Who Should I Start? Dalton Schultz or Jeremy Ruckert

Friday, September 5, 11:09 PM

Houston Texans tight end Dalton Schultz restructured his deal this offseason and remains the top pass-catching tight end in his team's passing game. However, he posted five-year lows last year with 53 catches for 532 yards and only a pair of touchdowns despite playing in all 17 regular-season games last year. He still has 500+ yards in five straight years with an average of 4.8 touchdowns per year, and if the Texans' offense bounces back, he could climb back to fantasy relevance. Without Christian Kirk (hamstring), he could get a few more targets in Week 1 against the Rams, but he starts the year at No. 24 in the RotoBaller rankings. He has touchdown-dependent upside, but he doesn't have as much dynamic play-making upside as other fringe starters.

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.