Tag: Tyler Higbee

Rams’ 23 most important players for 2023 – No. 9: TE Tyler Higbee

Tyler Higbee remains one of the Rams’ most important players entering the 2023 season

Along with Aaron Donald, Cooper Kupp and Matthew Stafford, Tyler Higbee heads into the 2023 season as one the few veterans on the Rams’ roster. He’s an experienced tight end who can block and split out as a receiver, and though he’s lost a step at the age of 30, he’ll be there to contribute just about every Sunday.

From a leadership perspective, as well as an on-field viewpoint, Higbee is one of the Rams’ most important players this year. He can give Stafford a safety blanket in the middle of the field and take away some attention from Kupp, taking advantage of the single-coverage he gets from linebackers.

Ranking the NFC West tight ends entering 2023

George Kittle still leads the way despite a drop in production in 2022.

The NFC West has a solid group of tight ends with one of the best in the game. Every team has at least one quality tight end on the roster.

How do they stack up in terms of rankings entering the 2023 season?

Check them out below.

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Tyler Higbee not voted top-10 TE by NFL execs and coaches, earns honorable mention

Is Tyler Higbee a top-10 tight end heading into the 2023 season?

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Tyler Higbee has been as reliable as just about anyone on the Rams’ roster over his seven seasons in Los Angeles, particularly in the last four years. He’s had between 521 yards and 734 yards in each of those four seasons, averaging four touchdowns per year while also contributing in a big way as a blocker.

However, he’s never quite made the jump into the top tier of tight ends. With so many explosive and talented players at the position, it’ll be tough for Higbee to break through as a premier player this year, too.

ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler polled NFL executives, coaches, players and scouts on the best tight ends in the NFL and while Higbee didn’t make the top 10, he was an honorable mention.

Higbee played in all 17 games last season — a significant feat for a player who had missed time with nagging injuries in each of the previous three seasons — collecting 620 yards and three touchdowns. “Great hands. Not fast but has a lot of savvy, feel, and is a fluid player, just keeps getting hurt,” an AFC scout said.

Higbee’s best season came in 2019 when he caught 69 passes for a career-high 734 yards and three touchdowns, largely thanks to a remarkable finish to the year. In the final five games, he had four 100-yard performances and 522 total yards, which was nearly as many yards as he had in the previous two years combined (587).

As one of the longest-tenured players on the Rams, Higbee remains an important piece of the offense, both on the field and off it. He may not put up big numbers like many other tight ends, but his a valuable player in Los Angeles.

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Fantasy football: Best Ball stacks to target for Rams in 2023

Here are a few Rams-centric Best Ball stacks to target in fantasy entering the 2023 season.

Best Ball has become a popular form of fantasy football because it allows people to experience the joy of drafting a season-long team without worrying about setting their lineup each week. In Best Ball leagues, it’s proven beneficial to stack players from the same team to accrue the most points.

The Los Angeles Rams are an interesting offense to consider stacking in 2023 following a forgettable 2022 campaign. Matthew Stafford will head all of the stacks listed below as you’ll typically want to correlate with the quarterbacks you select in Best Ball drafts.

So with Best Ball drafts being the craze in fantasy football right now, let’s take a look at a few stacks to target for the Rams in 2023.

* Note: All ADPs are courtesy of 4for4’s Underdog ADP.

Fantasy football: Analyzing Tyler Higbee’s outlook in 2023

We take a look at Tyler Higbee’s fantasy football outlook for the Rams entering the 2023 season.

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The Los Angeles Rams leaned on Tyler Higbee in the passing game in 2022 amid a bevy of injuries to the other pass catchers on the roster. On a team that is littered with inexperienced players, Higbee is entering his eighth season with the Rams and he could provide value in fantasy football in 2023.

Amid injuries to Cooper Kupp, Van Jefferson, and offensive linemen, Higbee tallied career-high marks in targets (108) and receptions (108) last season. Higbee became a safety blanket for the quarterbacks on the Rams in 2022, evidenced by his low 8.6 yards per reception (his lowest output since his rookie season in 2016).

With fantasy drafts taking place this time of year, Higbee possesses an ADP (average draft position) of 135 and is TE15 off the board, according to FantasyPros. That puts him behind tight ends like Greg Dulcich and Cole Kmet, and ahead of rookie Dalton Kincaid and Juwan Johnson.

An increased role helped Higbee conclude last season as TE9 overall and TE15 in fantasy points per game in half-PPR (points per reception) formats. In three of the last four seasons, Higbee hasn’t finished worse than TE14 overall, giving him a solid floor in fantasy football.

To add to that, Higbee has eclipsed 85-plus targets and 61-plus receptions in three of the last four years. Meanwhile, he has yet to catch more than five touchdowns in a season with the Rams.

Consistency can be valuable at the tight end position in fantasy football, and Higbee has given solid production in recent years. At the same time, it’s tough to predict a TE1 ceiling for Higbee in 2023 with Kupp and Jefferson coming back healthy for the Rams.

Higbee is entering a contract year in the upcoming season and the Rams drafted his potential replacement in Davis Allen during the 2023 NFL draft. Hunter Long was also acquired in the Jalen Ramsey trade and it remains to be seen what the Rams have planned for him — if anything.

In the later rounds of the draft, you could do a lot worse than Higbee as your TE2 or as a late-round target. Higbee also makes a ton of sense as a stacking option with Matthew Stafford in best-ball leagues considering the Rams will likely have plenty of games where they’ll be playing from behind or in a shootout.

Fantasy Football Top-10 Repeatability: Tight Ends

Take a step back and see how the Top-10 tight ends change from year to year.

Elite tight ends are notoriously thin in the fantasy world, so it is no big surprise to see a high amount of volatile players from year to year. It is a position that really only offers about three or four players with any real difference-making statistics.

Also see: QB | RB | WR

Top-10 TEs 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018
Travis Kelce 1 2 1 1 1
George Kittle 2 4 19 3 3
Mark Andrews 3 1 6 5 17
Evan Engram 4 23 14 18 13
Tyler Higbee 5 13 18 8 33
Pat Freiermuth 6 12 0 0 0
Cole Kmet 7 21 41 0 0
Dalton Schultz 8 3 10 115 70
David Njoku 9 22 47 84 9
Dallas Goedert 10 8 20 10 20
Kyle Pitts 34 5 0 0 0
Rob Gronkowski 0 6 8 0 11
Hunter Henry 22 7 12 9 0
Mike Gesicki 23 9 7 12 49
Dawson Knox 12 10 35 29 0
Darren Waller 31 16 2 2 81
Robert Tonyan 19 48 3 62 78
Logan Thomas 33 44 4 50 74
T.J. Hockenson 47 14 5 32 0
Hayden Hurst 21 35 9 34 60
Zach Ertz 20 67 33 4 2
Eric Ebron 0 65 15 27 4
Jared Cook 0 18 17 7 5
Austin Hooper 24 24 21 6 6
Kyle Rudolph 90 41 38 16 7
Trey Burton 0 0 27 70 8
Vance McDonald 0 0 67 31 10
Top-10 Repeats 5 4 3 5

The Top-3 have been around for about five years each, and the rest have so much volatility that you’re likely to be disappointed if you reach for anyone outside of Travis Kelce, George Kittle, or Mark Andrews. Dallas Goedert has been Top-10 in three of the last four years and yet never better than No. 8. Has he been a difference-maker of any note? Not really. In a reception point league, those Top-3 are really the only difference makers and offer rare consistency.

ESPN’s Bill Barnwell ranks the Rams’ supporting cast 23rd in the NFL

ESPN’s Bill Barnwell ranked the Rams’ supporting cast on offense as one of the worst in the NFL

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The Los Angeles Rams don’t have lofty expectations entering the 2023 season and many believe Matthew Stafford is lacking talent around him on offense. In a recent article by ESPN’s Bill Barnwell, he ranked the Rams as having the 23rd-best supporting cast in the NFL.

Here’s a snippet of what Barnwell said about the Rams’ skill players ahead of the upcoming season:

As is the case for the vast majority of their roster in a reset season, the Rams haven’t added much to what they had a year ago. Wideout Demarcus Robinson, signed earlier this month after a season in Baltimore, might be their most significant free agent addition at any position on the roster. Barring a breakthrough from Tutu Atwell, Lance McCutcheon or rookie fifth-rounder Puka Nacua, L.A. will be almost entirely reliant on Kupp, who just turned 30 two weeks ago.

It goes without saying that Cooper Kupp remains the focal point of the offense despite being limited to nine games in 2022 due to a season-ending ankle injury. The All-Pro wideout recently turned 30 years old, but he was on pace for another ultra-productive campaign last year before being sidelined.

After trading veteran Allen Robinson earlier this offseason, the Rams will lean on Van Jefferson, Tutu Atwell, rookie Puka Nacua, Ben Skowronek, Demarcus Robinson, Tyler Johnson, and Lance McCutcheon at the wide receiver position. Tyler Higbee is still the starter at tight end, though rookie Davis Allen and offseason newcomer Hunter Long could see snaps at some point, along with Brycen Hopkins.

With the addition of Mike LaFleur as offensive coordinator, it’s evident that Sean McVay wants to fix the running game. Cam Akers finished last season on a high note, but the team recently brought back Sony Michel, while Kyren Williams and rookie Zach Evans are competing for roles in the offense.

The Rams have typically had stellar supporting casts in recent years, however, Barnwell and many others believe the team will be too reliant on Kupp to make them one of the best groups in the NFL.

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PFF ranks Rams’ receiving corps as the 14th-best in the NFL

PFF’s Trevor Sikkema ranked every receiving corps in the NFL and the Rams came in at No. 14, largely due to Cooper Kupp.

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Cooper Kupp remains one of the premier wide receivers in the NFL, which is why it’s tough to rank the Los Angeles Rams too low when speaking about receiving corps. In a recent article, the Rams’ receiving corps was ranked as the 14th-best in the NFL by PFF’s Trevor Sikkema.

Here is what Sikkema said about the Rams’ receiving group ahead of the 2023 campaign:

It was pretty tough to place the Rams on this list. If you replace Cooper Kupp with even an above-average wide receiver, this is probably a bottom-five group in the league. But like the Justin Jefferson effect with Minnesota, Kupp is one year removed from one of the most insanely productive seasons we’ve seen, earning a 93.1 receiving grade with over 2,400 receiving yards on their Super Bowl run.

Van Jefferson is a solid player, and Tyler Higbee has been an underrated tight end with over 500 yards in each of his last four seasons.

Kupp does the heavy lifting here, but with him healthy, it’s hard to put this group much lower.

When healthy, Kupp is one of the best wideouts in the NFL. While the 2021 Offensive Player of the Year missed eight games in 2022, he was on pace for 142 receptions, 1,534 receiving yards, and 11 touchdowns on 185 targets.

Besides Kupp, the Rams have a handful of unproven or inexperienced pass-catchers. Van Jefferson and Tyler Higbee are solid players, but Tutu Atwell, Ben Skowronek, rookie Puka Nacua, Tyler Johnson, and Demarcus Robinson are all competing for roles in the offense.

The good news for the Rams is that Kupp appears to be trending upward in his recovery after undergoing ankle surgery in the offseason. Despite turning 30 years old recently, Kupp is the primary reason why many still believe the Rams have a receiving corps that is in the top half of the league.

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Look: Cooper Kupp and Tyler Higbee recreated the iconic ‘Step Brothers’ photo

Do you wanna go do karate in the (parking) garage?

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Cooper Kupp and Tyler Higbee are two of the longest-tenured players on the Rams’ roster, right there with Rob Havenstein and Aaron Donald. They’ve spent a lot of time together in the last six years, with 2023 being their seventh season as teammates.

During media day this week, Kupp and Higbee had the brilliant idea of recreating the iconic “Step Brothers” picture of Dale and Brennan. At first, the Rams shared the behind-the-scenes footage of Kupp and Higbee posing together like John C. Reilly and Will Ferrell did in the scene.

It took some work to get it right, obviously.

But the end result?

Near-perfection.

Kupp could’ve tilted his head a few degrees to the left, and Higbee could’ve shrunk, like, 6 inches to match Reilly’s height. But otherwise, they nailed it.

After this photo was taken, they built bunk beds in the bedroom locker room and did karate in the parking garage.

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Fantasy Football Consistency Rankings – Tight Ends

A difference-maker at tight is rare, but a consistently good tight end is even more advantageous.

This ranking considers tight ends that started at least 11 games in 2022. Fantasy points were derived using one point per 10 yards rushed or received, six-point touchdowns rushed and one point receptions. Given that the position supplies only around 10 players of any fantasy note, there aren’t a lot of surprises here.

Also see: Quarterbacks | Running backs | Wide receivers

Tight End Consistency

Tight ends 10-pt Games Gms 10-pt 20-pt 5-catch 50 Yds TD
Travis Kelce 88% 17 15 7 13 14 7
Zach Ertz 70% 10 7 0 6 2 4
Dallas Goedert 67% 12 8 1 6 7 3
George Kittle 53% 15 8 4 4 5 7
Pat Freiermuth 53% 15 8 0 5 7 2
T.J. Hockenson 53% 17 9 2 8 6 4
David Njoku 50% 14 7 1 6 6 4
Greg Dulcich 50% 10 5 0 2 3 2
Evan Engram 47% 17 8 1 7 6 3
Mark Andrews 47% 15 7 4 7 9 4
Tyler Higbee 44% 16 7 1 6 5 2
Dalton Schultz 40% 15 6 1 6 5 3
Gerald Everett 40% 15 6 0 7 5 4
Juwan Johnson 38% 16 6 2 3 2 5
Chigoziem Okonkwo 33% 15 5 0 1 2 3
Dawson Knox 33% 15 5 1 2 3 6
Jordan Akins 33% 15 5 1 1 4 4
Hunter Henry 31% 16 5 0 2 6 2
Taysom Hill 31% 16 5 1 0 0 2
Hayden Hurst 31% 13 4 0 6 2 2
Kyle Pitts 30% 10 3 0 2 2 2
Cole Kmet 29% 17 5 2 3 3 5
Tyler Conklin 29% 17 5 1 5 5 2
Cade Otton 29% 14 4 0 3 2 2
Jelani Woods 25% 12 3 0 1 1 2

To get any production from a fantasy tight end is hard enough, and those elite fantasy starters are very few and rarely change. Travis Kelce regained his No. 1 standing last year after Mark Andrews stole it in 2021. Kelce is a first-round lock this summer as a premier difference-maker.

The rest of the tight ends fared much worse. Mark Andrews slid backwards in the second half of the season, Kyle Pitts followed up his historic rookie season with a sophomore flop, and the position overall became even less a fantasy resource. Ten-point efforts don’t seem that much compared to other positions, but only six tight ends managed to turn in as much in over half of their games. And Zach Ertz, Dallas Goedert, and Greg Dulcich were no fantasy difference-makers.

The interesting players in this metric were Gerald Everett, Tyler Higbee and Hayden Hurst, who managed six games with at least five catches. But, again, the position is offering fewer and fewer difference-makers, and even the elite level has been in flux other than for Kelce.