Coby Fleener had his moments in Indianapolis, and those moments are about to be multiplied in New Orleans. Fleener signed a nice five-year, $36 million contract, which shows how much the Saints expect to use him.
Fleener often battled Dwayne Allen for reps with the Colts, in addition to their array of wide receivers, yet he still managed 50-plus catches in the last three seasons. While Fleener has never been a season-long elite tight end, there were times when he was a top-10 guy with Andrew Luck at quarterback and Allen out injured.
The 27-year-old expects to fit right into the role Benjamin Watson held down last season, in which he had 74 receptions, 825 yards and six touchdowns. That was good enough to be the No. 8 fantasy tight end in standard leagues.
Even with the move, he’s still getting rated outside of the top-12 tight ends at the FantasyPros consensus rankings, which is a bit odd.
The Saints signed Fleener so he could be their usual pass-catching tight end, not so he could stay in and block. The Colts felt they could get rid of him mainly because he didn’t improve much in the receiving game in his four years and was still a subpar blocker. That isn’t a huge factor for the Saints because they’re fine with asking their No. 1 tight end not to block.
Last season, Drew Brees targeted Watson 109 times, the second-highest number on the team behind Brandin Cooks, who was only at 129. Fleener has never seen more than 92 targets in a season.
Also, consider that Fleener will be a tad more spry than Watson, who was 34 years old for most of last season. Watson is probably a smarter tight end, but Fleener can make up for that with athleticism.
At this point in March, nothing really stands out about the New Orleans wide receivers, either. Cooks will be the top guy again with Willie Snead and Brandon Coleman filling in the other spots with Marques Colston gone. There isn’t a big name on the roster that deserves a huge number of targets and that will only help Fleener.
With how the tight end class panned out last year, it wouldn’t be a bad strategy to wait and draft someone like Fleener, who will be going after the likes of Zach Ertz, Julius Thomas and Austin Seferian-Jenkins.
Last season, Jordan Reed and Gary Barnidge came out of nowhere with great seasons, and the same could be said for Delanie Walker.
Fleener is getting underrated just like those guys were. An important stat to note is that he hasn’t missed a game in the last three years. Some of those tight ends being drafted above him were on the trainer’s table much of last season.
Would you rather waste a higher pick on a tight end with an injury past, or wait a little bit for Fleener, who has the same upside as the other tight ends, yet is healthier?
It’s almost a no brainer to me. Fleener is set to have a career season in New Orleans with Drew Brees and you can get him for cheap.
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