Tight end rankings are tricky this preseason because many rookies are predicted to play major roles in the passing game. If your fantasy football draft is before week 3 of the preseason, I wouldn't draft a rookie TE until the later rounds. Many options have displayed positive production in the previous years, so you'll want to save the gambling for later in the draft. Here's our TE draft rankings for the 2013 fantasy football draft.
| Composite |  | |  Kurt Turner | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jimmy Graham, NO, TE | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Rob Gronkowski, NE, TE | 2 | 4 | 2 | 2 |
| Vernon Davis, SF, TE | 3 | 2 | 4 | 3 |
| Tony Gonzalez, ATL, TE | 4 | 3 | 5 | 5 |
| Greg Olsen, CAR, TE | 5 | 6 | 6 | 4 |
| Martellus Bennett, CHI, TE | 6 | 7 | 7 | 6 |
| Jason Witten, DAL, TE | 7 | 5 | 3 | 13 |
| Jared Cook, STL, TE | 8 | 8 | 8 | 7 |
| Jermichael Finley, GB, TE | 9 | 9 | 13 | 8 |
| Kyle Rudolph, MIN, TE | 10 | 12 | 9 | 12 |
| Antonio Gates, SD, TE | 11 | 11 | 17 | 9 |
| Owen Daniels, HOU, TE | 12 | 13 | 11 | 15 |
| Jordan Cameron, CLE, TE | 13 | 17 | 10 | 14 |
| Brandon Pettigrew, DET, TE | 14 | 15 | 12 | 17 |
| Brandon Myers, NYG, TE | 15 | 14 | 14 | 20 |
| Rob Housler, ARZ, TE | 16 | 16 | 16 | 19 |
| Jermaine Gresham, CIN, TE | 17 | 21 | 15 | 16 |
| Fred Davis, WAS, TE | 18 | 20 | 22 | 11 |
| Coby Fleener, IND, TE | 19 | 19 | 18 | 18 |
| Marcedes Lewis, JAC, TE | 20 | 18 | 20 | 21 |
| Heath Miller, PIT, TE | 21 | 23 | 21 | 23 |
| Delanie Walker, TEN, TE | 22 | 24 | 23 | 22 |
| Tyler Eifert, CIN, TE | 23 | 22 | 19 | 28 |
| Scott Chandler, BUF, TE | 24 | 25 | 24 | 24 |
| Dwayne Allen, IND, TE | 25 | 26 | 25 | 27 |
| Zach Miller, SEA, TE | 26 | 27 | 26 | 25 |
| James Casey, PHI, TE | 27 | 28 | 27 | - |
| Zach Ertz, PHI, TE | 28 | 30 | 29 | 26 |
| Brent Celek, PHI, TE | 29 | 29 | 28 | - |
| Luke Stocker, TB, TE | 30 | 31 | 30 | 29 |
| Joel Dreessen, DEN, TE | 31 | 32 | 31 | - |
| Kellen Winslow, NYJ, TE | 32 | 33 | 32 | 30 |
| Travis Kelce, KC, TE | 33 | 34 | 33 | - |
| Jake Ballard, NE, TE | 34 | 36 | 34 | - |
| Jacob Tamme, DEN, TE | 35 | 35 | 35 | - |
| Tony Scheffler, DET, TE | 36 | 37 | 36 | - |
| David Ausberry, OAK, TE | 37 | 38 | 37 | - |
| Jeff Cumberland, NYJ, TE | 38 | 39 | 38 | - |
| Vance McDonald, SF, TE | 39 | 40 | 39 | - |
A few notes moving forward:
1. While we haven't heard too much info on Rob Gronkowski's recovery from back surgery, he is still being listed as Doubtful for WK1. the real problem is whether or not he will deal with residual problems when he is "recovered". For now, because he's Gronk, I have him at No.4, but I would exercise extreme caution moving forward. I really believe the name will sell fantasy owners higher than his risk factor.
2. Jermaine Gresham is still listed as the starting TE in Cincy but we all know why the Bengals drafted Tyler Eifert. Gresham has failed to live up to the hype, and although the Bengals will offer more DBL-TE looks this season, I believe it will be Eifert surpassing Gresham at year's end.
3. Jordan Cameron remains a big candidate for sleeper status this season. The organization has high hopes for Cameron, but I would like to see a bit more ball security out of him before raising his rank.After being woefully underutilized as a Titan, Jared Cook will have a tremendous opportunity to excel with St. Louis. He can line up as a 6'5", 250 pound wideout, and will create enormous matchup problems for opponents.These are my standard scoring fantasy draft rankings - NON PPR - Lots of rookies could emerge as low end tight end #1 fantasy starters. I'll keep these rankings updated as the preseason continues to unwind, in particularly the week 3 games should tell us a lot about where these players need to be ranked. There's been noise around Zach Ertz in Philly lining up wide in camp etc, he could end up producing this year and has some very late round sleeper value in the fantasy football draft. Fleener looks like the TE to own in Indy, but the presence of Allen can hurt him at times so I'd avoid him and ranked him accordingly. I'm ranking Davis high as hell, I know it's risky but this is the year he returns to his TOP 3 fantasy form.Created with WP Rankings Plugin. Powered by: Fantasy Knuckleheads
