Brown: 2021 Fantasy Football Tight End Rankings & Tiers

The tight end position has turned into a wasteland in fantasy football. It's concentrated on a few select players, with no other options earning enough of their team's target share to stay relevant every week.

After a lull in scoring through the middle of the past decade, Travis Kelce’s 2020 season was the top tight end performance based on value at the position.

Another way to look at the above plot is by focusing on the weekly output for the top, starter and replacement-level finishes at the position. The scoring differential between the starters and replacement-level players highlights the need to either select a top tight end option or wait and accumulate as many dart throws as possible. 

It is easy to simply draft one of the top three options and move onto other positions, but that doesn't always work out. In my drafts, I would be happy with any of the top four selections. If that process fails, I am waiting until the end of tier four to draft players who I believe have the talent to earn targets in a productive offense. 

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TIER 1

MY GUYS

TRAVIS KELCE

This is as easy as it gets. Kansas City is the only team in the NFL to target the tight end position on over 25% of pass attempts the past two seasons. Kelce is the only tight end to ever be targeted on over 20% of his routes run in every season of his NFL career. There is simply no greater slam-dunk option than Travis Kelce in 2021.