What do we long for in fantasy football? A quarterback who can throw 30 touchdowns? A running back who can consistently score in double-digits? A wide receiver that can put up numbers every week? All of the aforementioned can be attained in the first few rounds.
What about a consistent tight end? It seems that a consistent tight end is such a rare occurence in fantasy football, that some players will just forget about drafting a tight end, saying "it's all luck if they score."
We can all agree that the key in fantasy football is getting players that are better than the others at the same position, but getting them at good value in the draft. What better value is there than a good tight end?
In today's NFL, there has been murmurs of "the tight end is expanding" and that tight end is losing value in fantasy football because of all the two-tight end sets.
In reality, it seems to be the opposite.
eDraft has a metric called player consistency, which can be found here.
In the last five years, here are the tight ends who have reached a consistency number of 80% or more.
Why 80%? That seems to be the holy grail of cutoffs in fantasy, as the elite players reach that level. Last year, the only running back or wide receiver to reach 80% was Jamaal Charles, who we all agree was the fantasy most valuable player.
Nevertheless, here is all the tight ends who have reached 80% in the last five years. It has only happened 12 times, and only by seven different players. Players who made one appearance on this list are aplenty, with Tony Gonzalez, Kellen Winslow Jr., Dallas Clark, and even Brent Celek.
But, in the last three years, take a look at who has made the list.
Tony Gonzalez 2008-09 - 81%
Kellen Winslow Jr. 2007-08 - 81%
Dallas Clark 2009-10 - 88%
Antonio Gates 2009-10 - 88%
Brent Celek 2009-10 - 81%
Antonio Gates 2010-11 - 80%
Jimmy Graham 2011-12 - 94%
Rob Gronkowski 2011-12 - 88%
Jimmy Graham 2012-13 - 87%
Rob Gronkowski 2012-13 - 82%
Jimmy Graham 2013-14 - 81%
Vernon Davis 2013-14 - 80%
Graham and Gronk, as football fans like to refer to the two monster tight ends, have just been dominant in terms of consistency. In fantasy football, each of those two are the top tight ends selected in the last few years, but maybe they are undervalued.
Bill Enright thought this as well
An 80% consistency rate is incredible for anyone, let alone a tight end. That means in 12 or more of their games, they were able to post a good day as far as fantasy points are concerned. Last year, Graham had a touchdown in 11 games, and had over 75 yards in six games. There were only three occasions where he did not post a good game in terms of fantasy points.
Adding a consistent player at a scarce position is essential, so Graham and Gronk's value is sky-high in terms of consistency.
Even Jimmy Graham agrees on consistency.