TE – The position that has been a vacant hole for so many years.  One oddity, if you weren’t aware, is that Tight End, besides Kicker and Punter is the only skill position that the Dolphins have NEVER invested in a 1st RD pick for.  While I’m not advocating the Dolphins select a TE with the #11 pick, they better make it happen with either the #42 pick, or at the very least, the #73, but preferably the #42 pick.  In the meantime, let’s take a look at who’s available at TE in free agency.  Last week, we looked at WR, this week, it’s the big fellas, the TE’s.

Jimmy Graham 6’7 260  31YO

A TE can’t really replace Jarvis Landry, or can he?  This year, in SEA, in his walk year of free agency, Graham’s stats more resembles Jarvis Landry’s than at any other point of his career.  Graham reeled in 10 TD’s this year, his highest total since ’14 (He had 16 TD’s in ’13).  Here’s where it even more closely resembles Landry, 57 receptions for 520 yards, for a 9.1 YPR average, the first time in Graham’s career below double digits.  Is the big guy slowing down? Eh, probably a little bit, but SEA just didn’t have a great year this year, the run game was a colossal bust.  FA Eddie Lacy was a huge disappointment, and the bevy of RB’s behind him were awful, so it all fell on Russell Wilson, who managed to have a phenomenal year, despite the run game woes.

Graham is 31, and will be going into his 9th season.  He’s played most games every season, and isn’t really an injury prone player.  He’s one of the biggest red zone threats in the game, and if you compare him to what we’ve had here the last decade or so, he’s ALL WORLD!  Spotrac has Graham’s market value at $6.7M, and I’m going to say right now, I think they’re low on that.  Think of it this way Dolphins fans, if we do lose Landry, which you all know I will hate, Graham would definitely help this team recover from that loss.

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Austin Seferian-Jenkins 6’6 262  25YO

ASJ had a resurrection of his career last season with the rival New York Jets.  I know pretty well, I had to pick him up in FF in 2 leagues after I lost my TE to injury.  After disappearing from the NFL landscape during 2 forgettable seasons with the Tampa Bay Bucs, the former 2nd RD pick was cut in the middle of his 3rd season after his 2nd DUI arrest since 2013.  He got serious about his life, slimmed down 15 lbs, got his mind and body focused on football, and had a nice comeback season.  It wasn’t outstanding, but 2 TD’s were overturned by replay, one against the Patriots (Of course!), and one against Seattle. ASJ finished with 50 catches for 357 yards and 3 TD’s.  Not eye popping, but he showed a lot of promise after being out of football for a while.  A highly touted prospect, ASJ seems to be on the right track, and I’d take a look at him for sure.  Spotrac projects his market value at $4.1M, which is a bargain compared to Julius Thomas.

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Benjamin Watson  6’3  255  37YO

Yes, Watson is older than Gase.  Not really, but it’s close.  It would have to be a short contract, but joking aside, Watson has had 2 very productive seasons his last 2 years, one for the Ravens, the other 2 years ago with the Saints.  Players don’t usually get better after 35, but Watson has had his 2 best years of his career.  Watson caught 61 passes for 521 yards and 4 TD’s.  He’s a smart veteran player with a good work ethic, and looks to be in fantastic physical shape.  My thinking would be to sign Watson, but also draft a TE early, and let things happen as they will.  At worst, if the rookie struggles, you have a veteran TE who can fill the spot, and also mentor the young TE.  Seems logical, especially at the right price, which should be around $2M per.

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Virgil Green  6’3 248   29YO

Yeah, I know, it’s slim pickin’s out there folks.  Sure, 7 years ago in the 2011 NFL Draft, both M13 and I were all about Virgil Green, but in 2018, after 7 seasons in the NFL, Green is not a savior.  He’s more of a role player, and probably a 2nd TE, which is why I’ll be discussing Anthony Fasano shortly.  back to Green, he started all 16 games last season for the Broncos, but had very little on his resume as such.  Green finished with 14 receptions for 191 yards and 1 TD.  That’s a nice 13.6 YPR, but it’s such a small body of work, it’s hard to get excited about it.  He’s an athletic player, definitely undersized at 6’3, but part of the mystique of Green is he played college ball at Nevada, with a certain controversial QB. Ahhh, now you remember who Virgil Green is!  Virgil excelled at the combine, running a 4.64, jumped out of the park with a 42.5″ vertical and a 130″ broad jump, a 6.90 cone and 11.63 60 YD shuttle all showed great athleticism and explosiveness, but it just hasn’t translated to the NFL.  It happens.

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Anthony Fasano  6’4 255  33YO

We all know Anthony Fasano well, Gigi’s Italian Stallion who came back home last season after a 4 year hiatus.  Always a fan favorite. Fasano has that old school grit, and will even make a nice catch here and there when called on.  he’s a great in line blocker, but he’s a 2nd TE, not a #1 guy.  This seems to be the theme in this year’s free agency, once you get past top 2 or 3.  No reason to post his stats, but I will anyway, 12 catches for 107 yards and 1 TD.  The stats don’t do Fasano justice, because he’s a great teammate, as I mentioned, a great blocker, and a fan favorite, so his 12 catches don’t portray his story fairly.

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Trey Burton  6’3 228  26YO

Burton is an undersized, very undersized TE.  He’s one of those tweeners, who BTW, is benefiting hugely by by being on a SB winning team, and being the #2 to one of the best pass catching TE’s in football, Zach Ertz, along with the complete arsenal of weapons such as Alshon Jeffery, Nelson Agholor, Torrey Smith, LeGarrette Blount, Jay Ajayi, etc . . . Burton caught 23 passes for 248 yards and 5 TD’s.  I don’t think any NFL team will be looking at Burton as their #1 starting TE, yet for some odd reason, Spotrac has him valued at $7M per season.   Burton caught 23 passes for 248 yards and 5 TD’s.  As far as I’m concerned, I’d take that $7M and give it to Landry to keep in aqua and orange, but that’s just me.  he would have to be a complimentary player, like a slot receiving TE, so forget $7M, maybe at half that, I’d consider him, maybe.

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Ed Dickson  6’4 244  30YO

Dickson has had a decent career with both the Ravens and Panthers.  This past season, when starter Greg Olsen went down with a broken leg, Dickson got more of a chance, yet still finished with pedestrian numbers, 30 receptions 437 yards and 1 TD.  he had a nice 14.6 YPR, but 1 TD as a starter for 12 games is disappointing.  Maybe it’s the QB in Carolina, who knows?  (LOL!)  Once again, Dickson is not going to be your #1 starting TE, he’s more of a 2nd string guy.

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So there’s your 6, oops SEVEN possibilities at TE for us in 2018. I obviously can’t count!  I didn’t forget that Antonio Gates is out there, or Tyler Eifert for that matter.  Gates should finish his career as a Charger, and I think he probably will.   He’s maintained he doesn’t want to retire, he would like to win a SB.  Tyler Eifert eerily reminds me of Jordan Cameron, and I don’t have to remind you how that went down, or how strongly I was against it.   He’s a talented player, maybe better than Jordan Cameron, but believe it or not, not as durable.  Eifert has managed one season with 15 games played, and then in 4 seasons after that, just 24 games.  I wouldn’t even look in his direction, been there, done that. I would have loved to have included former CHI TE Zach Miller, but after that catastrophic leg injury, in which he dislocated his knee, and and actually severed his popliteal artery, and nearly had to have his leg amputated, he may never play football again.  The 33 YO TE desires to play again in the NFL, but he has quite the uphill struggle ahead.  If there’s any TE you feel was wrongly omitted, let me know.