Tight Ends: The last frontier

The final piece of advice that I implore on those about to do their fantasy draft in this final week before the NFL season begins, wait on tight ends. The top tight ends from a year ago are either injury prone or old. I feel like you are better off trying to find the next Cameron Brate or waiting to take a safer pick (Kyle Rudolph, Delanie Walker).

First, lets take a look at my predictions for TE's a year ago:
Picked No. 1 for 2016, Rob Gronkowski: Actually finished: 24. This is always the risk with Gronk. He could get hurt and miss several games.
Picked No. 2 for 2016, Travis Kelce. Actually finished: 1. Was a pretty easy pick for him to be near the top and with Gronk down, he stepped up.
Picked No. 3 for 2016, Jordan Reed. Actually finished: 9. He effectively played 10 games, so this was a pretty good finish based on his prediction.
Picked No. 4 for 2016, Martellus Bennett. Actually finished: 8. Despite a Gronk injury, Bennett didn't quite live up to his expectations a year ago. I think he'll be even worse in Green Bay, even as a No. 1. 
Picked No. 5 for 2016, Greg Olsen. Actually finished: 3. Good pick. He's always up there. Despite his age (32), he dominated during stretches a year ago.

Here are my tight end ranks for 2017:
1. Jordan Reed: I honestly think, as a receiver, he is more talented than Gronk. Also like Gronk, he has a lot of injury risks, so this is a risky pick. I don't want a top tight end in 2017, because they go too high, but Reed, if healthy, is the best.
2. Rob Gronkowski: He is a transcendent talent, but like Reed, has an injury history. If healthy, he can be a game changer.
3. Kyle Rudolph: Rudolph proved himself to be a favorite target for Sam Bradford a year ago. He should be fully healthy. All this also happened with only 7 TDs. He could easily be in the 10-12 range this season.
4. Greg Olsen: Always solid, but this could be one of his last seasons as a top tier TE.
5. Delanie Walker: Jimmy Graham is a popular high TE pick, but I feel like he and Wilson are still not in the best of sync. Seattle has a ton of weapons and TE doesn't appear to be high priority. Walker is much better off, even with the Titans nabbing a bunch of new weapons. Walker is the most steady.

As always, for kickers and defense, either don't draft one and then pick one up right before the year starts, or if you'd like to have that solid full roster wait until the final two rounds to take a defense and kicker, in that order.

I have a huge batch of photos that can be seen and purchased here.