Salary Cap Leagues, How High to Go at TE

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As we all know, the best thing about a salary cap league is that you can go get any player you want. Your draft position doesn't exclude you from grabbing any single player. You can go elite at any position.

But at the tight end position, is there a player worth his cost? We asked our staff what level of tight end they would target and how much the elite are worth.

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Note: All answers assume the following criteria:

• Start 1 QB, 2 RBs, 3 WRs, 1 TE
• 4-point passing TDs
• Full PPR
• $200 cap
• 12 teams

Going for the Elite

We all know how big of an advantage it is to have Kelce in your lineup. Will you go after Kelce? What is an acceptable price for him? He rarely goes for less than $40 but does not often go over $50. Are you ok paying in the $40s for him? If you miss out on Kelce, are you interested in chasing Mark Andrews at an average price of about $22? If so, what would you pay for him?

Jason Wood: I generally don't want to be in the business of paying for the top players at any position because the injury volatility of the NFL makes as stars and scrubs approach difficult to win with, at least historically.

I recently wrote a Player Spotlight suggesting Kelce was worth a high first-round pick in serpentine, so it would be disingenuous to say he's not worth a $40 price tag in salary cap drafts. While I wouldn't personally take that approach, I think you can build a winning team with him, although paying upwards of $48-$50 becomes much harder to justify, particularly if Mark Andrews and T.J. Hockenson go for low $20s prices.

I have no interest in Andrews this year because I don't see him as TE2 -- that honor goes to Hockenson. I would pay $18-$22 for Hockenson in a draft if Kelce has already gone for $45+.

Ben Cummins: I'm taking the "stars and scrubs" approach here as I do overall in auction leagues. Yes, I'm going after Travis Kelce in the $40 range, but only if I do not end up with either Justin Jefferson or Ja'Marr Chase. If Kelce is nominated before the elite WRs, I won't be as aggressive.

I'm not going after Mark Andrews. Instead, I'll look at either T.J. Hockenson or the Darren Waller/David Njoku tier.

Andrew Davenport: I won't be going after Kelce in most leagues. The exception is that in 10-teamers, I believe the need to differentiate the starting lineup is enough of an emphasis to warrant chasing Kelce. In shallower leagues, the wire is richer, so pushing more money to the starting lineup is feasible and, therefore, easier to chase the top tight end. Having said that, in 12- or 14-team leagues, I don't like my team builds when I spend that much money on the tight end spot. I generally like to pull money from that spot and quarterback when I need to spend at wide receiver or running back, so Kelce is usually not on my list of targets in bigger leagues.

I'm absolutely a Mark Andrews guy, in general, this year, but I have not been drafting him at all in my salary cap drafts so far. I think he deserves to be the second-highest-priced guy in draft rooms, but for me going for Andrews gives you the same roster build issues, only on a smaller scale with a smaller positional advantage. If he is less than $20, I'd be more open to the idea, but I've not seen that happen yet and don't expect it to this summer. I'm passing on Andrews in salary cap drafts for the most part.

Jeff Bell: I value Kelce as a top-five asset in a redraft format, so I would happily pay for the differentiation he allows at the position. That said, everything is relative to remaining talent on the board if another player is going to vastly exceed the determined market on him.

Mark Andrews at half the price is a pivot I really like. Andrews cratered at the end of 2022, but before his injuries started to mount midseason, he was producing at a level similar to Kelce. The Ravens should pass more, and Todd Monken ran a highly successful tight-end-centered offense at Georgia. This would be my preferred route.

Settling for a Mid-Tier TE

In serpentine drafts, the conventional wisdom is that chasing mid-tier tight ends like Dallas Goedert, Pat Freiermuth, and Evan Engram is not the optimal draft strategy if you miss out on Kelce or Andrews. But salary cap drafts allow a little more room to maneuver. If you don't land Kelce or Andrews, will you spend $9-$12 on a guy like Goedert or Engram?