Cincinnati Bengals fantasy football preview: Tyler Eifert

With fantasy football draft season upon us, it’s time to take a look at the various Bengals’ positions from a fantasy football perspective.

In this third installment we will look at the tight end position.

The Bengals’ will have a few tight ends on their roster come Week 1. But only Tyler Eifert merits any fantasy football consideration.

Historical:

Looking back over the last few seasons, here are the relevant fantasy football stats for Eifert.

*Points per game for a TE can vary depending if your league is "standard" or "ppr". For these totals I used "standard", which is the most common form of scoring – which is why it is called the "standard".

2014 Review:

After a disappointing 2013 rookie campaign in which former offensive coordinator Jay Gruden admitted that he was underutilized, many expected more from Eifert last season. The preseason talk was that Eifert would be a featured part of the offense, and three receptions in the first two offensive drives of the season seemed to validate that. Unfortunately an elbow injury wrecked the rest of his season, and he finished with only those three receptions.

2015 Outlook:

Positive – Healthy
Even – Eifert remains an injury risk
Negative – Marvin Jones returns, who was a big red zone target in 2013.

Last season Jermaine Gresham compiled 62 receptions and 5 touchdowns. From all reports, Eifert is a much better receiver. So it would stand to reason that with the Bengals running the same offense this year, Eifert would at least do what Gresham did. Being a better receiver, you could expect an uptick in the yards and touchdowns – although the return of Marvin Jones keeps the touchdown increase from jumping too high.

Every year in fantasy football, fans who follow their team closely are usually able to pick up on an insight or two that other fantasy football players, and even the expert analysts, don’t pick up on. Last year astute Bengals fans were able to bypass on Giovani Bernard at the end of round one, and wait for the draft steal known as Jeremy Hill quite a few rounds later. This year that player is Tyler Eifert, who is being woefully underrated by the experts. Yahoo and CBS Sports project him to be the 15th and 22nd most productive tight end, respectively. His average draft position is the 11th round, as a backup tight end. But if these projections hold up, Eifert would easily be a starting tight end in fantasy, and potentially a top five performer this year.