What It Means:

Ryan played with first-ballot Hall of Famer Tony Gonzalez, so that's some notable praise. The Falcons acquired Hurst from the Baltimore Ravens in March to make up for the departure of Austin Hooper to the Cleveland Browns. He never had more than 4 catches in a game last year and only cleared 50 yards twice, but Hurst did finish with the sixth-most yards per target (9.0) among all tight ends with at least 30 targets. Meanwhile, Ryan threw more passes (97) to his starting tight end than anyone on the team not named Julio Jones. Hurst, a 2018 first-round pick, is set up for a career campaign as the likely third option in the passing game behind Jones and Calvin Ridley.

Hurst is the TE16 in numberFire's preseason fantasy rankings. Our models project him for 75.0 targets, 50.0 receptions, 555.9 yards, and 3.7 touchdowns.