When preparing for your fantasy football drafts, knowing which players to target and others to avoid is important. The amount of information available can be overwhelming, so a great way to condense the data and determine players to draft and others to leave for your leaguemates is to use our expert consensus fantasy football rankings compared to fantasy football average draft position (ADP). In this way, you can identify players the experts are willing to reach for at ADP and others they are not drafting until much later than average. Let’s dive into a few notable fantasy football players below. And you can check out which players our experts are lower on than our expert consensus rankings using our Fantasy Football Rankings Comparison Tools.
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Fantasy Football Draft Advice: Tight Ends to Avoid
Let’s dive into players our experts like less than the expert consensus rankings.
Players to Avoid
T.J. Hockenson missed seven games in 2024 while recovering from the devastating knee injury he sustained in December 2023. Upon his return, he had 41 catches for 455 yards in 10 games but didn’t score any touchdowns. Hockenson has been a trusted brand name at the TE position, but he’s entering his age-28 season and has missed 26 games over the last four seasons. Hockenson must share targets with Vikings WRs Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison, and those targets will be coming from a quarterback who’s never started an NFL game, top 2023 Minnesota draft pick J.J. McCarthy. But as a proven performer playing for offensive mastermind Kevin O’Connell, Hockenson still profiles as a top-10 fantasy tight end.
– Pat Fitzmaurice
His first seven NFL seasons were unremarkable, but Jonnu Smith authored a stunning fantasy breakout in Year 8, establishing career highs in targets (111), catches (88), receiving yards (884) and touchdowns (8). Smith finished TE4 in overall PPR fantasy scoring and TE5 in fantasy points per game. Smith went nuclear late in the season, averaging 6.9 catches and 67.1 yards per game from Week 11 on. He scored seven TDs in those eight games and was TE1 in PPR fantasy scoring over that stretch, averaging 18.6 points per game. Smith’s 2024 usage surge seemed to be at least partly the product of an emphasis on the short passing game following QB Tua Tagovailoa‘s return from a concussion. Tagovailoa averaged a career-low 5.7 intended air yards per pass attempt, according to Pro Football Reference. Smith, whose average depth of target last year was 4.9 yards, was a favorite target of Tagovailoa on shorter throws. On the heels of a career-best year, Smith seems like a regression candidate entering his age-30 season and could be overdrafted in 2025.
– Pat Fitzmaurice
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