Who Should I Start? Hunter Henry or Mason Taylor

Sunday, January 5, 12:04 PM

New England Patriots tight end Hunter Henry (foot) has been ruled out for the Week 18 regular-season finale against the division-rival Buffalo Bills on Sunday. Henry was limited in practice all week but will end his 2024 season a week early. With the 30-year-old officially out against a Bills defense that will be taking it easy with the No. 2 seed already locked up for the playoffs, Austin Hooper could be a sneaky DFS play this weekend with a starting workload on tap. Henry will be back with New England next year after wrapping up his fourth season with the Pats. The former second-rounder by the Los Angeles Chargers in 2016 out of Arkansas finishes with a career-high 674 receiving yards on a career-high 66 receptions (97 targets), although he only found the end zone two times in 16 games, limiting his value as a low-end TE1 option on a weekly basis in fantasy.

Tuesday, April 29, 4:39 PM

The Athletic's Zack Rosenblatt writes that rookie second-round tight end Mason Taylor will immediately walk into the Jets building at the top of the tight end depth chart going into his rookie season in 2025. Jeremy Ruckert projects as the No. 2, but he has yet to make an impact since the Jets drafted him in 2022. The Jets are at least hoping he can take a step forward as a blocker and contribute in the running game. The 20-year-old Taylor not only will be a starter immediately, but he could see plenty of targets from quarterback Justin Fields in his first year in the NFL, giving him TE1 fantasy upside in 2025. Outside of WR1 Garrett Wilson, the Jets don't exactly star-studded receiving depth in Josh Reynolds, Allen Lazard and Arian Smith. Taylor will have intriguing rookie upside, but he'll still be better off drafted as a TE2 sleeper than a staple for those in single-TE leagues.