Scott Chandler

Chandler led the team in receptions last season and posted a career high in yards, but he scored only twice, which is even more disappointing considering he's 6-7, 260. His problems in the red zone, where he saw only six targets after double-digit targets the previous two years, came down to opportunity. The Bills threw a league-low 44 red-zone passes, choosing instead to run the ball 92 times, which led the league. Chandler also was coming off an ACL tear and endured a trio of quarterbacks who ranked 29th in the league in completion percentage at 57.3 and 28th in yards per attempt at 6.46. A healthy EJ Manuel continuing to develop at quarterback will help Chandler, as will the addition of first-round pick Sammy Watkins, who should stretch the field with his blazing speed.

Chandler is recovering from offseason ACL surgery, so it will be important to see how he progress during OTAs and training camp. Even when healthy, his value is highly reliant on touchdowns, as half his scores over the past two seasons (6) have come in three games.

After scoring six touchdowns in the Bills’ first seven games, Chandler never found the end zone again. Part of that was due to ankle and knee injuries over the last five games of the season, two of which he sat out, but beyond that he simply wasn’t a consistent part of the team’s offense in the second half. When Chandler’s not scoring he’s not doing fantasy owners much good because he doesn’t generate much production between the 20s. In one three-week stretch last year, he totaled nine yards. And in his “breakout” first half, he had only 15 receptions. Still, last year was a solid showing for Chandler, considering he was buried on the Cowboys’ depth chart before joining the Bills. He re-signed with the Bills in the offseason and will again be another weapon at Ryan Fitzpatrick’s disposal. Chandler is a huge target at 6-7, and his 83-percent catch rate is evidence of an excellent set of hands. A Week 17 knee injury should be healed, and Chandler could at least duplicate what he did last season in the Bills’ passing game. With him being much better than the guys behind him and having proven himself last year, we'd expect his production to increase slightly in the passing offense.

Chandler might actually be the starting tight end in Week 1, which shows how much coach Chan Gailey likes his size and dependability, yet at the same time shows just how poor the Bills are at tight end. He's only caught one pass in his career, so feel free to look elsewhere. Chandler has only one career catch, but he's 6-7, 265 and has very good hands. Unfortunately, the Bills are one of those teams that hasn't featured the tight end for years (often they don't even have one on the field in four-wide sets), and last year's receptions leader from the corps, Jonathan Stupar, had a whopping 12-111-0 line. Unless the Bills go after a big name free agent, Chandler will be in competition with Shawn Nelson, David Martin, and Mike Caussin.

A long shot to make the team as a backup TE.

Depth TE is a better pass-catcher than blocker and could see occasional red zone targets.

Chandler is penciled in as the backup to Antonio Gates, but he may be forced into the action as Gates recovers from offseason toe surgery. Chandler is a very big target with soft hands, so he might be a capable fill-in if he is called upon to start the season.

With superstar Antonio Gates firmly entrenched as the starting tight end in San Diego, Chandler has little chance of making much of a splash this season. He is already thought of as an accomplished pass-catcher, but he needs to work on his blocking skills if he wants to nail down the backup spot.