Best of the Bunch: Jared Cook topped 100 receiving yards three times for Oakland in 2018.

1. Jared Cook

There aren’t a lot of hot commodities at tight end heading into 2019, but Jared Cook is probably the most productive of the options. Cook had some monster games for the Raiders last season including three games over 100 yards receiving, and he’s 31 years old, turning 32 before the 2019 season begins. He’s also coming off his best statistical season his career – his tenth – posting 68 catches for 896 yards and six TDs. If there’s a team that could make the most out of Cook given their need for a durable TE without a glaring injury history, it’s the Patriots. He’s an excellent locker room presence and the questions about Rob Gronkowski continue, even if he’s been a “presence” at the Patriots facility in the offseason.

Best fit: Patriots

There have been many NFL tight ends who have remained effective during their 30s, and Cook is a resilient performer, a gifted athlete and still very hungry to perform at a high level. Gronk is an injury away from retiring, and Cook has the kind of mentality that Bill Belichick covets.
Other possibilities: Cowboys, Saints, Lions, Bengals

2. Austin Seferian-Jenkins

Last year I had Austin Seferian-Jenkins (ASJ from here on out) in this same spot. Now, he’s coming off a lost season for the Jags, as he hit the IR in October after aggravating a core muscle injury he dealt with the whole year. The Jaguars had signed ASJ to a 2-year, $10 million contract following his successful comeback season with the Jets in 2017, but he made no impact for Jacksonville’s putrid offense during the time he was there. He’s another guy who could end up on the Pats as a reclamation project, but I’m thinking another team might take a shot.

Best fit: Raiders

The Raiders will need to fill the spot left by Cook, and there’s not too many folks who will line up to play for them, but ASJ could be another high-risk, high-reward TE on a team that needs talented big-bodied pass catchers. He’s still relatively young (26) and should have something left in the tank.

Other possibilities: Patriots, Cowboys, Lions, Saints

3. Tyler Eifert

This year’s FA tight end class looks an awful lot like last year’s – but Eifert really is a talented pass catcher whose biggest challenge has been staying on the field. An updated injury history:

• A torn ligament in his elbow that ended his 2014 season after 1 game
  
• A back injury that sidelined him after 8 games in 2016
  
• A nasty back injury that required surgery in late December 2017
  
• A gruesome lower-leg injury that saw him exit Week 4 in 2018 against Atlanta

Eifert was well on his way to decent numbers in 2018, coming off a 6-74-0 game in Week 3 and racking up 4-38-1 before he got his ankle snapped in half in Week 4. That brings his career totals to 142-1716-21 in 43 games played. The Bengals got burned again last year ion him, so they might be moving on.

Best fit: Cowboys

The Cowboys need a pass catcher with some game-breaking ability and someone to give Dak Prescott a reliable red zone target, and Eifert fits the bill. Whether or not the Cowboys brass wants to take a chance on a guy with this many IR appearances is beyond me, but Eifert is reportedly jogging and running and expects to be back where he was before the injury. An incentive-laden deal from “Jerruh” isn’t out of the question.

Other possibilities: Saints, Lions, Patriots, Bengals

4. C.J. Uzomah

The pickings are already slim, but Uzomah (43-439-3 in 2018) showed some flashes last season and got plenty of hype about his size and pass-catching ability. It certainly didn’t help Uzomah’s free agency standing that he spent the latter half of 2018 catching balls from Jeff Driskel, who filled in when Andy Dalton messed up his thumb and missed the last several weeks of the season. Still, the Bengals like to reward players and coaches for mediocrity, so its’ entirely possible he ends up right back in Cincy.

Best fit: Bengals

There are plenty of other landing spots out there, but I think he stays with the Bengals and takes over primary TE duties in the absence of Eifert. He could even return alongside Eifert and serve in a similar capacity, but that’s probably the most unlikely scenario. The Lions and Jaguars are also desperate for a TE, and any of the other guys would make sense in those spots if the price was right.

Other possibilities: Saints, Raiders, Lions, Jaguars

5. Jesse James

He’s not as valuable as his former teammate Vance McDonald, but there’s still a lot of upside and a couple of teams who will be in the mix for such a big target. James got off to a heck of a start with 198 yards over his first two outings in 2018, but the fourth-year Penn State alum averaged just 16.1 receiving yards over his final 14 games with McDonald (50-610-4) getting the bulk of targets. James won’t be signing a huge contract, but he’ll generate plenty of interest in such a soft market.

Best fit: Saints

The targets for James was nearly cut in half in 2018, and a lot of that can be explained with the emergence of McDonald and JuJu Smith-Schuster as such a prolific slot weapon. If he heads to New Orleans, he’ll immediately garner more red zone targets and doesn’t face competition for TE1 duties, as Ben Watson (FA), Josh Hill and the butter-handed Dan Arnold handled the position in 2018 for New Orleans. If the Saints don’t sign Cook, I think they’ll land James. There’s also something cool about a guy with a famous outlaw name playing for the Raiders, so if you’re into narratives, there’s that.

Other possibilities: Cowboys, Lions, Bengals, Raiders