The Archetype of a Top-12 TE

Photo: Kyle Terada, USA Today Sports

The tight end position consistently creates dilemmas for fantasy managers. Whether it's Travis Kelce, George Kittle, or Mark Andrews, the position has become more top-heavy than ever. When drafting, managers must decide whether to invest an early pick on one of the elite tight ends or discover a late-round gem. But the late-round catch is often challenging to identify, as there's much less yearly consistency beyond the top three at the position.

The final installment in the archetype series identifies the archetype for a top-12 tight end to help identify potential risers and late-round gems based on 2022 performance.

• The Archetype of a Top-12 QB
• The Archetype of a Top-12 RB
• The Archetype of a Top-12 WR

The Sample

Like wide receivers, tight end usage hasn't drastically changed with the game's evolution. The top tier is traditionally apparent, and the overall output from the bottom of the top-12 hovers around ten fantasy points per game. The sample for this study included the top-12 TEs from 2018-2022.

The Archetype

Over the last five years, the average top-12 tight end looks like this:

Average Demographics

• Draft Capital refers to the round the player was selected in his NFL Draft.
• According to Player Profiler, the term College Dominator Rating was "first outlined by Frank DuPont in the book Game Plan, the college dominator rating represents a player's 'market share' or his percentage of his team's offensive production."
• RAS is the relative athletic score for that player, which is determined by a combination of athletic test results (usually from the NFL Combine).

Average Statistics

Main Takeaways

• Draft capital doesn't correlate with statistical significance with top-12 finishes.
• The relative athletic score average is second-highest among fantasy positions behind only running backs. Great athletes are more successful at scoring fantasy points.
• Just three 2022 tight ends eclipsed the average touchdown clip of 5.57; the position was less dependent on finding paydirt.
• Travis Kelce was the only 2022 TE to eclipse the targets/game, receptions/game, receiving yards/game, and touchdowns/game thresholds. 2022 was the only year from the sample where only the No. 1 TE met all four thresholds.

The 2022 Top 12 Tight Ends

Travis Kelce Average Demographics and Statistics

George Kittle Average Demographics and Statistics

Mark Andrews Average Demographics and Statistics

T.J. Hockenson Average Demographics and Statistics

Dallas Goedert Average Demographics and Statistics

Zach Ertz Average Demographics and Statistics

Evan Engram Average Demographics and Statistics

David Njoku Average Demographics and Statistics

Dalton Schultz Average Demographics and Statistics

Darren Waller Average Demographics and Statistics

Pat Freiermuth Average Demographics and Statistics

Dawson Knox Average Demographics and Statistics