What It Means:

Ebron was added in free agency this offseason while McDonald has spent the past three years with the Steelers. It will be a battle of two veteran tight ends who are both coming off disappointing campaigns following career years. Ebron was limited to 11 games by an ankle sprain and McDonald was stuck in a terrible quarterback situation. The former was held to 3 touchdowns after totaling 14 touchdowns in 2018. Despite seeing a career-high 68.5 percent snap share, McDonald averaged just 19.5 yards on 3.9 targets a game. His 5.0 yards per target was the veteran's worst effort since his second year in the league. Ebron has the more impressive track record, as he has caught 47 or more passes in four of his last five seasons and found the end zone 28 times. Meanwhile, McDonald has cleared 40 receptions just once and totaled 15 touchdowns in that span. Assuming Ebron wins the gig, he will likely emerge as a go-to option for Ben Roethlisberger, targeted his tight ends 111 times of 675 attempts (17.6 percent) in 2018.

numberFire's models believe Ebron will beat out McDonald for the starting job, as he is the TE24 in our preseason fantasy rankings while McDonald is the TE42. Ebron is projected for 39.4 catches on 61.3 targets for 445.7 yards and 3.74 touchdowns.