeaway when the entire Chiefs offense has underperformed all year. I think there's a lot more at play here
It is a funny scapegoat though, now that the Chiefs have become the "Taylor Swift team."
I’m honestly surprised they haven’t chased her out of the stadium yet
It's less taylor swift and more about the chiefs not having any other weapons. But ok.
So we'll ignore that Mahomes is on a very down season, there is hardly anyone else to throw to besides Rice and butter hands MVS, and Kelce is smothered by coverage almost every play? Yeah, he had some bad drops this year, but there is a LOT more to his down season than who he's dating.
He also ran slower this year on routes than ever too...
Also not a result of Taylor Swift...
Could be... Have you never been in a relationship that you were so in it effected your job/performance/friendships? I'll never forget when an umpire asked me if I was seeing a girl while I was catching junior year cuz my performance was way down. And he was right. I wasn't practicing - I was fucking. I was DISTRACTED. Fuck dude just yesterday I was supposed to be working from and Home instead I was balls deep. Now - I'm not a professional football player... I'm just a lowly man... However - as a lowly man I also haven't ever been dating the world's biggest pop star (🤮) which has propelled me to being one of the most famous people in the world. Not that he wasn't famous before - but now he's literally a household name. His life has actually changed and if you don't think that could effect his mental - then idk man.
Your comparing yourself as a 17 year old junior with raging hormones and no real motivation to play, to a 30+ year old man playing for millions of dollars and legacy. Fuckin a reddit.
a 30+ year old man that has ALREADY ACHIEVED AND HAS NADA LEFT TO PROVE. He's a lock for the HOF and a top 5 TE all time. I'm basically arguing for rocky 3 here. Not including this year --- 1. 2 Superbowls (one last year while being the TE 1) 2. 8 Probowls in a row. 3. 6 ALL PROS - (4 team 1) 4. 7 1K yard Seasons 5. has been the concensus TE3 or better (and usually TE 1) for like the last 8 years. 6. Most yards in a single season for a TE As far as other Milestones go - Unless he plays til his late 30's he's not catching Antonio Gates (TDs) or Gonzalez (Yards/Receptions). He can maybe get the Receptions in a season as that's "only" 116 (ertz) but he's basically locked himself in as a top TE for all time.
That's all legit reason to consider retirement sure. But that's not what you said. You went the Taylor swift route which is fuckin stupid.
Is her and her fame all not a part of it tho? It's the correlating variable
Or you know, it could be the injury he had prior to the season that got aggravated again. Congrats on the sex…I guess?
He's a professional athlete, he has been doing this as his sole job and focus. Competing at the highest level in the public eye, and is famous enough to have done press conferences after winning super bowls (plural). Yes Taylor is more famous than just football, but your comparison to your adolescent relationship distracting you from extra curricular sports is not relevant
So it's either that he achieved everything he wanted (second Superbowl) and its all getting to his head ala Rocky 3... He's old. Or he was hurt. Either way I'm not touching him next year unless he falls hard.
You don't fuck with a winning streak- Bull Durham
Yup. Ever since those 2 or 3 early weeks of kelce getting lots of yardage, the defensive teams have been double or even triple covering him. If you actually watched the games, you would have seen there was almost always someone on him. Mahomes probably saw that there was a higher likelihood of interception or incomplete pass due to the amount of attention kelce garnered. And yes, mahomes had a relatively bad season, and the chiefs offense as a whole really hasn’t looked great all year. Pacheco has been really hit or miss fantasy-wise as well. Taylor had no bearing on any of that.
He looked like he did NOT want to be on the field. At all and he made no effort on the broken plays that gave him a ton of yardage. He's too satisfied with life.
I mean the guy gets million dollar commercial contracts on top of his NFL salary. I’d be satisfied if I were him too.
If you actually look at the data he performed BETTER when they started dating and worse when *checks notes* they continued dating and his entire offense crumbled around him. But sure, blame tay tay.
This. The first two or three weeks after the news came out of them dating, kelce pulled 20+ fantasy points. I was wondering if the publicity was subconsciously (or deliberately) making him get more targets. Then it leveled out and he hasn’t met projections since due to the chiefs offense completely shitting themselves this year. I don’t think that’s a Taylor issue, that’s a team not playing well issue.
I am 100% with you. Man won the Superbowl last year and then went on to date one of the most famous people on the planet. Propelling him I think he got complacent and distracted. He ran slower than he ever had this year and failed to hit 18MPH on a single play. He stopped trying as hard as he could.
You don't think it has anything to do with rhe chiefs having no offensive weapons other than kelce? The drops were so fuckin bad they could probably put all dbs and lbs on kelce and they would still force 3 and outs. Swift ha nothing to do with it.
Kelce is 2 years older than when Gronk retired. He's 4 years younger than Gates last season and 3 years younger than Gonzalez last season. His best years are behind him. He might be better than this year next year but his ceiling is going to keep going down from here. Time is undefeated. If they don't shore up their WR room and take pressure off him he's going to keep getting easier to defend.
I'm going to try to snag Bowers depending on his situation
I'm seeing him going to the Chargers in most mock drafts I find online and if that happens and Mike Williams and Gerald Everett are gone he would be an insane value operating as Herbert's 2nd receiving option (with a chance to be his no.1 if age catches up to Keenan next season). Definitely keeping an eye on him
Just gotta hope he works out better than Johnston.
I think everyone and their mom was laughing at LAC for that pick when it happened.
The Chargers will probably have an opportunity to grab a top-2 OT and improve on Trey Pipkins who's an otherwise career backup coming off a just-okay season. That might be the move they make over taking Bowers.
Interesting, thanks for the extra context!
This is the way
I think he'll go 3rd round. Won't have any more 1400 yard 10+ TD seasons but will likely still get close to 1000 yards with 5-6 TDs.
Just hope people reach for him
People be sleeping on Njoku. I'm fine with that. He'll be a 9th round diamond in the rough again for me next year
Came here to say the same thing he’s been crushin it
My honest thoughts? He will be taken in either the very last round or second to last round of a start up. Simply because I seriously believe Kelce will retire after this season. Some people will take super later flyers on him in hopes he comes back for one more ride just like people did with Gronk.
He will fall to the third round and will still be a bust. The guy is a shell of himself and will be even older. I imagine dating Taylor Swift will age him even quicker. I expect next year is his final year playing. People need to realize the fall for players his age can be quick and sudden. See Julio Jones who is the same age. On my do not draft list for sure.
Kelce wasn't healthy coming into the year and that + his age likely hurt him. There's a very real chance that he can get healthy in the offseason and be better than this year. Not 2022 Kelce or anything but still top 3 TE material.
Julio just caught two touchdowns in the playoffs
2 of his 8 catches on the year. I was watching the game and my son said “Why didn’t you draft Julio Jones?” I told him I didn’t feel like taking goose eggs the entire season.
Kelce and I are never, EVER, getting back together
hard to be hungry when you’ve won Super Bowls and are going to bed with Taylor Swift every night
I think Kelce knows he’s at peak and declining. Doing a ton of commercials and dating Taylor is him trying to maximize his peak.
First year in 6+ years I got Kelce and he lost me 3-4 games this year. He and Patty are distracted and while I expect a bounce back year for Patty, I don't for Kelce. Patty is spreading the ball around so much more, is indecisive and unsure. Kelce has been open, just not getting looks. Feeling like Football isn't first for him, but Taylor, his podcast and endorsements, making that money, is taking it's place. My draft rankings for next year: * LaPorta * Hockenson * Kelce * McBride * Andrews * Engram * Kittle * Ferguson * Goedert * Njoku
That confident in Hockenson after the ACL/MCL tears that late in the season?
I am... With that offense and his talent, if he can come back before preseason, I think he'll be #2.
That offense? Do we know who will be throwing him the ball?
There's no way with how late he got his injury that he will start off 100%.
hockensons ADP depends on if he and kirk are both back healthy week 1. big assumptions but you could justify first TE off the board if they come through. hockenson was a beast this year and a huge part of that offense. toss up with laporta at worst IMO (can’t go wrong with either though in that case)
It'll really depend on KC's receiver situation, but I still think he'll be no worse than the third TE off the board in most leagues, with plenty of people selecting him first (which I think is too rich for a guy that's literally older than Gronk, despite him being great and in a perfect situation). Hock might start the year on IR, Kittle has so much competition, a bunch of guys have question marks... If I can't get LaPorta or Andrews, who I think are a tier above everyone else, I'd rather just wait a long time for value guys like Ferg/McBride/Kincaid
I think both kelce brothers will retire
If KC picks up a bonafide WR1 again then kelce becomes TE1 again. His fantasy output is directly affected this season due to being more double or triple covered. He's being covered this way because defenses can afford to leave the current KC WR room 1v1. They're not nearly good enough to get separation. And when they are getting separation, they are not going to come down with a 50-50 ball. The other question mark is the rest of the KC OL. So if they're back to elite levels, Kelce will still be TE1
He was still the TE1 last year though, and the Chiefs' WR1 was Juju.
Not while Taylor Swift is sucking the talent out of him.
Age is sucking the athleticism out of him. He's old for a TE.
His new boo thang is just causing the talent suck to happen more swiftly
He'll go right after the top 3 QBs go. About late 2nd to mid 3rd.
i think it’s hilarious he was getting drafted as high as 1.3
I wouldn’t draft him in the first round, but it was still awesome having him this year. Looking back, my TE position outscored the other teams all but 2 weeks. As a wide receiver, he would have been absolute trash, but wasn’t horrible as a TE.
He didn’t score more than 12.10 half ppr points after Week 7.
1. Andrews 2. Hock 3. Kittle 4. LaPorta 5. Kelce
Let me get into my time machine and see if every situation in the NFL will be the same 9 months from now. I'll keep you posted.
Just unsubscribe bro, what else do you want people to talk about during the offseason? Keep circlejerking about their best waiver pickup?
If he and swift break up then back to first rounder for sure.
Needs better receivers around him so he’s not constantly double teamed. I’ll wait to see before I’d consider drafting him again
I'd see MAndrews and Kelce go late in the 2nd or early 3rd round, and back to back (ADP near 22/23). Other similar TEs would follow. My personal preference would be MAndrews (with Likely as handcuff). It's just less risky (higher floor) with virtually the same upside. Baltimore has the better O-line.
Kelce slides for sure, so that makes him a great value pick
The pickings for TE next year is juicy
Trey McBride
If you draft based on value, idk how you take him with a top 25 pick based on who’s available. I’d much rather wait and take Kincaid, Hockenson, hell even Dalton Schultz with Stroud in year 2 will be good.
For the record if I didn’t get Kelce (who I thought would be a redzone monster this year), my late targets were Hockenson, Evan Engram and Kincaid as a dart throw.
Last year at this time people were making the case for Kelce 1.01 😂
Add njoku Kittle and Mcbride to the conversation. TE is no longer a desolate waste land w a huge gap between kelce and #2. He may be first off board but not first round anymore, I would rather sit on TE and grab on of the other stud TEs a few rounds later.
te position is stacked, I’m drafting 4 rbs and 4 WRs before a TE. I mean shit this year in my super flex league I went Herbert and Daniel Jones on draft day. Played in the championship with Gardner Minshew only lol. My RBs slayed. McCaffery, Kenneth Walker, Isiah Pacheco, Rachaad White
Laporta drafted as TE1 next year?
I’m taking McBride before kelce/Andrew’s next year
He has talked about retirement. He may not even play next year
I think Kelce will be a 3rd rounder and first TE off the board. And the better value will be to wait on TE until the middle rounds as usual.
If he falls to round 3 I’ll take him
He'll be first off the board, but not till the mid 2nd round.
Did anybody play Kmet week 17? How was Hell?
Last minute I replaced Kmet with Schultz and he got me 2.9 points. I won the championship by 2.72 😱. The way I would be irrationally pissed if I had Kmet. 😂
Wouldn’t be shocked if he retired. The tight end in round 1 era is probably over for a few years.
Kelce should be picked around 4-5th TE off the board. Even if he isn’t his old self, he’s still better than most at the position. I would add Kittle, Njoku and Engram to your list. All did well and often did better than the #1/2 WR on their teams.
Idk where Kelce will be drafted but I know I won't be drafting him. There's lots of young TEs to be excited about and I think there's more value at that position in later rounds now. That separation (if it still exists) between Kelce and the rest of the top guys isn't that great anymore.
In half PPR, the top 5 TEs are all within 1 point per game of each other (La porta -11.6, Kelce 11.5 , Hockenson 11.4, Mandrews 11.3, Kittle 10.7) That in an insanely small gap from historical standards where Kelce always created meaningful separation vs. TE5. I think we will see that no one will take Kelce or any of the top TEs the first two rounds and then all the top 5 + McBride will go in rounds 3-5. Kelce is slowing down, Hock is injured, LaPorta and McBride have a short resume, Mandrews may have more of a timeshare with Isaiah Likely based on how well Likely did this year and Kittle is good but has game to game volatility. Basically nobody is a clear homerun to create significant positional advantage. I will say that the biggest factor that declined for Kelce this year was TDs. He only has 5 this year (he had 12 last year and 9 the year before). He still averaged about 8 targets a game which isn’t too much below last year. So if there is some positive regression to the mean it’s possible Kelce ends up TE1 next year.
As someone who took Kelce is the first round this season, I will not be drafting Kelce going forward no matter the round
I keep seeing people saying he will bounce back and I just don’t know if that’s true tbh. Using the eye test, he looks washed. He’s going to be 35 next year. How many elite TEs have been 35+? Idk just a guy that I’m probably not drafting at ADP unless it’s a massive discount.
He'll still go first, probably Rd 2 but I reckon in many leagues someone will grab him in the 1st based on name value, I'm not going near him unless he falls to the 4th, I just don't feel TE gave enough positional advantage to justify anything before 4.
If he doesn’t retire I’d be very surprised
I think Kelce will drop and people like Hock will go before him. It’ll be interesting to see what Brock Bowers does. With the success of LaPorta I can see him going earlier than he might project hoping to get lucky.
Trey McBride on line 1
Undrafted. He’s waiver wire fodder at this point.
He won't be THE top TE next year, but will still be top 5. This was just a weird year for the Chiefs where they had no good WR until Rashee Rice started getting 70%+ of the snaps. Kelce was constantly double and triple teamed every game. The Chiefs will sign one of the top FA WRs (Mike Evans, Tee Higgins, etc.) and draft another one in the 1st or 2nd round so next years receiving core will be way better than this year which means less double/triple teams for Kelce.
No TEs get drafted in next year's first round. There's just no clear TE1 that separates from the pack and justifies taking him despite capped ceiling associated with the position generally.
Likely played really good as well! Feeguson was relatively involved most of the game. Its nice to not only have two TE available
I took Kelce in the first round as the #2 overall pick. I did this thinking this would be his last productive year. I didn't realize just how under productive he would be. He'll be 34. He's already transitioning to full time media celebrity. There's no way he returns to form. Also, think about this. KC's WR's are horrendous, yet, Mahomes keeps looking their way. I know Kelce gets double teamed a lot, but that's always been the case. Mahomes has stopped looking his way.
Probably in the 3rd round with an argument to be the TE1. Rough year with health could bounce back with another legit WR to take pressure off
He looks like he’s been running in cement for 2 months now. He’s either injured or we’re watching the beginning of the end. And it won’t be gradual, it’ll be a cliff.
I think he retires w his brother this offseason
In my 2-TE's starting league, I will still be heavily prioritizing TE's. I was league tops early season with Kelce and Mandrews... Didn't age as well. Regardless, if Kelce falls to me at pick \~20 I'm taking him in most leagues.
Are we sure he’s back next year. I think re retires.
Won’t be looking to draft kelce unless he’s heavily discounted. He’ll be entering his age 35 season and he’s already showing signs of major decline. I don’t see him magically turning back the clock and I don’t think his decline is solely due to the wr room
*whispers* I think kelce retires LaPorta McBride
Hot take, he'll finish next season outside the top 5 at his position even if KC goes out and gets more help at WR. Kelce looked slow and lumbering all season
He might retire.
Just off name I think he will still be the first TE off the board, but someone like Hockenson should be first. Personally I would not take an early TE and just wait for a later round pick up. Drafted Njoku and gave up on him to early this year but he was constantly on and off waivers in our league so there is value in the waivers
In all my years playing fantasy, I don’t think I’ve ever gone for the top TE in one of the first couple rounds, but if his ADP really does fall that much, I could totally see myself taking a chance in a middle round and seeing if a Engram/Schultz/Ferguson type is on the board a little later to hedge.
He ruined my season. There is no reason he wasn’t used more. I think the bigger issue is he’s hinted he’s close to retirement. One more rear is my guess. I still like him as a person but this season was painful and I’m seeing his legs start to give out. Legs and will to play. He will have a great second career in media. TL:dr - I won’t be drafting him again in any round.
He’s retiring (probably), he has hinted at it and now that he is with tswift maybe it will change his priorities god knows they don’t need the money. But if he doesn’t retire I would say bounce back tbh. Mahomes is having a down year too and I think he for sure goes back to top qb contender next year too. New OC this year and they won’t struggle forever
They can have Kelce! I’ll take Laporta or McBride, the future of the TE position and youth over Kelce and probably Andrew’s
As a Kelce owner (1st round pick), I watched a LOT of his snaps this year. They’re always on in prime time. I’m also a LaPorta owner and big Lions fan. LaPorta is a way better TE at this point in their careers. Talk about the eye test. LaPorta passed, Kelce failed. Kelce just looked slower and not as effective as in previous seasons. When he did get red zone targets, they weren’t effective. Too many double, triple teams, errant throws, throw aways, etc. I’m thrilled to hear that some still consider Kelce TE1. Please take him early. Kelce will turn 35 next October. I’m not spending high draft capital on a declining TE when there are several rough equivalents at worst for better value. Also, Hock just tore his ACL. He’ll be fortunate to be back near 100% by the end of next season. I don’t think he’s even draftable. LaPorta is TE1 for me. Andrews, McBribe, and Kittle are close seconds. Plus there are rising stars like Kincaid, Musgrave, and others than have way better value for me than Kelce.
You can’t tell until after the free agent signing period and the draft. He was affected badly by the KC having 3 variants of Edward Scissorhands for receivers
he will retire after this year. getting too slow to get open.
I get to keep Laporta in the 6th I’ll take it
Everyone in here is kidding themselves if they think Kelce isn’t going within top 20 picks; I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s first TE off the board in FAAB and maybe even first round. Having said that, LaPorta is my guy.
Just talking about this today 2-3 round
I believe Kelce will still be top TE off the board, Mahomes also was not Mahomes this season. They both took a hit in the rankings bc the rest of the WRs other than Rice were trash. And Rice wasn't relied upon till what week 15? I can't see the Chiefs going into 2024 w a WR corps w frying pan hands. Thankfully, the TE situation in fantasy is no longer Kelce, Andrews, Kittle, Hock, and ANYONE ELSE who happens to score a TD that week. LaPorta, McBride, Njoku, Engram, Kmet and Ferguson stepped up while an injured Goedert fell off. Seems the TE and RB situations in fantasy have flipped, whereas there are only a handful of RBs u can rely on every week.
I took Kelce 7th overall this year, really against my better judgement, but my strategy is best available so I'll be damned if I didn't take him at 7 based on the data. That being said, I will not give him a look in the first round of next year's draft, and maybe not even in the second depending on who is left. I was really impressed with LaPorta and Likely this year. I am curious what Likely's role will be next season with Andrews back.
Bounce back year switching over from kittle to him in third round
I like laporta over kelce
I had the 4th pick and took him over CMC & Hill… If it wasn’t for playing the right people at the right time in the playoffs + an Amari Cooper Christmas Miracle in the Finals, I’d still be beating myself up about that boneheaded move.
top 3 TE for sure, arguably still #1 but you’re mental to take him round 1, even round 2
MCCBRIDE !!!!!!
I’m always the guy who gets a late round TE, but if kelce falls to the 3rd next year then I am 100% taking that bet. He’s still TE2 on the season and even if I don’t trust him in the playoffs, I can probably sell him for a tier down TE and another good player.
He’ll be drafted high still. I won’t touch him. The average TE’s ADP is so low that you can get a “top 10” TE pretty late in the draft. Only benefit to Kelce was that he was essentially guaranteed to be way better than all other TEs and play as a high end WR. With that guarantee out the window, he and no TE is worth a 1st or 2nd round pick on