8 Fantasy Football Tight Ends Primed to Break Out in 2024
![8 Tight Ends Primed to Break Out in 2024 8 Tight Ends Primed to Break Out in 2024](https://www.4for4.com/sites/default/files/styles/833-respbreakpoints_theme_for4_theme_tablet-max_1x/public/articles/USATSI_22293505%20%281%29.jpg?itok=HVNj47lT×tamp=1724196772)
No position in fantasy football has to be looked at from a “stars or scrubs” approach quite like tight end. There are basically four to five tight ends you can choose from if you want consistent, week-in-and-week-out production. After that, you’ll be looking for someone to far outkick their projections or, break out.
Below, I point out potential breakouts at the tight end position with the help of Stephen Hoopes’ study on predictable year-to-year stats. Combining the stickiest stats with the best offensive atmospheres should give us an idea of who can jump up a tier or leapfrog a number of tight ends going before them in average draft position (ADP).
A Look Back at 2023
There were a fair amount of “breakouts,” depending on how you feel about Logan Thomas and Jonnu Smith technically “breaking out,” even though their respective usable weeks were nearly impossible to identify.
Player | Team | 2023 ADP | 2023 TE Finish (PPG) |
---|---|---|---|
Sam LaPorta | DET | TE17 | TE1 |
Evan Engram | JAX | TE9 | TE2 |
Cole Kmet | CHI | TE16 | TE7 |
Jake Ferguson | DAL | TE28 | TE8 |
Trey McBride | ARI | TE32 | TE9 |
Logan Thomas | WAS | TE36 | TE16 |
Jonnu Smith | ATL | TE37 | TE17 |
There were many unknowns about these players heading into the 2023 season, but we can learn from those takeaways. Beyond the stats that we will dig into, we should also look for volatile or ambiguous pass-catching situations in which a tight end can emerge, particularly if we feel like an added opportunity exists around the end zone.
When searching for that breakout talent at tight end, these are the year-to-year stats we tend to lean on in identifying potential candidates, in the order of stickiest correlation:
- Receiving yards per game
- Targets per game
- Receptions per game
- Fantasy points per game
- Route rate
- Yards per route run
Breakout Candidates
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