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2022 Fantasy Football Tight End Rankings: Is Pat Freiermuth poised for a breakout season?

With Fantasy Football draft season right around the corner, let’s rank the TEs worth drafting, which includes one Steeler.

Tennessee Titans v Pittsburgh Steelers Photo by Joe Sargent/Getty Images

The 2022 fantasy football draft season is almost here, and I, for one, cannot wait to see the twists and turns of my fantasy drafts. Each league is so unique, but that is what makes fantasy football so enjoyable, is it not? From work leagues, to friend leagues, to family leagues, the impact fantasy football has had in our lives as fans cannot be copied by any other fantasy sport.

It is about that time of the year where fantasy managers begin looking at expert rankings, strategies, and formulas, all in the hope of developing the perfect plan to dominate their fantasy leagues. Perhaps you fit that description as well. Are you trying to determine which players you should draft and which ones you should avoid? Are you an early drafter looking for some last-minute advice? Are you looking for advice on late-round sleepers? If you said yes to any of the aforementioned questions, you have come to the right place!

Over the next couple weeks, we will be ranking the top players at each of the four primary fantasy positions: quarterback, running back, wide receiver, and tight end. These standard (non-PPR) rankings will also include detailed breakdowns for all Steelers players who are considered draftable in standard 10 or 12-team leagues. Today, we will be looking at a position which is perennially thin in fantasy: tight end.

If you have any thoughts on these rankings, be sure to comment down below.

Let’s dive in!


Fantasy Tight End Rankings

1. Mark Andrews | Baltimore Ravens
2. Travis Kelce | Kansas City Chiefs
3. Kyle Pitts | Atlanta Falcons
4. Darren Waller | Las Vegas Raiders
5. Dalton Schultz | San Francisco 49ers
6. George Kittle | San Francisco 49ers
7. T.J. Hockenson | Detroit Lions

8. Pat Freiermuth | Pittsburgh Steelers

From an athletic standpoint, there are only a select few that are more gifted than Freiermuth at the tight end position. His ability as a blocker, his catch radius, his sure hands, and his explosiveness with the ball in his hands are all traits that make up an elite tight end. After a strong rookie season, Freiermuth will now look to take the next step toward becoming one of the NFL’s elite, but he will be working with a new quarterback.

The biggest key for Pat will be making more things happen after the catch. Despite having nearly 500 receiving yards and 7 touchdowns in 2021, he only averaged 8.3 yards per reception. Now, it is entirely possible that number was shrunk due to being primarily used as a red zone weapon and not as much on the beginning of drives, but it will be interesting to see how quickly Mitch Trubisky can develop a rapport with him.

Freiermuth could quickly become the best tight end Trubisky has ever worked with, as all the tight ends Chicago brought in during his tenure failed to live up to expectations. With Eric Ebron out of the picture, Freiermuth is the clear-cut number one option at the position for the Steelers, and he will likely see a slight uptick in targets with the changes at quarterback. It does not take much to be a TE1 in fantasy football, but regardless, I think Freiermuth’s value is tough to pass up once we reach the 9th and 10th rounds.

9. Cole Kmet | Chicago Bears
10. Dallas Goedert | Philadelphia Eagles
11. Cameron Brate | Tampa Bay Buccaneers
12. David Njoku | Cleveland Browns
13. Dawson Knox | Buffalo Bills
14. Zach Ertz | Arizona Cardinals
15. Logan Thomas | Washington Commanders
16. Irv Smith, Jr. | Minnesota Vikings
17. Austin Hooper | Tennessee Titans
18. Gerald Everett | Los Angeles Chargers
19. Noah Fant | Seattle Seahawks
20. Adam Trautman | New Orleans Saints
21. Albert Okwuegbunam | Denver Broncos
22. Tyler Higbee | Los Angeles Rams
23. Daniel Bellinger | New York Giants
24. Evan Engram | Jacksonville Jaguars
25. Taysom Hill | New Orleans Saints


What are your thoughts of these tight end rankings? Do you think Pat Freiermuth will be a top-10 tight end in fantasy football? Be sure to light up the comment section below with your thoughts on this topic and all things Pittsburgh Steelers!