Witten, Gates, Gonzalez, Clark: Fantasy Football Tight Ends Profile

I’m interested to see whether or not T.O.’s departure will hinder Jason Witten’s production. Love him or loathe him, T.O. did make life easier for Witten when he wasn’t making his buddy Tony Romo nuts.

Despite turning in a solid season with 81 catches for 952 yards and four TDs, Witten’s numbers were way off his outstanding 96-1,145-seven 2007 performance.

Of course, Tony Romo missed weeks seven through nine, during which Witten had just seven catches for 52 yards.

The Cowboys at least brought in Jon Kitna to be Romo’s backup, which is a major upgrade over Brad Johnson.

With a healthy and happy Romo, who not only got rid of the T.O. headache, but the Jessica one as well, and a good insurance policy, I see Witten as the top tight end again in 2009.

He’ll likely go in the fourth round of fantasy drafts and should be the first one off the board.

As Romo’s most reliable weapon, I expect Witten to catch 100 passes for 1,150 yards and eight TDs. 

Considering the season Philip Rivers had, it’s amazing that Antonio Gates had “just” 60 catches for 704 yards and eight TDs. While they are impressive numbers for a TE, they are far below the 79-993-10 he averaged the previous four years.

He battled through foot and ankle injuries that took away his leaping ability, which is one of Gates’ best assets.

Gates committed to working harder on his conditioning in the offseason and is in great shape. With his explosiveness back, Gates can make a run at reclaiming his title of best fantasy TE.

Gates will be anywhere from the second to fourth TE selected in fantasy drafts, most likely in the late fourth/early fifth round.

He should be good for 80 catches, 1,000 yards, and 10 TDs.

Tony Gonzalez made the move from Kansas City to Atlanta, going to an offense with more weapons (Roddy White, Michael Turner, Michael Jenkins, Jerious Norwood) and a much better QB.

Matt Ryan had a solid rookie season, and with the addition of Gonzo, he should take the next step toward fantasy greatness.

Atlanta will run more than KC did so I look for Gonzalez's numbers to drop a little. I know he still produced for KC when they ran a lot, but he was younger and playing in a better offense.

I still expect Gonzo to be a top three TE, so it’s not like I don’t value him. He’s going in the fifth round of fantasy drafts.

I’m putting him on a 70 catch, 900 yard, seven TD season.

Dallas Clark is on the low end of the elite TE, but there is a drop off after he goes off the board (likely in the late fifth/early sixth round).

Clark put together another solid season with 77 catches for 848 yards and six TDs, showing the 58-616-11 he put up in 2007 wasn’t a fluke.

With Marvin Harrison gone, Clark should figure to be one of Peyton Manning’s primary targets.

I actually expect him to take a little step back this year simply because he was so productive last year. I’m looking for him to have 65 catches for 850 yards and seven TDs.

Originally published at LestersLegends.com.