2009 Fantasy Football Bust Rankings: Tight Ends

No one is ever going to tell you that the tight end is the most important position on a fantasy football team, but just like any other position, a good one can make your team and a bad one can really hurt your team.

Tight end is not a very deep position by fantasy football standards. Once you get past the obvious studs, drafting a tight end can be a bit of a crap shoot. Because there is such a thin crop of good tight ends to choose from, it tends to be a position that is very easy to overvalue.

So in order to make sure that you don’t overvalue a tight end and end up with this year's bust which will surely cause some serious heartburn, we bring to you the 2009 Bruno Boys Tight End “Bring out the Pepto” Rankings.

Ranking System: The higher the “Bring out the Pepto” ranking, the more likely a player is to bust.

Vernon Davis (San Francisco 49ers) 

Vernon Davis may be the definition of the term “underachiever.”  He was very highly touted as a rookie coming out of the University of Maryland, but has never really lived up to expectations.

He seems to have all the physical tools to be the next great tight end. He has speed, size, and agility that usually makes for a very productive tight end, but in three NFL seasons he has never lived up to the hype.

In 2007, he put up solid tight end numbers, with 52 receptions for 509 yards with four touchdowns. This led many fantasy owners to believe that Davis was well on his way to becoming the elite fantasy football tight end many thought he would be.

Instead, he had a decline in every statistical category when he finished the 2008 season with 31 receptions for 358 yards and two touchdowns. If you drafted him to be your starting tight end you likely ended up with one serious case of indigestion, and were scrambling to find a solid starting tight end.

Davis had issues on the field and with the coaching staff, most notably new 49ers head coach Mike Singletary. Things got so bad that Singletary actually sent Davis to the showers in the middle of the game.

At this point, there is no reason to believe things will be any better for Davis in 2009. Singletary is still the head coach, quarterback Shaun Hill is still unproven and the team spent their first round pick in the NFL draft on prolific wide receiver Michael Crabtree (still hasn’t signed).

Davis may see an increase in production from 2008, but is still likely no more than a back-up fantasy tight end. For these reasons, Vernon Davis earns the award of being the Bruno Boys top tight end busts in 2009.

PEPTO BOTTLES: 4 BOTTLES

Anthony Fasano (Miami Dolphins)

Anthony Fasano started the 2008 season as a virtual unknown, but after a hot start during the first few weeks of the season, he had one of the top waiver wire pick-ups in fantasy football. Unfortunately for fantasy football owners, he cooled off considerably after his hot start and was extremely mediocre in the months of October and November.

Fasano finished the 2008 season with 34 receptions for 454 yards with seven touchdowns, which are decent numbers for a tight end. These numbers are very misleading and may lead to Fasano being overvalued in 2009 fantasy drafts.

He scored two touchdowns in the first three weeks of the season and then had four touchdowns in the last four weeks of the season, meaning that he was held to one touchdown over a 10 week span in the heart of the fantasy football schedule.

This is not the type of consistency you want from your starting tight end.

There a lot of question marks with the Miami Dolphins heading into 2009. Can Chad Pennington repeat his comeback season of 2008? Can running back Ronnie Brown stay healthy for an entire season? Can Ricky Williams stay drug free? Will the wildcat formation continue to work?

These questions along with the inconsistency issues that plagued Fasano in 2008 earn him THREE BOTTLES OF PEPTO.

PEPTO BOTTLES: 3 BOTTLES

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READ THE REST OF THE TIGHT END BUST ARTICLE HERE...

2009 Fantasy Football Bust Rankings: Tight Ends