Who Should I Start? Jeremy Ruckert or Gunnar Helm

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.

Tuesday, October 7, 2:48 PM

Tennessee Titans tight end Gunnar Helm caught four of five targets on Sunday for 34 yards, all of which represented the highest totals of his young career. According to Titans OC Nick Holz, Helm catches the ball easily and "could see his targets going up moving forward." The rookie tight end out of Texas was one of three pass catchers selected by the Titans in the fourth round of the 2025 draft. While receiver Elic Ayomanor was the quickest to make an impact, Helm could see his role expand and is someone for fantasy managers to at least keep an eye on for now. Despite the Titans' improbable win on Sunday, Cam Ward has thrown only two touchdowns on the year and is averaging 175.8 passing yards per game, making it difficult to rely on any of the team's pass catchers for fantasy.