Road to TE1: Mark Andrews

After six years of being one of the best tight ends in fantasy football, Mark Andrews faces a different type of challenge in his seventh year as he attempts to come back from a broken fibula.

Andrews shockingly made his way back onto the field for the AFC Championship Game but openly stated that he was not at 100 percent. The veteran spent most of his 2024 offseason in rehab while pushing himself to get back to full strength, a goal he believes he has accomplished.

The injury limited Andrews to just 10 games in 2023 for a career-low 544 receiving yards. But despite playing in just 59 percent of the regular season games, Andrews still finishes as the TE12 in standard leagues and TE15 in PPR. His season-long statistics were also still good enough for third on the team in receiving yards behind Zay Flowers and Odell Beckham Jr.

Now 28, Andrews will once again have to hold off emerging backup Isaiah Likely, who the team has reportedly been experimenting with in two-tight end sets.

How Mark Andrews can become the overall TE1 in 2024

While he is no longer a young up-and-comer, Andrews is still in his prime years for a tight end but is facing arguably the biggest challenge of his career with his road to recovery. Leg injuries are often damaging to skill position players but historically, broken bones in the lower extremities have been the most problematic.

Health will obviously be the biggest concern for Andrews but before 2023, he had missed just six total games in his career. For fantasy purposes, the next biggest threat to his value is the increasing presence of Isaiah Likely, who scored five touchdowns in the final five games of the season with Andrews sidelined.

The situation is worth monitoring but with reports coming out that Baltimore is experimenting with Likely as a wideout, Andrews' snap count will likely not be affected. His targets are more of a reason for concern but even with a slight dip in targets in 2023, Andrews' usage in the red zone did not take a toll with his six touchdowns through 10 games.

The addition of Derrick Henry poses another roadblock with his typical red zone presence but Andrews has long been used to Lamar Jackson poaching goal-line touchdowns from him. The bottom line is when Jackson is looking to throw in the red zone, his first read is almost always Andrews, as evidenced by the veteran's 14 red zone targets in 2023 that were fourth amongst tight ends on the year even with the injury.

With touchdowns being the foundation of Andrews' fantasy value, the potential outbreak of Likely is not as much of a worry, particularly with Odell Beckham Jr. leaving the team and no key name coming in to replace his production. The fact that Andrews was even able to return to the field in the 2023 playoffs is encouraging for his health status come Week 1.

The 2024 season should be more of the same for Andrews, who has annual TE1 upside even in a low-volume passing offense.