Who Should I Start? Austin Hooper or Brenton Strange

Tuesday, July 29, 9:36 PM

New England Patriots tight end Austin Hooper (undisclosed) returned to practice on Tuesday, according to Evan Lazar of Patriots.com. Hooper had started camp on the active/physically unable to perform list, but he appears to be back in action. The 30-year-old recorded 45 catches for 476 yards and three touchdowns in 17 games with New England in 2024. He's behind Hunter Henry on the Patriots' tight end depth chart, but it wouldn't be a surprise to see the team use plenty of two tight-end sets now that Josh McDaniels is back in town as the play-caller. Even still, Hooper would need an injury to Henry to crack the radar of fantasy managers.

Thursday, August 7, 6:51 PM

ESPN's Michael DiRocco writes that Jacksonville Jaguars tight end Brenton Strange has been one of the team's "most consistent offensive performers throughout camp." Strange has also shown plenty of chemistry with quarterback Trevor Lawrence so far this summer. The 24-year-old was a second-rounder (61st overall) in 2023 out of Penn State. He had just five catches for 35 yards and a score in his first NFL season before posting a 40-411-2 line in 17 games (10 starts) in 2024. Strange will be Jacksonville's No. 1 pass-catching tight end in his third year now that Evan Engram is out of town. Fantasy managers in standard leagues can ignore Strange for now, but he might be worth a waiver-wire pickup later in the year if he takes advantage of his opportunities and continues to build chemistry with Lawrence. He's RotoBaller's No. 21 fantasy TE.