Why Tight Ends Are The Most Important Position in Fantasy Football

It’s that time of year again: Football season! Although people root for their favorite teams, the love for players and football has led to the emergence of a whole new game: Fantasy Football. Although many believe that running backs, wide receivers or even quarterbacks are the most important, I believe that this is not the case. In this article we will make the case that tight ends are the most important position in Fantasy Football.

What is Fantasy Football?

Fantasy Football is a game in which individuals draft a team of players, generally consisting of a starting lineup of a quarterback, two running backs, two wide receivers, a tight end, defense, and a kicker. There is also a slot known as the “flex” slot, in which you can have another player start for your team. The only criteria for this position is that the player you play in this slot cannot be a quarterback.

Every week, depending on the performance of your players in their real life games, your players score points for their stats(ex. rushing touchdown is 6 points, each yard is 0.1 points, etc). At the end of the week, your team’s points are compared to the number of points of your opponent, and whoever has the most points would win. The standard fantasy football league has 8-10 teams, with some more advanced leagues having 12 or even 16 teams. In this article, we will be only discussing fantasy football leagues with the positions listed earlier, and containing only 8-10 teams.

At the surface level, Fantasy Football might seem overwhelming. There are so many positions, and so many players to take into account! However, once broken down, it’s really quite simple, and many patterns can be seen in every league.

What is the Significance of Each Position?

As aforementioned, the positions in Fantasy Football are quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers, tight ends, defenses and kickers. For the purpose of this article, we will be ignoring defenses and kickers, since they are evaluated much differently than the other 4 primary positions, and score no where near the same amount of points.

Quarterbacks

Although often seen as the most important position on the field, quarterbacks don’t always carry the same worth in fantasy football. In fantasy football, being mobile as a QB is very important. This is because in the standard scoring, quarterbacks get 0.04 points for each passing yard, whereas they can get 0.1 points for every rushing yard. Passing touchdowns are also worth 4 points, whereas rushing touchdowns are worth 6. This makes the distinction between different quarterbacks very hard to define, since certain quarterbacks can struggle in the air, but can still be elite fantasy quarterbacks thanks to their legs. Some examples include Lamar Jackson, Deshaun Watson, and Kyler Murray.

Other great quarterbacks are more traditional, and score most of their points by being effective in the passing game. These include players like Tom Brady, Matt Ryan, and gunslingers like Ryan Fitzpatrick. The final type are the players who can do a bit of both; something that is very valuable. Examples include Patrick Mahomes, Russell Wilson, and Aaron Rodgers.

Because of the variety of different ways in which quarterbacks can be efficient, there are always many quarterbacks who will perform well. There are also fewer players with explosive weeks. On average, most quarterbacks perform quite similarly, and there are only 3-4 elite quarterbacks who are really worth taking before everyone else. This is why quarterbacks are drafted in the mid to late rounds of the draft, and are generally taken after running backs, wide receivers and tight ends.

Running Backs

Running backs are one of the more important positions in fantasy football. Unlike wide receivers, where most teams have 2 to 3 viable options for fantasy, each team generally only has one running back who gets most of the touches. This means that there are less than half the amount of starting running backs then there are wide receivers. However, both positions are still allocated the same number of spots in your fantasy starting lineup. This is why running backs are generally the first position to be taken off the board in a fantasy football draft.

In PPR leagues, where your players get a point for every reception they make, running backs become even more valuable. They can accumulate points as both a receiver and on the ground. This is why you should select a running back with at least one of your first two picks, since they go off the board very early, and barring injury, there is a low chance for mid to late round running backs to end up being fantasy relevant.

Wide Receivers

Wide Receivers are by far the deepest position in all of fantasy. As mentioned earlier, each team can have up to 3 players who are viable options at the receiver position. This means that a lot of great fantasy wide receivers can be taken in the middle rounds. Granted, there are some wide receivers whose explosiveness makes them great early round selections. These include Davante Adams, Tyreek Hill and DeAndre Hopkins.

Since this is not the case for running backs, most people draft wide receivers after they secure their running backs, as the trade off between the early and mid round running backs is much greater than it is for wide receivers.

Another great quality of wide receivers is how many breakout candidates there are. New quarterbacks for teams and constantly changing receiving cores create opportunities for new receivers to shine every year.

Overall, solid wide receivers can be found in any round of the draft, and you should take advantage of that.

What is the Importance of Tight Ends in Fantasy Football?

Tight Ends are very different then the other positions. Traditionally, tight ends were predominantly used as blockers, and occasionally caught passes to throw the defense off balance. However, in the modern era, tight ends such as Rob Gronkowski and Travis Kelce have helped change this conception, becoming vital receiving options for their teams. Gronkowski formed such a strong connection with his quarterback Tom Brady, that he was consistently seen as the team’s top receiving option, and was always seen as a threat. Similarly, Travis Kelce has been that go to target for Patrick Mahomes, and as recently as last year was one of 7 non-quarterback players to exceed the 300 PPR point mark. That is unheard of for a tight end and just one of his many accomplishments.

Other than him, there have only been 2 other TEs who have been consistent recently; George Kittle and Darren Waller. These three are seen as the top tight ends in the league, and after them, no one has near the same amount of production. Last year, following Kittle’s injury, Waller finished as the TE2 in Fantasy Football, and scored 47 more points than the TE3, Robert Tonyan.

Why are Tight Ends are the Most Important Position in Fantasy Football?

Because of this massive fall-off after the top for TEs, Tight Ends are arguably the most important position in Fantasy Football. Given how deep the WR and RB positions are, the average points scored for your 2 RBs, 2 WRs, and flex generally all even out. If certain teams have weaker RBs, they have stronger WRs, and vice versa. However, the Tight End position is what separates the good teams from the elite. Having a good tight end that can consistently score 12-16 points a week can make up for any holes you have in your team, giving you a massive advantage over your opponents.

However, it is important to note that Tight Ends lose importance in 12 man leagues and leagues with multiple flexes. This is due to the depth of the WR and RB position becoming smaller, hence, fewer strong players are available to be started. Nonetheless, 8 man and standard 10 man leagues, Tight Ends are the most valuable position, and having an elite tight end can be the difference between a championship team and an average team.

Takeaways

At the end of the day, I am not saying that you should only draft tight ends, or that running backs and wide receivers are bad. As mentioned earlier, each position is important, and has its own benefits. However, due to how shallow the tight end position is, I strongly believe that tight ends are the most important position in fantasy football.

Hopefully you can use this knowledge in your drafts against your friends, and come out on top!