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USATSI

Tiers are supposed to be far superior to rankings. That's because rankings are not generally linear. There may be a group of guys in the top five that it's really hard to distinguish between. It's more accurate to show them all in the same tier. That's usually the case. It's not the case at all at tight end right now. The tight end tiers, at the top, look a lot like the tight end rankings.

Brock Bowers has Tier 1 all to himself in Dynasty Fantasy Football and it is not particularly close. The first-round pick caught 112 passes for 1,194 yards and five touchdowns as a 22-year-old. As things are lining up right now he could be a considerable edge on the rest of the league for the next decade. In a non-Superflex startup, Bowers is worth a first-round pick. I could make the argument for drafting him as high as tenth overall. Remember, this historic season came with Aidan O'Connell, Gardner Minshew, and Desmond Ridder at quarterback.

It's a testament to just how good Bowers' profile is that Trey McBride does not crack Tier 1. He had one fewer catch and 48 fewer yards than Bowers last year and McBride is just 25 years old. He would have been the number one tight end in Fantasy this year if not for some rotten touchdown luck. McBride saw plenty of targets in the scoring area, he just couldn't quite get on the same page with Kyler Murray. McBride's edge on the field is even bigger than Bowers' edge on McBride. He's a good pick at the end of Round 2 in a startup.

I'm less certain about Sam LaPorta deserving a tier of his own. But he's five years younger than Mark Andrews and seven years younger than George Kittle. That more than makes up for a disappointing second season and the loss of Ben Johnson. Dalton Kincaid could join LaPorta in this tier, but he's going to have to do something on the football field that justifies the move first.

I had Dave Richard and Dan Schneier on Fantasy Football Today Dynasty to discuss my Dynasty Tiers. We had a spirited discussion about Kincaid and the rest of the Tier 4 tight ends> Check it out:

Here are the rest of my Dynasty tight end tiers: