Outlook: Chigoziem Okonkwo has been a popular breakout candidate among fantasy analysts. In his 2022 rookie campaign, Okonkwo hauled in 32 receptions for 450 yards and three touchdowns in 15 games. He had the 25th-most fantasy points among tight ends in his rookie campaign, but headed into 2023, don't be surprised if he becomes the Titans second option in the passing game given the lack of depth Tennessee has at the receiver position.

When Tannehill finds him down low, Okonkwo may thrive as he averaged the most yards per catch (14.1) among all starting tight ends last season. His big-play ability and athleticism is intriguing which makes him a nice target if you skip the top tier options at the position. FFToday ranks him 14th among tight ends for 2023. This is a fair placement for the breakout star as he's expected to be above average in year 2.

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Outlook: In addition to signing Singletary and Woods this offseason, the Texans signed former Cowboys tight end Dalton Schultz. Schultz is considered to be among the top 10 players at his position, both through the eye test and in fantasy numbers.

Schultz hauled in 57 receptions for 577 yards and five touchdowns in 15 games last season, totaling 144.7 fantasy points -- the ninth-most at his position. The year before, Schultz was third in fantasy points among tight ends with 206.8.

The soon-to-be 27-year-old (July 11), is expected to be slightly worse than the past couple of seasons due to his new team and rookie quarterback. However, new head coach DeMeco Ryans hopes to change the Texans narrative, but that might take a couple of years.

Tight end is arguably the scarcest position when it comes to fantasy football. The top three at the position are light years ahead of No. 7-10. Schultz still falls into the TE1 spot in fantasy lineups, but he's towards the lower end of the group. If Ryans transforms Houston quicker than expected, Schultz may have a shot at rising into the No. 4-6 tier, but that would be his ceiling.

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Outlook: With T.J. Hockenson shipped to the Vikings mid-season, Detroit stitched together the position for the remainder of the year. Enter LaPorta, the 2nd round pick from the tight end farm of the Midwest, The University of Iowa. There have been 12 tight ends drafted from Iowa while Kirk Ferentz has been the coach and more than a few have gone on to become fantasy names. The Lions, and LaPorta hope to be the next. Historically, this is a position to avoid in fantasy if it's a rookie, especially one with good, but limited physical skills. LaPorta was extremely productive in college, but nothing leaps off the page. He was developed by some of the best tight end coaches in college, but will take time to find his place in the NFL. Look for him to learn and grow as the season goes on, and eventually solidify the position for the Lions, but there are plenty of other places to look for fantasy production.

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Outlook: A borderline fantasy starter his last two seasons in Denver, Fant was a bit of a disappointment with the Seahawks last year, finishing with 50 receptions, 486 yards, and 4 TDs. While the touchdowns were on brand, it was 18 fewer catches than the previous year alongside a career low in receiving yardage. What's arguably more distressing for his outlook is that he finished third on the club in all three categories; it's simply that the Seattle passing game is all about the receivers, and the addition of Smith-Njigba pushes Fant further down the pecking order. He's not worth drafting.

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Outlook: Playing for his third team in as many seasons last year, Everett matched or established career highs across the board in 2022 with 58 receptions, 555 yards, and 4 touchdowns. While not a field-stretching threat, the veteran was a reliable presence underneath for Herbert, who threw a ton of short passes. Despite his numbers trending up, there are reasons to be down on Everett for 2023, most notably the hiring of Moore, who figures to install more vertical routes, and selection of Johnston, who gives Herbert an exciting group of receivers on the outside.

If you're in a large enough league and are looking for a steady backup tight end, Everett is someone to consider. In standard formats he's more of a watch-list candidate in case his role turns out to be larger than expected under the new offensive coordinator.

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Outlook: The Cowboys let veteran tight end Dalton Schultz walk this offseason which has led to some real debate about the depth chart at the position. Jake Ferguson and Peyton Hendershot were on the team in 2022 and while both players had their moments, neither one really separated himself into being an obvious starting-caliber player going forward. This became particularly true once the Cowboys drafted a tight end - Michigan's Luke Schoonmaker - with a second-round pick in the NFL Draft.

This type of draft capital at a position like tight end typically means that a team intends for that player to be a contributor early in his career and that is likely to be the case for Schoonmaker. However, those contributions might end up being more important for the Cowboys offense as a whole than they are for Schoonmaker as an individual contributor. Schoonmaker was highly regarded for his blocking skills during the scouting process and his 6'5", 250-lb frame should allow him to continue to do that in the NFL. Schoonmaker is an athletic player who would seemingly have upside as a pass-catcher, but we just haven't seen that much as of yet. He caught just 52 total passes over his final two seasons at Michigan.

It's easy to look at Schoonmaker's profile and be enamored by the potential, but the reality is that rookie tight ends rarely produce for fantasy and oftentimes they end up not even securing a regular role in their offense until late in the season.

As of right now, it appears most likely that Ferguson will begin the season as the Cowboys' starter, with Schoonmaker and Hendershot battling for the TE2 spot on the depth chart. Schoonmaker is the player you'll want to draft if you're drafting purely for upside late, but if you're looking for day-one production and the player who will likely lead this group in overall numbers for the season, Ferguson is probably the best bet.

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Outlook: A year ago, Albert Okwuegbunam had some buzz entering 2022 as the heir apparent to Noah Fant, who'd been traded away in the Wilson deal. He opened with five catches in Week 1 but did little after that and ended up being a healthy scratch for much of the season. A tight end did start to emerge last year, however, and that was Dulcich, a third-round pick.

Despite appearing in just 10 games as a rookie, Dulcich managed to finish third on the team with 411 yards on 32 receptions and two touchdowns. On the downside, he bookended his first year on Injured Reserve, missing five games with a hamstring injury to open the season and then missing the final two with a similar issue.

After some initially cryptic remarks from Payton about Dulcich's future in Denver, the new head coach seems to have warmed to the UCLA product, lauding his versatility in terms of what he can do and where he can line up. There's a lot of intrigue with Dulcich, who could be targeted as a borderline TE1 with top-10 potential.

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Outlook: Among tight ends last season, Juwan Johnson was 19th in receptions (42), 16th in yards (508), but third in touchdowns (7) which shows you how much the Saints value Johnson's role in the redzone and why fantasy managers shouldn't overlook him despite the lurking threat of Taysom Hill. Hill is designated as a tight end in a lot of leagues and his usage as a QB/RB/TE is a thorn in the side to all the other Saints offensive players.

Still, Olave, Thomas, Kamara and even Shaheed are expected to get a plethora of targets, but Johnson is a worthy late-round fantasy draft pick, as a backup tight end due to his valuable role in the offense. If Carr gets him more involved in the passing game, Johnson could squeeze into the low-end TE1 conversation in 12-man leagues by mid-season.

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Outlook: Fantasy managers have been patiently waiting on a breakout season from Dawson Knox, but aside from his impressive nine-touchdown performance in 2021, we just haven't seen enough from him to make him a weekly must-start even at a weak tight end position. Not only have fantasy managers mostly moved on from him, but the Bills also made it clear that they're looking for more from the position when they drafted another tight end, Dalton Kincaid, in the first round of this year's NFL Draft.

The Bills plan to use both players, which will likely result in a fantasy dud of a situation, but we've seen situations like this happen plenty of times throughout the years and it's almost always true that the rookie tight end takes a back seat in his first season while the somewhat-productive veteran sees most of the work in an offense.

The long-term play is probably Kincaid, but for this season, if you absolutely have to bet on a Bills tight end, Knox is still the better bet. He's been disappointing, but he's still managed to score 15 touchdowns over the past two seasons, which is slightly more than one score for every two games he's played. The tight end position is bad enough throughout the league that we're mostly hoping for 50 yards and touchdowns out of the vast majority of starters, so Knox is capable of delivering that from time to time. Still, he should see enough competition from Kincaid that it'll be tough to justify drafting him, let alone starting him on a weekly basis.

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Outlook: Veteran tight end Tyler Conklin joined the Jets in 2022 after spending four years with the Vikings and he immediately made an impact. Conklin scored a touchdown in his first game with his new team and proceeded to see 24 targets over his first three games of the season. While many of the top tight ends were struggling to start the season, Conklin was looking like a potential difference-maker at the position after just a few weeks with his new team... and then reality hit.

Conklin would catch just 19 passes over the Jets' eight-game span from Week 5 through Week 12. This horrendous stretch was followed up by a mediocre end-of-the-season run as well, which resulted in Conklin finishing outside of TE1 range and miles away from being an actual difference-maker at the position. At this point, we know what Conklin is-a starting-caliber NFL tight end who has his moments, but is way too inconsistent to be relied upon for fantasy purposes.

Some have pointed to the Jets' quarterback upgrade as being a reason to be back in on Conklin as a late-round tight end and while it's hard to deny that the rising tide of Aaron Rodgers joining the team should lift all boats, it's also true that Rodgers hasn't historically targeted his tight ends at a very high rate. Robert Tonyan and Jermichael Finley have both had outlier seasons in the touchdown department when playing with Rodgers, which isn't out of the question for Conklin, but neither player scored more than five touchdowns in any other season other than their one standout campaign.

There are just too many other options with higher upside than Conklin for him to be considered in normal fantasy drafts.

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