We had been trending this way already, but with the news of Zach Ertz landing on IR, second-year tight end Trey McBride is ready for takeoff.
The Mackey Award winner spent most of his career in Ertz’s shadow, but over the last two weeks, McBride has eclipsed 50% of snaps in both. The usage was already trending up, and it’s now going to take a monster leap with Ertz out of the picture for at least the next four weeks.
Currently sporting a 7% ownership, McBride is available on the Week 8 waiver wire in nearly every league. He’s also likely flying under the radar as the results haven’t come to fruition yet, with no touchdowns on the season and a high total of 10 fantasy points this year.
The good news about this is that a solid chunk of Ertz’s production should be shifting to McBride, and what we’ve seen from the Cardinals’ passing attack already bodes well for the high-upside tight end. In fact, their 31% target share to the position ranks third, behind only the Chiefs and Falcons, while the Cardinals rank fourth in total targets heaved to their TEs:
As we mentioned, McBride hasn’t put up eye-popping numbers through his 23-game career. Yet, last year with Ertz out, McBride did close the year with a 10 tgt, 7 rec, 78 yd, 1 TD (20.8 FP) day.
This is a guy who posted a whopping 90 catches & 1121 yards his senior year. He accounted for a whopping 46.3% of Colorado State’s production, which is unheard of for a TE and shows McBride’s ability to shoulder a passing game. This yielded a 99th percentile “Dominator Rating.”
The athleticism is hugely impressive. Via PlayerProfiler:
89th percentile forty (4.61). 85th percentile speed score (107.9). The speed pops on tape, too. McBride moves far faster than a man his size should. He has impressive moves after the catch, including this impressive hurdle:
Thus far in 2023, McBride has performed quite well in his limited work. Between yards per route run and PFF’s overall receiving grade, he lands in the top ten in both categories. It’s a classic case of a guy who probably should have been playing significantly more than he was and now has the opportunity to prove what we all have known all along. The best tight end of the 2022 rookie class should’ve been out there over Ertz from the get-go.
ADD TREY MCBRIDE OFF THE WAIVER WIRE
Moving forward, what can we expect from the Cardinals target totem pole? Well, I think it’s fairly safe to assume Marquise Brown will remain the top option for Arizona’s offense. From there, it becomes a bit more difficult to find a true No. 2 between McBride, Michael Wilson, and Rondale Moore. Right now, I’d give Wilson the slight edge over the two based on his snap percentage.
With the ability to move around from in-line to slot to even the X receiver, McBride has all the tools to be a mismatch at a number of positions. Assuming Kyler Murray returns soon, the second-year tight end could be in for a massive rest of season fantasy outlook.
However, The Wolf does not believe in McBride quite yet, checking in at TE28 (-4 vs ECR) on his Rest of Season Fantasy Rankings.
UPDATED: Trey McBride is now up to TE14 in The Wolf’s updated ROS Rankings (+10 ECR). Believer indeed!
