2022 ‘This or That?’ Fantasy Analysis: Mike Gesicki vs Pat Freiermuth

2022 ‘This or That?’ Fantasy Analysis: Mike Gesicki vs Pat Freiermuth

Must Have: Pat Freiermuth (ESPN Rank: 11; SDN Rank: 9)

Freiermuth's rookie year was nothing to overlook despite him only finishing the season as the 13th-best tight end in fantasy. Freiermuth's 151.7 fantasy points were the 10th-most ever recorded by a tight end in their rookie year. With a slight upgrade at the quarterback position for Pittsburgh, Muth will surely see a lot more targets and he will especially see more usage from Tomlin. One thing you can really look forward to is his catching ability which was superb last year. He caught 76% of his targets last season which was the 9th-best rate among tight ends. Another thing to be excited about is his red zone numbers. He was tied for 1st in red zone targets among tight ends with 20 (9th-best among all receivers). He also recorded 7 touchdowns (6th-best among tight ends). If you like to wait for tight ends in your drafts, Muth is your guy.

Must Avoid: Mike Gesicki (ESPN Rank: 10; SDN Rank: 13)

Gesicki had a pretty good 2021 season, finishing as the 8th-best tight end in fantasy (165 points). He posted 74 receptions and 780 yards (10.7 Y/R), which are very good numbers for a tight end. However, he only posted 2 touchdowns last season, which was good enough to only be 34th among tight ends. The biggest reason for this? His usage in the red zone. Gesicki only had 9 targets and 5 receptions in the red zone last season. He was 3rd on his team with a 12.2% target rate, only 1.4% more than WR3, Mack Hollins. The addition of Tyreek Hill to that Miami offense will only make things worse for Gesicki. Not only will his overall usage go down, but so will his red zone usage. Hill and Waddle both had at least 15 red zone targets last year and a target rate of at least 20.00%. Gesicki is not the right guy for your team this year.