This could be the sequel to the Allen/Fleener nightmare in Indianapolis. With Larry Donnell healthy, he and Will Tye could eat into each other's production the entire season. The upside if one were to snag the starting job, though, is fun to ponder.
In the first full season with Odell Beckham on the roster, the New York Giants finished 10th in Adjusted Passing NEP per play, our schedule-adjusted metric to measure the efficiency of a team's aerial assault. All other teams in the top 10 except for the Giants, Steelers, and Arizona Cardinals currently have a tight end going in the top 14 in positional ADP, so you can see the upside in snagging one of these guys. It's just impossible to predict which will be the more reliable option, and Saturday's preseason game did nothing to clear that up.
The #Giants first play on offense is with 2 TEs (Tye and Donnell) and 2 WRs (Cruz and Beckham).
— Jordan Raanan (@JordanRaanan) August 27, 2016
Tye seemed to make the most of his audition last year when Donnell went down with an injury. From Week 9 on, Tye saw 15.48% of the team's targets, logging at least five targets in every game except for two and hitting the eight-target mark three times. Those are awesome numbers for a tight end, and we'd happily take that this year if we were assured Tye would be the top option again.
This might be a situation to simply monitor in Week 1 before pouncing in fantasy. If one of the two has a higher snap rate or market share, then it's time to snatch them up right away to get a piece of a quality offense. If not, then we may be forced to let them sit on waivers and lament a lost dope opportunity.