It’s that time of year once again! Football Absurdity will bring you a breakdown of every notable fantasy football-relevant player throughout June, July, and August. We’ve run through 20 quarterbacks, 40 running backs, and 50 wide receivers! Let’s turn our attention to the position some hate so much they want to ditch it entirely. That’s right, it’s time for the tight end fantasy football previews! Jared Cook has had a late-career renaissance, starting with his 2018 breakout year with the Raiders. Now he returns to the AFC West, but can 2021 Jared Cook keep the magic going from the last three seasons?
Jared Cook ADP & AAV:
Average Draft Position (HPPR): TE21, Pick 203
Average Auction Value: $1.2 (T-TE15)
Jared Cook Statistics:
| Year | G | GS | Tgt | Rec | Yards | TD | Tgt/G | Rec/G | Rec% | Yds/Tgt | Yds/Rec |
| 2020 | 15 | 5 | 60 | 37 | 504 | 7 | 4.00 | 2.47 | 61.7% | 8.40 | 13.62 |
| 2019 | 14 | 7 | 65 | 43 | 705 | 9 | 4.64 | 3.07 | 66.2% | 10.85 | 16.40 |
| 2018 | 16 | 14 | 101 | 68 | 896 | 6 | 6.31 | 4.25 | 67.3% | 8.87 | 13.18 |
| Year | Std Pts | HPPR Pts | PPR Pts | Pts/G | HPPR Pts/G | PPR Pts/G | Pts/Tgt | HPPR Pts/Tgt | PPR Pts/Tgt |
| 2020 | 90.4 | 108.9 | 127.4 | 6.0 | 7.3 | 8.5 | 1.51 | 1.82 | 2.12 |
| 2019 | 124.5 | 146 | 167.5 | 8.9 | 10.4 | 12.0 | 1.92 | 2.25 | 2.58 |
| 2018 | 125.6 | 159.6 | 193.6 | 7.9 | 10.0 | 12.1 | 1.24 | 1.58 | 1.92 |
| Year | Air Yards | aDOT | YAC | YAC/Tgt | YAC/Rec | AYMS | Tgt MS |
| 2020 | 665 | 11.08 | 121 | 2.02 | 3.27 | 24% | 13% |
| 2019 | 678 | 10.4 | 254 | 3.91 | 5.91 | 21% | 13% |
| 2018 | 840 | 8.3 | 344 | 3.41 | 4.99 | 22% | 18% |
2021 Jared Cook Fantasy Football Overview:
The Jared Cook appeal, to me, is chasing touchdowns. And, to be honest, there is a worse equation to find to chase touchdowns than one that includes Jared Cook. Cook is tied for second in touchdowns over the last three seasons, notching 22 to Travis Kelce’s 27. He’s tied with Eric Ebron, but Ebron had 14 touchdowns in 2018, which skews his rank. Cook has at least six touchdowns in each of his last three seasons. His 16 touchdowns scored with the Saints also ranks top-three, by a decent margin (#4, Jonnu Smith, has just 12).
What makes this interesting? Well, the Chargers and tight ends go together like Jack and Diane. There’s a new coaching staff in town, but Joe Lombardi is the O.C. down with the Chargers. He’s called plays twice before. In those seasons, he had a rookie in Eric Ebron, so he gets a pass. In year two, Ebron had 70 targets. Given that the passing game is Keenan Allen, Mike Williams, Austin Ekeler, and Jared Cook, 70 targets seems like a good baseline to set. That would be more than Cook had in each of his last two seasons, and plenty to score touchdowns.
2021 Jared Cook Draft Strategy:
Jared Cook Auction Value: $0
Draft Ranking: Find out for your league settings in a Beersheet!
…But, ultimately, I’m not extremely enthusiastic about Jared Cook. Everything is an argument for him scoring lots of touchdowns. Sure, that could win you a week when he goes off, but he also isn’t likely to get a ton of targets. He’s 34, and things tend to backslide downhill as you age; I don’t see his career 37.5 yards per game going up in 2021. Ultimately, he’s a touchdown-or-bust play. If you want to get Cook as one of two upside tight ends, I won’t argue with you, but I prefer Adam Trautman, Evan Engram, and Jonnu Smith to Jared Cook.
Best Case Scenario:
He scores a ton of touchdowns and ends as TE6.
Worst Case Scenario:
He falls off the face of the earth entirely and gets fewer touchdowns than Donald Parham.
Check out all our 2021 player profiles, here.
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[Statistics are sourced from pro-football-reference.com, airyards.com, and ftnfantasy.com]
(Header Image Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jared_Cook#/media/File:Jared_Cook.jpg, under https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en and a screen cap from Memento)
