Austin Hooper signed the big free agent deal with Cleveland, but I’m confident I won’t be selecting him in any leagues this year. I’m pretty sure I’ll be slotting him behind a number of tight ends who’ll be going later in drafts.
The guy who replaces him in Atlanta, for starters. Hayden Hurst, I’m pretty confident, will finish with better numbers than Hooper, and he’ll likely be selected later in most fantasy drafts. With these guys, I think the situation is more important than the experience and skill of the players.
With the Browns, they’ve got Kevin Stefanski coming in to run things. He used two tight ends on most downs last year in Minnesota. Kyle Rudolph and Irv Smith caught 39 and 36 passes. Cleveland has another tight end with some pass-catching ability – David Njoku – so they’ve got the personnel to run the same kind of offense. (The Browns also have the solid pair of LSU wide receivers, and I don’t think it will be a pass-crazy offense.)
I will concede, however, that Hooper did a solid job of being an outlet receiver for Matt Ryan in Atlanta. Over the last two years, he caught 79 percent of the passes thrown his way. Since 2018, 30 tight ends have seen at least 80 targets. Only one of those players caught a higher percentage of the passes thrown his way – Rudolph.
| TIGHT END CATCH RATES (last 2 years) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | Tgt | Rec | Yards | Avg | TD | Pct |
| Kyle Rudolph, Min. | 130 | 103 | 1,001 | 9.7 | 10 | 79.2% |
| Austin Hooper, Atl. | 185 | 146 | 1,447 | 9.9 | 10 | 78.9% |
| Darren Waller, Oak. | 123 | 96 | 1,220 | 12.7 | 3 | 78.0% |
| Jason Witten, Dall. | 83 | 63 | 529 | 8.4 | 4 | 75.9% |
| Tyler Higbee, LAR | 123 | 93 | 1,026 | 11.0 | 5 | 75.6% |
| George Kittle, S.F. | 243 | 173 | 2,430 | 14.0 | 10 | 71.2% |
| Tyler Eifert, Cin. | 82 | 58 | 615 | 10.6 | 4 | 70.7% |
| Zach Ertz, Phil. | 291 | 204 | 2,079 | 10.2 | 14 | 70.1% |
| Travis Kelce, K.C. | 286 | 200 | 2,565 | 12.8 | 15 | 69.9% |
| Dallas Goedert, Phil. | 131 | 91 | 941 | 10.3 | 9 | 69.5% |
| Vance McDonald, Pitt. | 127 | 88 | 883 | 10.0 | 7 | 69.3% |
| Ryan Griffin, Hou.-NYJ | 84 | 58 | 625 | 10.8 | 5 | 69.0% |
| Trey Burton, Chi. | 100 | 68 | 653 | 9.6 | 6 | 68.0% |
| Nick Boyle, Balt. | 80 | 54 | 534 | 9.9 | 2 | 67.5% |
| Evan Engram, NYG | 132 | 89 | 1,044 | 11.7 | 6 | 67.4% |
| O.J. Howard, T.B. | 101 | 68 | 1,024 | 15.1 | 6 | 67.3% |
| C.J. Uzomah, Cin. | 104 | 70 | 681 | 9.7 | 5 | 67.3% |
| Jared Cook, Oak.-N.O. | 166 | 111 | 1,601 | 14.4 | 15 | 66.9% |
| Jordan Akins, Hou. | 80 | 53 | 643 | 12.1 | 2 | 66.3% |
| Mark Andrews, Balt. | 148 | 98 | 1,404 | 14.3 | 13 | 66.2% |
| Greg Olsen, Car. | 120 | 79 | 888 | 11.2 | 6 | 65.8% |
| Jack Doyle, Ind. | 105 | 69 | 693 | 10.0 | 6 | 65.7% |
| Jordan Reed, Was. | 84 | 54 | 558 | 10.3 | 2 | 64.3% |
| Gerald Everett, LAR | 110 | 70 | 728 | 10.4 | 5 | 63.6% |
| Cameron Brate, T.B. | 104 | 66 | 600 | 9.1 | 10 | 63.5% |
| Jimmy Graham, G.B. | 149 | 93 | 1,083 | 11.6 | 5 | 62.4% |
| David Njoku, Cle. | 98 | 61 | 680 | 11.1 | 5 | 62.2% |
| Mike Gesicki, Mia. | 121 | 73 | 772 | 10.6 | 5 | 60.3% |
| Eric Ebron, Ind. | 162 | 97 | 1,125 | 11.6 | 16 | 59.9% |
| Ricky Seals-Jones, Az.-Cle. | 91 | 48 | 572 | 11.9 | 5 | 52.7% |
Keep in mind with this metric, by the way, that it’s not necessarily a sign of great. It doesn’t indicate (in my opinion) that Hooper is the league’s 2nd-best tight end. Tight ends who settle in for more short catches underneath will tend to catch a higher percentage of the balls thrown their way. Tight ends who more often are trying to get downfield for chunk plays – Jared Cook, Mark Andrews – will naturally catch a lower percentage of their targets.
Regardless, Hooper to me looks like a solid pass-catching option. I just don’t have any confidence that he’ll see anywhere near as many looks in Cleveland’s offense.
—Ian Allan