Fantasy Football: Top 6 rookie tight ends for 2020 season

By default, the 2020 NFL Draft is next month’s most anticipated sporting event and these are the top tight ends in dynasty fantasy football leagues.

Previously, we explored the top rookie quarterbacks, running backs, and wide receivers in the 2020 NFL Draft from a fantasy football perspective. This time around, we tackle the tight end position.

Rookie tight ends rarely produce, so they’re typically only on the radar of dynasty fantasy football owners, the only humans alive who care to immerse themselves in analysis of dark horse rookie tight end prospects. We’ve uncovered a few of those because we’re here for you, hardcore dynasty leaguers.

Colby Parkinson, a 6-7, 252-pound behemoth, ran a 4.77-second 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine.  The Stanford product moves well and runs great routes, but his subpar blocking technique is likely to keep him off the field in the short-term.

The native of Simi Valley (CA) is probably the best prospect missing from our list; he favorably draws comparisons to Mike Gesicki from NFL.com draft analyst Lance Zierlein. Comparatively, Vanderbilt’s Jared Pinkney likewise doesn’t fit the bill of an every-down, in-line tight end, but he lacks Parkinson’s athleticism and phenomenal fantasy football upside.

Oregon’s Jacob Breeland stands at 6-5 and weighs in at 252 pounds. The seventh-ranked tight end according to Rich Hribar of Sharp Football Analysis, Breeland started the season in impressive fashion before tearing his ACL, an injury which prevented him from participating in the recent NFL Combine.

Cheyenne (C.J.) O’Grady carries red flags of a different kind. The former Arkansas tight end  projects well as an intriguing pass-catching prospect at the next level, but was suspended three times by two different coaching staffs before leaving the Razorbacks last season.

Another to watch: LSU’s Thaddeus Moss. Frankly, he is hard to dislike for two reasons, the same ones that explain why he ranks a bit too high on many analysts’ lists: pedigree and recency bias.

Thaddeus, son of Hall of Fame wide receiver Randy Moss, scored three touchdowns in the College Football Playoff, including two in the National Championship Game. However, he caught a total of one touchdown in all of his previous 2019 contests, including the SEC Championship, a game in which he snagged just two passes for 12 yards.

Now that the dark horses are out of the way, let’s shine a light on the top-tier fantasy football prospects from this year’s crop of rookie tight ends. Crack open a cold one and kick back with the six-pack we’ve assembled for your enjoyment.

6. Albert Okwuegbunam, Missouri

Albert Okwuegbunam (pronounced oh-koo-WAY-boo-nahm) ran the 40-yard dash at the NFL Combine faster than most Americans can pronounce his last name on the first try. In fact, his time was the fastest of any tight end at the combine.

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Okwuegbunam produced at a high level with Drew Lock under center at Missouri, but his performance dropped off during his senior season with Kelly Bryant at the helm. The Nigerian native is a prolific red zone threat, with 23 touchdowns to his credit during his collegiate career.

Okwuegbunam is quick enough to create space in tight quarters, and he can absolutely punish overmatched defensive backs in the open field with his impressive size/speed combination. This makes him a threat to opposing defenses, which means he’s a terrific under-the-radar dynasty selection who has been favorably compared to Jimmy Graham by some.

5. Brycen Hopkins, Purdue

Brycen Hopkins is the third-ranked tight end in this year’s rookie class according to both Pro Football Focus (pre-combine) and Sharp Football Analysis. He posted an impressive senior campaign, catching 61 balls for 830 yards and 7 touchdowns.

As pointed out by John Laub in his Draft Seminar focusing on Hopkins, the playmaker from Purdue posted an impressive 22 percent dominator rating (percentage of team’s total targets) and ran a varied route tree in college. However, his catch rate of 64 percent is a bit low; he needs to display better hands if he expects to command a high percentage of looks at the NFL level.

Hopkins does a lot of things well: he is fluid, athletic, and demonstrates contested-catch ability in the red zone, a critical skill for tight ends in fantasy football. Unfortunately, his upside in PPR limited by his propensity for dropping the football, as pointed out here by Pro Football Focus:

Hopkins won many accolades on the strength of his final season, including being named the first-team Big Ten All-Conference tight end, and winning first-team Associated Press All-American honors. However, Hopkins doesn’t project to be an in-line, every-down tight end due to physicality and blocking deficiencies, and his problematic drops are a concern that lingers as Draft Day approaches.

4. Hunter Bryant, Washington

Few players at any position hurt their stock as much at the Combine as Hunter Bryant, who showed up to the combine heavier and slower than expected. Yet, the Washington Husky still ranks first on Sharp Football’s list.

His medical history is a minor concern, given two separate knee injuries in college: an ACL tear his freshman year, and a meniscus tear the following spring. Those ailments are in the rearview, as the Issaquah, WA native ended an impressively productive college career on a high note,

The 2019 John Mackey Award finalist posted a stellar senior season, hauling in 56 catches for 979 yards and 10 touchdowns. Even more impressive are his career numbers in a very important metric for those who value analytics: yards per route run.

While Bryant made several highlight-reel plays downfield, he was essentially invisible inside the red zone, in part due to his below average size for the position. He’s a great field-stretcher, and projects to be a very solid move tight end at the next level but he’s not a top-tier red zone option, nor is he an elite fantasy football prospect in PPR leagues.

3. Adam Trautman, Dayton

Adam Trautman is the top-rated rookie tight end on several boards, including that of FantasyPros analyst Kyle Yates. Pro Football Focus has him rated as second-best, citing his FCS production as the nation’s leader among tight ends in targets (95), receptions (70), and touchdowns (14). Per PFF’s Jeff Ratcliffe:

"While it’s always tricky to project small-school players for dynasty purposes, the fact that Trautman posted the second-highest single-season grade (94.2) among tight ends in the PFF College era bodes well for his long-term fantasy outlook. In case you’re wondering, the highest grade came from Dallas Goedert (94.9) in 2017."

That’s high praise, considering how talented Goedert proved to be in his second year with the Philadelphia Eagles last season, holding his own with Pro Bowl-caliber tight end and teammate Zach Ertz. The data aligns with the film in Trautman’s case, as there’s no denying his incredible athleticism:

There are no doubts that Trautman has proven himself to be a capable receiving option at the tight end position, and his upside for dynasty fantasy football owners is undeniable. What remains to be seen is how well Trautman can transition from FCS play to the NFL, especially when trusted with critical blocking assignments as an in-line tight end.

2. Harrison Bryant, Florida Atlantic

Another small school prospect graces our list, as Harrison Bryant settles into the second spot our rankings on the heels of a 65-catch, 1,004-yard, seven-touchdown season, albeit against Group of Five competition. Oh, by the way, the Georgia native also won the 2019 John Mackey Award, given to the nation’s best tight end.

One of the better pass-catching tight ends in the draft, Bryant’s limited blocking skills may limit his deployment in his first NFL season. Nevertheless, the 6-5, 240-pounder has caught the attention of several analysts and scouts, including Sports Illustrated’s Shawn Childs, who rates Bryant as the top overall tight end in this year’s crop:

Bryant boasted an insane 3.04 yards per route run, best of any tight end in this draft class. According to Scott Barrett of Pro Football Focus, this mark was also better than Dallas Goedert (2.94) and Mark Andrews (2.63) in 2017, as well as Evan Engram (2.59) in 2016, all of whom finished in the top two in that metric during those particular seasons. Barrett lays high praise on the Florida Atlantic Owl:

"According to our model, Bryant is the best small-school tight end prospect to come out since at least 2015. He ranks just slightly ahead of Dallas Goedert in that regard."

Bryant shows great promise, and his dominator rating of 25 percent was one of college football’s highest at the tight end position. Don’t expect a breakout rookie season, however, as he needs to improve his catch consistency and improve blocking deficiencies before he can regularly play in-line.

1. Cole Kmet, Notre Dame

Cole Kmet, a capable and willing blocker, graded out as the top tight end prospect in the NFL Combine, according to NFL.com and he tops our list, as well. While the two preceding small school prospects are exceptionally enticing, Kmet is the safest pick for someone looking to stash a rookie tight end for the future.

Even before the Combine, Kmet was consistently ranked as a top-tier option. The junior from Notre Dame is the top tight end on the board of the draft guru Mel Kiper, Jr., who has seen a lot of tight ends come and go, and Kiper even had him as a top-20 pick in a January mock draft on ESPN+ (subscription required).

The 6-6, 260-pound native from the Greater Chicago area caught 43 of 61 (70.5 percent) of passes thrown his way this past season, crossing the stripe six times while racking up 515 yards receiving. Kmet’s 20.6% dominator rating in 2019 is rather impressive for a tight end; he boasts a great speed and size combination and looks the part on film.

He only has one season of top-shelf production but it was against top-shelf competition, as Notre Dame ranked 16th out of 130 teams in that category. Kmet isn’t the fastest or strongest tight end prospect in this draft, but he is the best one.

Kmet will likely struggle out of the gate, as most rookie tight ends do. However, there’s little reason to doubt Kmet’s ability to hold down the fort as a starting-caliber option in most fantasy football leagues for years to come.