Who Should I Start? Zaire Mitchell-Paden or Zach Heins

Saturday, August 17, 8:04 PM

Cleveland Browns tight end Zaire Mitchell-Paden turned in a solid effort in his team's 27-12 preseason loss to the Minnesota Vikings on Saturday. Mitchell-Paden led the team in receiving, hauling in all four of his targets for 59 yards in the loss. The undrafted second-year tight end out of Florida Atlantic has been productive in Cleveland's two preseason games, catching seven passes for 79 yards thus far. While David Njoku has the No. 1 TE job locked down in Cleveland, Mitchell-Paden will look to carve out a reserve role in the team's offense once the regular season starts. For now, he is worth consideration in preseason DFS contests in Week 3 of the preseason when the Browns face the Seattle Seahawks.

Thursday, July 11, 4:37 PM

Former South Dakota State University tight end Zach Heins signed with the Los Angeles Chargers after being unselected in the 2024 NFL Draft. After a slow start to his collegiate career, Heins caught 56 passes for 757 yards and 11 touchdowns over the last two seasons. With the Chargers, he's in one of the weaker tight end rooms in the NFL, and Daniel Popper of the Athletic believes he has a shot to make the 53-man roster following training camp. "Heins, out of South Dakota State, is over 6-foot-6 and 259 pounds. He projects as a capable inline blocker. The Chargers have been very clear about wanting to build a physical and imposing running game," Popper wrote. "To do that consistently, they need run blockers at tight end. They signed an elite run blocker in free agency in Will Dissly. But I think they need more run-blocking behind Dissly." It sounds like Heins won't be much of a pass-catcher if he makes the roster, but he should still be on the fantasy radar in ultra-deep leagues if he's active in Week 1. The Chargers could opt to carry four tight ends on game day, so he'll need to beat out one of Dissly, Hayden Hurst, Donald Parham Jr., or Stone Smartt.