When we conducted out annual Experts Poll in mid-May last year, Tony Holm of Fantasy Sharks was the only one of the 20 panelists to include Darren Waller (who didn’t even play in 2017 and hardly played in 2018). Waller had a huge season, helping lift Holm to a first-place finish at the tight end position.
Holm had other good selections. He got some value out of being higher than most on Austin Hooper, Jason Witten, Kyle Rudolph and Greg Olsen, as well as being one of the lowest on David Njoku. But it was the Waller pick that gave him the biggest boost.
Waller caught 90 passes. Using PPR scoring, he was worth 223 points. Using our complex scoring grid that made Holm’s Waller pick worth 1,338 points (6 x 223). Had Holm ranked him 19th, the pick would have been worth 1,561 points (7 x 223). (The first-place votes get multiplied by 25, and the sliding scale goes down to 6 for the 20th-place votes).
It’s an arbitrary scoring system, but it’s the one we use. Bryan Teegardin finished in 2nd in this category. Chris Liss of Rotowire.com took 3rd.
| EXPERTS POLL, TIGHT ENDS | |
|---|---|
| Analyst | Points |
| Tony Holm | 42,932 |
| Bryan Teegardin | 41,096 |
| Chris Liss | 41,060 |
| Alan Satterlee | 40,658 |
| Bob Henry | 40,222 |
| Paul Charchian | 40,081 |
| Brack Varnon | 40,076 |
| Michael Nazarek | 39,875 |
| Scott Pianowski | 39,853 |
| Sam Hendricks | 39,826 |
| Mike Clay | 39,784 |
| Michael Nease | 39,262 |
| Aaron Bland | 39,168 |
| David Dorey | 38,994 |
| Cory Bonini | 38,942 |
| Jeff Ratcliffe | 38,708 |
| John Hansen | 38,669 |
| Jesse Pantuosco | 38,161 |
| Lenny Pappano | 37,528 |
| Jody Smith | 37,237 |
Liss won our alternative scoring title at this position. In this scoring system, we look only at tight ends ending up in the top 12 (the starters in a typical 12-team league). The guys from 13th on just get tossed – there’s no difference between a tight end who finished 15th, 25th, 45th or who didn’t even play). The intent here is to remove the huge impact of players who miss a bunch of games with injuries.
This this alternative format, Liss blew everyone away. He was by far the lowest on tight end most others were really high on (Eric Ebron), and he was by far the highest on Mark Andrews, who had a nice season for Baltimore. Liss also helped his cause by being one of the highest on Jared Cook.
| TIGHT ENDS (alternate) | |
|---|---|
| Analyst | Points |
| Chris Liss | 9,524 |
| Paul Charchian | 9,361 |
| Scott Pianowski | 9,266 |
| Brack Varnon | 9,184 |
| Bryan Teegardin | 9,100 |
| Tony Holm | 8,907 |
| Michael Nease | 8,783 |
| Bob Henry | 8,671 |
| Alan Satterlee | 8,624 |
| Michael Nazarek | 8,588 |
| Sam Hendricks | 8,486 |
| Aaron Bland | 8,476 |
| Lenny Pappano | 8,432 |
| Cory Bonini | 8,429 |
| John Hansen | 8,407 |
| David Dorey | 8,389 |
| Mike Clay | 8,368 |
| Jesse Pantuosco | 8,364 |
| Jeff Ratcliffe | 8,353 |
| Jody Smith | 8,306 |
—Ian Allan