TIGHT
ENDS
1. Antonio Gates
- Gates recertified his title as "The Best Tight End in
Football". It took some time for Gates to totally adapt to the San
Diego change at quarterback from Drew Brees to Philip Rivers, but Gates'
numbers improved as the season progressed to put him on pace to have the
top NFL TE numbers by year's end. Gates scored 5 TDs in his final 6 regular
season games...with an accumulated 20 grabs for 275 yards and 4 TDs in
weeks 12-14. Fantasy owners who drafted Antonio Gates early were rewarded
as he put up top 15 caliber wide receiver numbers as a tight end.
2. Alge Crumpler
- "Big Alge" was a "Big TD Target" inside
the 20 for quarterback Michael Vick. With 6 touchdowns in his first 8
games, Crumpler was key to Atlanta's early victories and seemingly put
the Falcons on their way to big things with a jumpstart record of 5-2.
In fact, Crumpler had a 4 game pace (weeks 6-9) where he caught 19 balls
for 302 yards with 5 TDs! But as the season progressed, Crumpler's numbers
declined and so did the Falcons. AG scored just 2 TDs in the 2nd half
of the season and the Falcons won just 2 of their final 9 games. Regardless,
Alge Crumpler's 1st half performance was enough to boost him to 2nd overall
for fantasy TE production in 2006.
3. Jeremy Shockey
- Shockey plays offense like Brian Urlacher plays defense. Everytime Shockey
gets the ball, he wants to hit someone...and it seems to work for him.
On the season, Shockey bulled his way to 7 TDs to rank 3rd in scoring
of all tight ends. But like Crumpler, Shockey scored most of his TDs in
the first half of the season with 5 in his first 8 games to help lead
the Giants to a 6-2 record after starting the season at 1-2. Shockey's
total of 7 touchdowns and 600+ yards for the season is still respectable
and ranks him 3rd overall at his position, but early season indications
appeared Shockey would be on a much more torrid pace for the season. Shockey
was unable to score in NYG's final 3 games and sat out week 17 with an
injury.
4. Tony Gonzalez
- Always a player at TE...Gonzo overcame dominance by Larry Johnson and
a Chiefs quarterback change to remain a key factor in the KC offense.
Gonzalez put up 900 yards on 73 catches for the season...ranking him 2nd
in both categories for tight ends. Although Gonzo was consistent in touches
and yardage, the downside to his performance was his lack of TDs - finishing
with just 5 for the year.
5. Todd Heap -
Heap had a tendency to be questionable on the injury report every single
week. But somehow Heap rarely missed time. Similar to several of our top
tight ends for 2006, Heap busted out early with 5 TDs in his first 7 games.
But also similar to other top TE's this past season, Heap faltered in
the second half of the season and scored just one touchdown in his final
9 games. Regardless, Heap scored a respectable 6 touchdowns for the year
on 73 catches...but wasn't exactly a scoring machine down the stretch
for his fantasy owners..
6. Chris Cooley
- Cooley had similar numbers to Todd Heap, but with fewer receptions
(57). The main difference with Cooley was that he somewhat spread his
scoring throughout the season after going scoreless in his first 5 games.
7. Desmond Clark
- With an over-anxious quarterback who wants to always throw the ball
in the redzone (when running may make more sense), players like Desmond
Clark start to show up on the radar. Of Clark's 45 catches, 6 went for
touchdowns...as Rex Grossman often looked Clark's direction when he was
on the field.
8. L.J. Smith
- Smith adjusted to a change at QB from Donovan McNabb to Jeff Garcia
and it didn't affect his performance much. L.J. stayed pretty consistent
on the season with 50 grabs for 600+ yards and 5 TDs...not great, but
good enough (esp. if in a league that requires use of a tight end).
9. Kellen Winslow
Jr. - Winslow has arguably the most talent of any wide receiver
in the league. In fact, he led all tight ends with 89 (EIGHTY-NINE) receptions!
Only five wide receivers caught more balls this past season. Winslow is
third in yardage with 875, but made it into the endzone only 3 times...and
wasn't able to score in the 2nd half of the season. The Browns never seemed
to find their offense in '06, but Winslow held a key role in what they
were able to produce.
|
Top Fantasy Tight Ends 2006
|
|
WR
|
Rcptns
|
Rec Yards
|
TDs
|
|
Antonio Gates
|
71
|
924
|
9
|
|
Alge Crumpler
|
56
|
780
|
8
|
|
Jeremy Shockey
|
66
|
623
|
7
|
|
Tony Gonzalez
|
73
|
900
|
5
|
|
Todd Heap
|
73
|
765
|
6
|
|
Chris Cooley
|
57
|
734
|
6
|
|
Desmond Clark
|
45
|
626
|
6
|
|
L.J. Smith
|
50
|
611
|
5
|
|
Kellen Winslow Jr.
|
89
|
875
|
3
|
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