Will Hayden Hurst be a breakout fantasy tight end in Atlanta?

Yahoo Fantasy expert Liz Loza looks at Hurst's value after joining the Falcons and the departure of Austin Hooper.

Video Transcript

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LIZ LOZA: So will Hayden Hurst be this year's Austin Hooper? Well, I think the Atlanta Falcons are obviously hoping that's the case. And this is a player with first round draft pedigree. He's got good size 6'5", 250 pounds, tough player, hard to cover, does a good job of getting open looks, a little bit like Tormund Giantsbane. What's up "Game of Thrones" one year anniversary of the last episode out there on the field?

But I think when you employ that plug-and-play analysis, it's a little simplistic and often sounds better in theory than in practice. I mean, just because Austin Hooper averaged seven and 1/2 targets per game in 2019 doesn't mean that's going to happen in 2020, especially, and I know we keep hammering this point, when you're looking at an off-season with some considerable roadblocks, right?

And yes, I read the report from Mina Kimes that Hearst was traveling from his home in Jacksonville to Atlanta to practice throwing with Matt Ryan on a regular basis. And that's great. I also, by the way, don't think that for a hot second as more of these reports come out that Hurst's draft stock is going to stay in the double digit rounds. This is May, right? I think by August, by the time we get more excited for football, his ADP is going to lift quite a bit.

And so to that end, when I look at players like Mike Gesecki going around earlier, or one of my favorite potential breakout players of the position Jonnu Smith, going around later, I feel like you have options around the same draft price with higher floors. There you go.