Who Should I Start? Tyler Higbee or Mo Alie-Cox

Wednesday, February 28, 4:37 PM

Los Angeles Rams tight end Tyler Higbee (knee) suffered a torn ACL in the team's Wild Card loss to the Detroit Lions on January 14, and he has undergone surgery to repair it. However, Rams general manager Les Snead said the veteran's timeline to return is "still unclear." The 31-year-old caught 47 passes for 495 yards and two touchdowns in his eighth NFL season (2023), marking his quietest statistical year since 2018. Given his major injury late in the year, he's likely to begin the 2024 campaign on the PUP (Physically Unable to Perform) list, which would mean he'd have to miss at least the first four games of the season. Regardless of his health, he has limited fantasy upside while sharing a field with Puka Nacua and Cooper Kupp for the foreseeable future. His peak fantasy value has likely come and gone.

Friday, February 23, 2:30 PM

The Athletic's James Boyd writes that Indianapolis Colts tight end Mo Alie-Cox is an easy target if the team wishes to create more salary cap space this offseason. He's entering the final year of a three-year, $17.6 million contract extension that he signed in 2022. Alie-Cox is due the last $5.9 million of that in 2024, but none of it is guaranteed. The 30-year-old is the team's best blocking tight end and has recorded at least three touchdowns in each of the last three seasons, but he's not getting any younger and is unlikely to develop into a true No. 1 pass-catching tight end at this point of his career. Both Will Mallory and third-year tight end Jelani Woods, who missed all of 2023 with hamstring issues, give the Colts more upside at the position amid their current youth movement. Alie-Cox hasn't been much more than a low-upside, touchdown-dependent TE2 option for fantasy managers in deep leagues.