Target Breakdown: 2022 Tight End Recap and 2023 Early Fantasy Rankings

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Updated on February 8, 2023 9:49AM EST

Travis Kelce led tight ends in fantasy scoring for a sixth time in the past seven seasons in 2022, reclaiming his crown with authority after Mark Andrews' 2021 intrusion. Kelce outscored second-place T.J. Hockenson by 100.9 PPR points, averaging 18.6 per game in a year where George Kittle was the only other TE to average even 13 (Kittle finished as TE3 despite missing two games).

It was Kelce's third time in the past five seasons scoring 18 per game, which puts him in the company of WRs Davante Adams and Tyreek Hill as well as RBs Christian McCaffrey, Derrick Henry, Austin Ekeler and Alvin Kamara. No other tight end has hit that mark even once the past five years, though Andrews (2021) and Darren Waller (2020) came close.

Hopes for improved TE depth in 2023 partially depend on a bounce-back year from at least one of those two, along with incoming help from a rookie class that looks strong at the position. Notre Dame's Michael Mayer is a surefire first-round pick, likely in the Top 15, while Luke Musgrave (Oregon St.), Dalton Kincaid (Utah) and Darnell Washington (Georgia) could be drafted toward the end of Day 1 or early part of Day 2.

History suggests we're more likely to get big-time production out of an early pick from the 2021 draft (e.g. Pat Freiermuth, Kyle Pitts) or even the less-heralded 2022 class (e.g. Trey McBride, Chigoziem Okonkwo), but there is some recent precedent of rookies being fantasy-startable, including Freiermuth and Pitts two years ago and Isaiah Likely this past season when the Ravens didn't have Andrews available.

Before we get to tight ends, be sure to check out my similar recent articles on running backs and wide receivers. Both have everything you'll find below, including my early 2023 ranks for each position. Anyway, here's what you'll find below:

2022 Awards
Injuries to Monitor this Offseason
2022 TE Stat Leaderboards (TPRR, aDOT, target share, etc)
2023 Free Agents & Potential Cap Casualties
Early 2023 Fantasy Rankings (Top 32 TEs)

2022 Awards 🏆

Real-Life MVP: Travis Kelce

Fantasy MVP: Travis Kelce

Best Rookie: Chigoziem Okonkwo

Best ADP Return: Travis Kelce

Mid-Round Magic: T.J. Hockenson

Late-Round Hero: Evan Engram

Comeback Player: David Njoku

Most Improved: Cole Kmet

Brightest Future: Mark Andrews / Kyle Pitts

Least Valuable Player: Tyler Conklin / Logan Thomas

Biggest Fantasy Bust: Kyle Pitts

Biggest Fantasy Bust (non-injury): Mike Gesicki / Hunter Henry

Biggest Real-Life Bust: Hunter Henry

Offseason Injury Rehab 🚑

ATL Kyle Pitts (MCL surgery in late November)

ARI Zach Ertz (ACL + MCL surgery in late November)

DEN Greg Dulcich (hamstring - placed on IR on Dec. 30)

SEA Will Dissly (knee - last played Dec. 24)

Kyle Pitts' rehab/recovery from his knee injury is "on schedule" Falcons TE coach Justin Peele said this morning.
— Josh Kendall (@JoshTheAthletic) January 30, 2023

Carroll says for now it remains unclear if TE Will Dissly needs surgery. For now gonna wait a few months to see if it will heal without surgery.
— Bob Condotta (@bcondotta) January 16, 2023

2022 Stat Leaderboards 📈📈📈

My favorite stats for TEs are shown below, plus we have more good stuff on RotoWire's Advanced Stats and Red Zone pages.

Rts = Routes Run
Rt/DB = Routes Run / # of Team QB Dropbacks
TS = Target Share (adjusted to only include games the TE played in)
AY = Air Yards
AYS = Air Yard Share (adjusted to only include games the TE played in)
TPRR = Targets per Route Run
YPRR = Yards per Route Run (receiving yards only)
aDOT = Average Depth of Target
PB% = Pass-blocking percentage (i.e., percentage of pass snaps kept in as a blocker)

	Snaps	Sn %	Rts	Rt/DB	Tgt	TS	REC	YDS	TD	AY	AYS	aDOT	TPRR	YPRR	PB%
Travis Kelce	863	79.0%	548	81.1%	152	24.8%	110	1338	12	1081	24.5%	7.1	29.0%	2.55	12.2%
Mark Andrews	755	82.8%	392	75.0%	113	28.1%	73	847	5	1080	33.4%	9.6	29.4%	2.21	3.2%
Tyler Higbee	868	87.0%	410	70.7%	108	21.7%	72	620	3	312	9.3%	2.9	35.2%	2.02	15.2%
Evan Engram	829	77.3%	487	78.7%	98	17.0%	73	766	4	585	14.2%	6	21.0%	1.64	7.8%
Pat Freiermuth	708	67.6%	413	67.8%	98	19.6%	63	732	2	805	19.0%	8.2	26.6%	1.98	7.6%
Dalton Schultz	782	78.9%	379	65.2%	89	18.7%	57	577	5	617	16.2%	6.9	24.3%	1.57	9.8%
Tyler Conklin	822	76.8%	447	67.0%	87	15.0%	58	552	3	686	14.2%	7.9	21.2%	1.35	13.7%
Gerald Everett	648	59.5%	421	56.4%	87	13.7%	58	555	4	470	12.1%	5.4	25.4%	1.62	10.1%
George Kittle	815	89.6%	423	77.9%	86	19.0%	60	765	11	569	19.0%	6.6	27.5%	2.44	10.5%
T.J. Hockenson	567	83.9%	350	48.8%	86	21.8%	60	519	3	647	19.6%	7.5	28.6%	1.72	12.4%
David Njoku	776	83.8%	369	63.6%	80	18.8%	58	628	4	572	16.0%	7.2	20.6%	1.62	8.0%
Cole Kmet	934	94.1%	362	83.4%	69	19.4%	50	544	7	504	15.7%	7.3	20.6%	1.62	17.5%
Dallas Goedert	702	89.5%	337	58.3%	69	19.4%	55	702	3	409	14.9%	5.9	20.2%	2.05	9.3%
Zach Ertz	543	79.0%	346	53.6%	69	18.1%	47	406	4	500	20.4%	7.2	20.4%	1.2	15.7%
Hayden Hurst	516	60.6%	354	55.1%	68	14.2%	52	414	2	321	9.5%	4.7	19.7%	1.2	4.8%
Robert Tonyan	568	54.2%	331	56.4%	67	12.5%	53	470	2	377	9.0%	5.6	23.3%	1.63	19.7%
Dawson Knox	788	80.2%	420	70.0%	65	12.7%	48	517	6	471	10.6%	7.2	14.6%	1.16	10.2%
Cade Otton	765	69.6%	434	59.4%	65	10.6%	42	391	2	365	9.1%	5.6	18.8%	1.13	11.6%
Juwan Johnson	627	65.4%	343	63.1%	65	14.2%	42	508	7	604	14.6%	9.3	20.6%	1.61	9.0%
Noah Fant	625	60.0%	331	53.6%	63	11.4%	50	486	4	400	9.5%	6.3	20.1%	1.55	10.4%
Logan Thomas	656	68.6%	346	57.8%	61	15.0%	39	323	1	416	12.2%	6.8	21.9%	1.16	12.1%
Austin Hooper	503	50.7%	302	60.0%	60	13.8%	41	444	2	471	14.0%	7.9	21.0%	1.55	6.0%
Isaiah Likely	389	39.5%	244	46.7%	60	15.5%	36	373	3	422	13.0%	7	30.5%	1.89	5.4%
Hunter Henry	762	75.8%	391	67.5%	59	12.1%	41	509	2	461	13.1%	7.8	18.2%	1.57	13.3%
Kyle Pitts	415	71.9%	192	43.1%	59	27.8%	28	356	2	764	34.0%	12.9	28.5%	1.72	11.3%
Greg Dulcich	474	75.0%	294	46.4%	55	18.2%	33	411	2	617	24.5%	11.2	21.4%	1.6	10.1%
Foster Moreau	715	77.9%	321	52.9%	54	11.6%	33	420	2	408	9.7%	7.6	18.3%	1.42	10.9%
Jordan Akins	387	43.6%	286	46.9%	54	11.2%	37	495	5	407	11.7%	7.5	20.9%	1.92	8.3%
Mike Gesicki	451	44.7%	337	58.9%	52	9.1%	32	362	5	465	9.1%	8.9	15.9%	1.11	9.3%
Chigoziem Okonkwo	361	36.4%	154	30.6%	46	11.9%	32	450	3	348	11.8%	7.6	34.1%	3.33	7.5%
Darren Waller	325	57.9%	231	38.1%	43	15.7%	28	388	3	556	22.1%	12.9	18.1%	1.63	1.5%
Harrison Bryant	538	48.0%	232	40.0%	42	9.8%	31	239	1	228	6.4%	5.4	20.9%	1.19	5.7%
Kylen Granson	390	45.1%	216	32.6%	40	8.7%	31	302	0	241	8.3%	6	19.2%	1.45	9.5%
Jelani Woods	318	32.4%	203	30.6%	40	9.3%	25	312	3	400	15.1%	10	31.0%	2.42	6.1%
Trey McBride	569	52.7%	286	44.3%	39	12.3%	29	265	1	234	10.2%	6	22.5%	1.53	17.3%
Will Dissly	544	60.4%	227	36.7%	38	7.7%	34	349	3	188	5.1%	4.9	17.7%	1.62	13.6%
Jonnu Smith	410	49.5%	155	26.8%	38	10.2%	27	245	0	125	4.5%	3.3	29.5%	1.9	13.0%
Cameron Brate	342	47.0%	227	31.1%	38	10.7%	20	174	0	262	9.6%	6.9	19.6%	0.9	9.9%
Irv Smith	270	52.3%	160	22.3%	36	13.0%	25	182	2	174	10.0%	4.8	22.9%	1.16	13.8%
Daniel Bellinger	553	72.6%	234	41.5%	35	11.2%	30	268	2	127	6.9%	3.6	17.9%	1.37	10.4%
Noah Gray	576	52.7%	240	35.5%	34	5.7%	28	299	1	164	3.7%	4.8	15.1%	1.33	21.7%
Colby Parkinson	428	41.1%	194	31.4%	34	7.6%	25	322	2	277	7.9%	8.1	21.3%	2.01	10.0%
Tommy Tremble	487	50.0%	219	44.5%	32	9.2%	19	174	3	251	8.8%	7.8	17.2%	0.94	12.9%
Ian Thomas	533	54.7%	143	29.1%	30	8.5%	21	197	0	59	2.3%	2	28.3%	1.86	22.7%
Mo Alie-Cox	564	51.1%	253	38.2%	28	6.4%	19	189	3	156	5.0%	5.6	16.1%	1.09	17.9%
Brevin Jordan	259	38.3%	129	21.1%	28	9.1%	14	128	0	204	9.0%	7.3	23.9%	1.09	13.1%
C.J. Uzomah	510	53.6%	208	31.2%	27	6.6%	21	232	2	186	5.4%	6.9	20.0%	1.72	16.9%
Josh Oliver	498	47.3%	137	26.2%	25	7.4%	14	149	2	206	7.8%	8.2	24.5%	1.46	9.1%
Brock Wright	564	51.8%	154	26.4%	24	5.8%	18	216	4	69	2.6%	2.9	20.5%	1.85	20.2%
Eric Saubert	372	34.5%	170	26.8%	24	6.5%	15	148	1	182	6.6%	7.6	17.5%	1.08	12.1%
Zach Gentry	550	49.6%	163	26.8%	23	5.0%	19	132	0	59	1.6%	2.6	17.8%	1.02	16.3%
O.J. Howard	296	38.5%	115	18.9%	23	6.4%	10	145	2	224	8.8%	9.7	21.9%	1.38	15.9%
Adam Trautman	503	57.1%	137	25.2%	22	6.6%	18	207	1	116	4.0%	5.3	25.3%	2.38	14.1%
John Bates	489	45.0%	118	19.7%	22	7.3%	14	108	1	108	4.6%	4.9	25.6%	1.26	19.4%
Jake Ferguson	411	39.4%	94	16.2%	22	6.4%	19	174	2	65	2.3%	3	42.3%	3.35	16.1%
MyCole Pruitt	308	39.7%	72	16.2%	21	8.9%	16	150	4	100	4.5%	4.8	32.3%	2.31	20.5%
Johnny Mundt	433	38.6%	140	19.5%	21	4.3%	19	140	1	20	0.6%	1	20.0%	1.33	15.9%
Durham Smythe	535	57.2%	145	25.3%	20	5.7%	15	129	1	75	2.4%	3.8	24.4%	1.57	21.9%
Lawrence Cager	195	50.5%	101	17.9%	18	11.6%	13	118	1	94	8.9%	5.2	17.3%	1.13	6.8%
Mitchell Wilcox	475	45.1%	177	27.6%	18	5.5%	17	139	1	76	3.2%	4.2	17.1%	1.32	12.0%
Tre' McKitty	518	44.9%	197	26.4%	18	5.9%	10	72	0	81	4.1%	4.5	21.2%	0.85	19.6%
Albert Okwuegbunam	178	34.6%	128	20.2%	18	9.1%	10	95	1	104	6.5%	5.8	14.4%	0.76	12.9%
Geoff Swaim	556	56.1%	101	20.1%	16	5.2%	12	58	1	32	1.3%	2	23.2%	0.84	14.7%
Peyton Hendershot	287	25.7%	107	18.4%	16	6.1%	11	103	2	103	5.2%	6.4	23.9%	1.54	8.0%
Tanner Hudson	244	34.5%	135	23.9%	15	9.8%	10	132	0	108	10.9%	7.2	16.7%	1.47	10.0%
Jack Stoll	546	48.4%	183	31.7%	14	5.3%	11	123	0	88	3.5%	6.3	13.3%	1.17	13.4%
Teagan Quitoriano	152	28.2%	108	17.7%	14	6.3%	7	113	2	142	8.5%	10.1	19.4%	1.57	20.8%
Eric Tomlinson	390	36.2%	83	13.1%	13	4.8%	9	79	2	57	2.5%	4.4	31.7%	1.93	20.5%
Taysom Hill	314	33.0%	104	19.1%	13	4.8%	9	77	2	68	3.3%	5.2	22.4%	1.33	1.8%
Donald Parham	137	32.7%	62	8.3%	12	5.2%	10	130	1	113	7.5%	9.4	30.0%	3.25	14.4%