One way to gain an edge over your fantasy football leaguemates? Draft players ahead of their breakout seasons! Here, the team at Yahoo Fantasy highlights five of their favorite TE breakout candidates to consider in drafts.
It’s strange to predict a breakout for a tight end who has already posted a 1,000-yard season, but we haven’t seen the best of Pitts, who compiled just 68 catches and one touchdown while reaching the century mark in targets his rookie year. His PPR points total of 176.6 was nothing special, as it paled in comparison to the 234.9 points that Lions TE Sam LaPorta posted in his 2024 rookie season. And things only went backward for Pitts in the subsequent two campaigns, as the combination of a narrow-minded offensive coordinator and dismal QB play made it impossible to showcase his skills.
Everything is looking up now, however, as Kirk Cousins typically allows his weapons to shine, and Pitts, who is still just 23 years old, joins Drake London and Bijan Robinson as a three-headed monster that should give defenses nightmares. Pitts is currently the seventh TE off the board in Yahoo! drafts but could rule his position by season’s end. — Fred Zinkie
Ferguson is already established as a useful player, but there’s another potential level for growth if he becomes more efficient around the goal line. Ferguson led the position in red-zone targets last year but had a mildly disappointing five touchdowns overall. If that conversion rate bumps in 2024, Ferguson easily could become a top-five tight end this time around. Ferguson’s role in Dallas is secure, the second target priority after CeeDee Lamb. — Scott Pianowski
Isaiah Likely finished as a top-five fantasy tight end three times over the final five weeks with Mark Andrews out last season. He was also the TE8 in Week 18 despite seeing just two targets while Baltimore rested many of its starters.
The Ravens have a glaring weakness at WR2 and utilize their tight ends in the red zone far more than any team in the league, so Likely should have a bigger role this season even if Andrews stays healthy (Andrews has missed multiple games in three of the past four seasons). Reports suggest Likely could be Baltimore’s second receiving option in 2024, and he has top-three TE upside should Andrews go down again. — Dalton Del Don
One attribute that I like to look for to increase the odds of hitting on a late-round breakout tight end is guys on good offenses without a clear No. 1 receiver. Packers tight end Luke Musgrave checks both of those boxes. While the Packers have quite a deep receiving room, none of their players sticks out as a clear target hog. This paves the way for someone like Musgrave to make a leap and earn himself a larger share of the volume pie.
The Packers invested second-round draft capital to take Musgrave last year, and he was solid in his nine starts. If Musgrave can establish himself as a larger red-zone threat for Jordan Love, who threw 32 touchdowns last year, I anticipate he will be extremely valuable in fantasy given his current ADP of TE18. The Packers likely have too many mouths to feed for Musgrave to have a top-three season, but I could envision him cementing himself above the streaming line as a consistent starter with a high touchdown output. — Pranav Rajaram
Heading into 2024, there are a ton of questions about the Steelers’ offense, both in terms of scheme and their options at quarterback between Russell Wilson and Justin Fields. However, fantasy managers should note that, at the very least, it can’t get any worse for Pat Freiermuth in 2024 than it’s been over the past two seasons, where the Steelers have thrown a total of 25 passing touchdowns in the regular seasons … combined.
Before a disastrous 2023 campaign also marred by injury, Freiermuth was coming off a TE8 finish in fantasy despite totaling just two touchdowns on the year. That was, in large part, thanks to having ranked sixth among tight ends in both receptions (63) and receiving yards (732). Given the expectation for positive regression in passing touchdown production for the offense, regardless of who is under center, he could return some decent value based on his current ADP of TE13.
As the TE1 in Arthur Smith’s tight-end-friendly offense averaging 7.3 targets to the position per game over the past three years (third-highest rate in that span), Freiermuth is primed for his best campaign yet. If the Steelers don’t bring in another receiver behind George Pickens, Freiermuth could reasonably be in line for a 120+ target season as the second receiving option in the offense. — Kate Magdziuk
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