Tennessee Titans tight end Austin Hooper has a chance to revive his career as the Titans’ new TE1. What is Hooper’s current ADP in fantasy drafts, and should fantasy football managers draft him at that price?
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Austin Hooper ADP | Is he worth his current price in fantasy drafts?
Hooper’s ADP is a strange one. He’s outside the top 200 players and right on the cusp of the top 24 tight ends. In a typical 12-team league, you won’t see Hooper drafted.
As someone who often waits on tight end, I’m eyeing up Hooper if I truly punt the position. This is a player with two TE1 seasons on his résumé. Of course, no one is expecting Hooper to get anywhere near the 14.6 PPR fantasy points per game he averaged in 2019, but he doesn’t have to. There’s no reason he can’t average 10 ppg this season, which is your standard back-end TE1.
Hooper is not going to win you a league. What he can do though is be a serviceable tight end that costs you nothing but the last pick in your draft.
Austin Hooper’s projected fantasy value in 2022
Hooper is entering his seventh season in the league. While I highlighted his two excellent years above, there were four other years. They were…not great. Outside of 2018 and 2019, Hooper has averages of 5.3, 7.5, 8.7, and 5.8 ppg.
Hooper doesn’t really do much after the catch. He operates near the line of scrimmage, as evidenced by his 4.8 aDOT and 8.7% air yards share last season.
Hooper is not a dynamic player. He’s not exciting or flashy, and won’t get much in the way of splash plays. What you will get is a reliable set of hands that can rack up a handful of receptions and occasionally score a touchdown.
Impact of the Titans’ depth chart on Hooper’s fantasy value
Ryan Tannehill has always liked his tight ends. Last season, he targeted them at a 20.7% rate. Even with an average of just 29-30 pass attempts per game, Hooper can beat his ADP with a mere 15% target share.
Anthony Firkser is no longer on the team. And while Geoff Swaim remains, he’s a career backup who will once again play that role. Hooper is the clear starter, and it wouldn’t surprise me at all if he finishes as a high-end TE2.
Hooper can be productive despite the Titans having a run-heavy offense
It’s no secret the Titans want to run the ball. Derrick Henry is back healthy, fully recovered from his broken foot. As a result, Tennessee should go right back to their usual offense where they pound Henry.
The Titans ran the ball 48% of the time in neutral game script last season. It was the sixth-highest rate in the league. With that said, Tannehill doesn’t have much to work with offensively.
A.J. Brown is now in Philly, and Julio Jones is in Tampa Bay. Their best attempt at replacing their two starting receivers from 2021 was to draft Treylon Burks and sign Robert Woods. The former is a rookie and the latter is 30 years old and coming off a midseason ACL tear.
By no means is Hooper going to out-target Burks or Woods. However, that doesn’t mean he can’t be third on the team in targets, which is a relevant enough role to have fantasy value. Hooper is currently the TE17 in our consensus 2022 fantasy rankings.
