A sleeper tight end is a player taken as a backup who ends up worthy of being a starter or at least far outplays the draft slot where you selected him. Average Draft Positions (ADP) are taken from MyFantasyLeague.com using only real drafts conducted after July 15.
The Average Draft order shows a general picture of how your draft will unfold and where values/sleepers and bad values/busts likely exist. Any green check means the player is a good value that could be taken earlier. A red “X” signifies an overvalued player that is a bad value or just too high of a risk for that spot.
Average Draft order – Value plays
| ADP | Value | Tm | Name | |
| 1 | KC | Travis Kelce | Hmmm.. #1 TE for the last THREE years. Okay. Make it four. | |
| 2 | PHI | Zach Ertz |
|
|
| 3 |  |
SF | George Kittle | I’d drop him back several spots. Averaged 4-63 with no TD in 3 games with Garoppolo. SF best WR last year was Kendrick Bourne (42-487-4). This year Garoppolo is back with Dante Pettis, Deebo Samuel, Marquise Goodwin, Jerick McKinnon, etc. Far more targets than 2018 with a different QB. Kittle still great, just a bit too high in a new situation. |
| 4 |  |
TB | O.J. Howard | Howard is probably there in the fifth round and yet was on a pace for 55-900-8 last year before the ankle injury. Love where you can make this pick. |
| 5 | |
NYG | Evan Engram | Was less high on Engram but then Tate was suspended and Shepard banged up and Coleman gone for year. Engram’s rookie year looked like this. No Odell Beckham means Engram is a safety blanket. |
| 6 | LAC | Hunter Henry | Is often drafted as #4 TE. Coming back from a torn ACL but will be well over a year by Week 1 of season. At worst a solid pick. | |
| 7 | |
IND | Eric Ebron | Ebron ended as #4 fantasy TE in his first year with IND and scored 14 TDs. So yeah, I love him here. What about Doyle? The guy with never more than 5 TD when he was the #1 option? Whatever. This is gold in the sixth round or so. |
| 8 | |
NO | Jared Cook | While I’d agree – the first seven TE listed are all better. But if you missed them, Cook has major upside where only Michael Thomas is a lock for a high volume. Cook seems to be meshing well with Drew Brees and comes off a career-best 896 yards in OAK last year. |
| 9 | |
CLE | David Njoku | Talented – sure. But a bit high for me since CLE has so many other options when Baker Mayfield passes. |
| 10 | |
PIT | Vance McDonald | Had a career-best 50-610-4 last year. And Antonio Brown leaves a huge hole behind. But McDonald has never been much of a red zone threat and never gained over 50 yards in his final ten games last year. Could be a little better with Jesse James gone but no expectation of him being a fantasy difference-maker. |
| 11 | |
ATL | Austin Hooper | His third year ended with 71-660-4 and should be at least incrementally better. Pro bowl last year and HC Dan Quinn expects Hooper to take the next step up. |
| 12 | |
DET | T.J. Hockenson | Lions want to run more. Best DET TE in 2018 was only 21-263-1 and all combined for just 45 receptions. And this is a rookie TE so no, not interested this year. |
Sleepers and over-valued players
| ADP | Value | Tm | Name | |
| 13 | CHI | Trey Burton | Burton had 54-569-6 in 2018 and that’s likely his ceiling as Mitchell Trubisky continues to evolve into using his WR more. | |
| 14 | |
PHI | Dallas Goedert | If Ertz was out injured, then Goedert would be a top-five TE. But his 33-334-4 rookie year is not likely to blow up into a fantasy starter this season. Less than 30 yards and no score in most weeks. |
| 15 | DEN | Noah Fant | Not a fan of any rookie TE and even less on a team featuring either Joe Flacco or a rookie QB. Great keeper pick but don’t want a rookie TE even as a backup. | |
| 16 | |
MIN | Kyle Rudolph | As a backup TE, Rudolph is a solid pick. Still managed 64-634-4 playing with Kirk Cousins last year. MIN drafted Irv Smith but they also signed Rudolph to a 4-year $36M extension. So yeah, getting a TE that never ranked worse than #8 for the last three years at the #16 feels a bit illegal. |
| 17 | |
BAL | Mark Andrews | Love the upside here. Only managed 34-552-3 as a rookie but most breakout in their second season. Has drawn rave reviews in camp as a “big body over the middle” and Lamar Jackson seems the type to look for a TE. Could end up as a TE1 value. |
| 18 | |
CAR | Greg Olsen | He is 34 years old and broke down badly for the last two years. Chances that he returns to form on my team is zero because unreliable and oft-injured players kill a fantasy lineup. |
| 19 | |
TEN | Delanie Walker | He is 35 years old and broke down last year with a broken ankle and ligament damage. TEN invested in elite WR the last two years and if Walker ends up with TE1 value, it means it all went horribly wrong in TEN this season. That’s actually not impossible, I guess. |
| 20 | IND | Jack Doyle | Meh. Second fiddle for IND TE and Ebron is a TD sponge. Could fill a bye week though. | |
| 21 | |
NYJ | Chris Herndon | He was close to being a top 10 TE but then received the four-game suspension. Cannot fault the pick. Actually makes sense as a TE2 so long as your TE1 doesn’t have a bye before Week 5. |
| 22 | WAS | Jordan Reed | Even when the Skins have no other viable options as receivers, Reed still cannot do better than 54-558-2 and that was only missing three games. Too unreliable for me but he still lives on the promise of his 2015 season. | |
| 23 | |
GB | Jimmy Graham | No arguing that his 55-636-2 first year in GB was anything but disappointing. But that still was the #12 best fantasy TE and now he is #23? Graham isn’t a 100-yard receiver anymore but he should see better TDs in the new offense. As a TE2 I am all over this every time. GB drafted a third-round TE but so what? Love this TE2. |
| 24 | MIA | Mike Gesicki | Second-year TE had a forgettable 2018 but so did literally every other player for the Dolphins. This second-round pick by MIA last year deserves a “see what happens” pick at this point. |
Best of the rest
Jason Witten (DAL) – Sure, he was out of football in 2018 but he may be the only one to go to the booth and then return to football. Never had fewer than 63 catches since 2004 and claims to be refreshed from a year away. As a very deep TE2 pick could fill a bye week better than most.
Darren Waller (OAK) – Has been hyped in training camp as the replacement for Jared Cook. OAK has refreshed their receivers so Cook’s 68-896-6 isn’t realistic but Waller deserves a TE2 stash to see what he becomes.
