Fantasy Football: 5 Tight Ends You Can Trust
Rob Gronkowski, New England Patriots
Is he an injury waiting to happen? Maybe, but he's also a loaded weapon, able and willing to win you any given week all on his own. As long as Rob Gronkowski can stay on the field, there is simply no other tight end in football you'd rather have in your starting lineup.
Gronk's weekly ceiling is far higher than anyone else's. He is the only tight end in the league with at three games of 20 points or more in PPR leagues; the next tight end on this list has done hit that mark twice, while Ertz has yet to crack 20 points.
And efficiency? Forget about it. Using Net Expected Points (NEP) -- our in-house metric that measures the value added or lost on each play relative to the historical expectation level -- we see just how much Gronk brings to the table. The perennial Pro Bowler is right at the top of the efficiency list among tight ends with at least 10 targets:
| Player | Receptions | Targets | Target NEP | Reception NEP per Target |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cameron Brate | 21 | 30 | 22.1 | 1.06 |
| Rob Gronkowski | 26 | 40 | 32.12 | 1.05 |
| Ed Dickson | 15 | 22 | 17.05 | 0.99 |
| Coby Fleener | 11 | 16 | 10.77 | 0.9 |
You don't need any fancy metrics to tell you that Gronk smash. As long as he's on the field, he's earned your trust.
