Hayden Hurst

Fantasy Upside

Hayden Hurst finally gets his opportunity to work as a full-time TE1 in an offense after he became close to an afterthought in Baltimore behind Mark Andrews. But as our John Paulsen notes, Hurst was effective when he did get work in Baltimore. His 1.69 yards per route run was the same as Zach Ertz and more than Hunter Henry (1.67) and the man he is replacing in Atlanta, Austin Hooper (1.65). Hooper was the sixth-most targeted tight end in 2019 in Atlanta, so Hurst presumably will get a good chunk, and perhaps more, of the 97 targets Hooper saw.

Fantasy Downside

Obviously plenty of other mouths to feed in Atlanta, as Hurst is third in the pecking order amongst receivers, plus Atlanta has to work in Todd Gurley in the backfield. But with Atlanta expected to always be high-octane, as usual, there should still be enough on the plate for Hurst.

2020 Bottom Line

Hurst is currently our TE10 in 0.5PPR with six to seven projected touchdowns and 671 yards. Tight end is once again going to be a mixed bag after the top options are gone but in the mid to late rounds of your draft, Hurst is going to be a solid option to wait for if you miss out on Travis Kelce and George Kittle.