Young names shake up our top 20 tight end rankings for Week 1

The 2019 NFL season starts this week and the tight end landscape has seen a few changes. Rob Gronkowski is currently retired, leaving the trio of Travis Kelce, George Kittle and Zach Ertz atop the rankings.

This could be the year the position shows some depth. Hunter Henry played terrifically in 2017, but unfortunately missed 2018 due to injury. Evan Engram and David Njoku had promising sophomore campaigns but both will have to adjust to changes as Odell Beckham Jr. is now Njoku’s teammate leaving plenty of targets for Engram in New York. 13 of Eric Ebron’s 24 career touchdowns occurred last season. That’s a tough act to repeat, especially since Andrew Luck abruptly retired and Jack Doyle is back healthy.

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Speaking of health, it’s a short injury report to start the season. Keep an eye on Jordan Reed. He’s coming out of the concussion protocol and should be ready for Week 1, but with so many concussions in the past the team could exercise caution early in the season.

If you are looking for good value or sleeper plays at the position don’t forget about the return of Delanie Walker. The Tennessee Titans missed the versatile tight end last year and he should get a lot of work as the Titans keep pace with the Cleveland Browns. One tight end you may want to avoid this week is O.J. Howard. He’s an explosive athlete, but the San Francisco 49ers were pretty good at covering the position last season.