Who Should I Start? Adam Trautman or Jeremy Ruckert

Monday, December 16, 10:51 AM

Denver Broncos tight ends Adam Trautman and Nate Adkins both found the end zone in the team's 31-13 victory over the visiting Indianapolis Colts on Sunday at Empower Field in Week 15. Trautman and Adkins hauled in rookie quarterback Bo Nix's first two touchdown passes of the day in a huge victory that boosts Denver's chances of making the postseason for the first time since they won Super Bowl 50 with Peyton Manning. Trautman finished with two catches on two targets for 20 yards and the score, while Adkins only caught the one TD pass of 15 yards on the day. The Broncos haven't utilized their tight ends much in the offense this year, so neither Trautman nor Adkins should be in consideration for a waiver-wire pickup in the fantasy playoffs. Trautman has 11 catches for 178 yards and two TDs in 14 games, while Adkins has only eight grabs for 65 yards and three scores on the year.

Monday, June 9, 12:26 PM

The Athletic's Zack Rosenblatt writes that New York Jets tight end Jeremy Ruckert has shown progress as a pass-catcher this offseason. Ruckert was teammates with new quarterback Justin Fields in college at Ohio State, so he's been seeing a heavy workload during organized team activities. Still, Ruckert has plenty to prove coming off three disappointing seasons to start his NFL career, including regressing as a run-blocker last year. "I think he can help us in the passing game, he'll be a really good blocker," had coach Aaron Glenn said. "There's some technical things he can improve on." The 24-year-old former third-rounder (101st overall) in 2022 is still searching for his first NFL touchdown and has caught just 35 of 52 targets for 264 yards in his three seasons. With the Jets taking Mason Taylor in the second round of this year's draft, Ruckert's path to fantasy value is even more of an uphill battle.