Fantasy Upside
One year after tearing his ACL and missing all of the 2016 season, Ben Watson was targeted 79 times last year in Baltimore, catching 61 passes for 522 yards and 4 touchdowns. He's heading back to New Orleans, where he spent the 2013-2015 seasons, posting a career-best 74-825-6 line in 2015 before signing with the Ravens. (He finished as fantasy's TE8 that year, which was the highest ranking of his career.) Now that Coby Fleener is gone, Watson is atop the depth chart in New Orleans and clearly still has some juice in his 37-year-old legs. He has some appeal playing in Sean Payton's offense with future Hall of Famer Drew Brees at quarterback. Watson is in a great spot.
Fantasy Downside
Watson did wind up in a great spot in New Orleans and he's likely to start for the Saints. That said, Michael Thomas remains the team's No. 1 option in a passing game that also features dynamic running back Alvin Kamara, deep threat Ted Ginn, and newcomer Cameron Meredith. There might not be enough targets to go around to make Watson a weekly fantasy contributor.
2018 Bottom Line
Watson checks in as our No. 25 ranked TE for 2018. He will have some streaming appeal but there are better options if you're looking for a starting tight end. There are too many mouths to feed in the Saints' offense and Watson will likely go undrafted in 10- and 12-team leagues. There's no need to draft Watson, who should be available on the waiver wire if you do want to stream him at certain points during the season.
