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Tight end rankings for 2021 fantasy football before March free agency

Top fantasy tight ends are hard to come by. We break down the best going into 2021 free agency.

Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce (87) is introduced before the game against the Buffalo Bills in the AFC Championship Game at Arrowhead Stadium.  Denny Medley-USA TODAY Sports

Last season was a poor one for fantasy tight ends, as Travis Kelce was head and shoulders above the rest and Darren Waller was far ahead of the rest of the riff-raff. George Kittle’s injury made the position even more undesirable throughout the season. Could things turn around this year, or should we take Kelce in the first round and move on with our lives?

Here are my pre-draft and -free agency tight end rankings:

Tier 1

Kelce, Kittle and Waller make up the top tier with Kelce being the clear No. 1. Kittle has the ability to take that spot as long as he can stay healthy, but you can’t get past Kelce’s consistency.

Waller’s value isn’t quite up there with Kelce and Kittle, but if the Raiders continue to have trouble finding that tru No. 1 receiver, Waller will continue to have enough targets to be near the top of the fantasy standings at the end of the season.

Tier 2

We keep waiting for more of these talented tight ends to push their way closer to Tier 1, but none of them are getting the targets to do so. Mark Andrews, T.J. Hockenson, Noah Fant, Hunter Henry, Dallas Goedert, Mike Gesicki, Robert Tonyan, Evan Engram and Logan Thomas all have the potential to be consistent fantasy players, but the likelihood they will get the workload to make a big leap isn’t high.

Tight end rankings for 2021 half-PPR fantasy football

Rk Name Team
Rk Name Team
1 Travis Kelce KC
2 George Kittle SF
3 Darren Waller LV
4 Mark Andrews BAL
5 T.J. Hockenson DET
6 Noah Fant DEN
7 Hunter Henry LAC
8 Dallas Goedert PHI
9 Mike Gesicki MIA
10 Robert Tonyan GB
11 Evan Engram NYG
12 Logan Thomas WAS
13 Jonnu Smith TEN
14 Irv Smith Jr. MIN
15 Hayden Hurst ATL
16 Rob Gronkowski TB
17 Blake Jarwin DAL
18 Tyler Higbee LAR
19 Zach Ertz PHI
20 Austin Hooper CLE
21 Eric Ebron PIT
22 Cole Kmet CHI
23 Jared Cook NO
24 O.J. Howard TB
25 Chris Herndon IV NYJ
26 Dawson Knox BUF
27 Gerald Everett LAR
28 Jack Doyle IND
29 Jimmy Graham CHI
30 Ian Thomas CAR
31 Dan Arnold ARI
32 Tyler Eifert JAC
33 Kyle Rudolph MIN
34 Kyle Pitts FA
35 Will Dissly SEA