Vance McDonald

McDonald is one of those players who looks like a world beater if you catch him on the right day. The problem is, there aren't that many of those right days. McDonald has just 12 touchdowns in 73 career games, but three of those scores covered 75, 75 and 65 yards. Rare plays from a tight end, indeed. McDonald didn't go nuclear with his regular shot in Pittsburgh last year, but he did fashion a career-high catch rate (69.4 percent) and set or matched career-high marks in every major counting stat. Improved health was a big factor as the tight end played more than 11 games for the first time since 2015 in San Francisco. Now that Antonio Brown and timeshare partner Jesse James are both out of town, McDonald has a shot at TE1 relevance in 2019, competing with only Xavier Grimble and fifth-round rookie Zach Gentry for snaps. Just keep in mind McDonald is entering his seventh season - if something truly special were going to happen, it likely would have happened by now.

Knee, ankle, back and shoulder problems dogged McDonald throughout his Pittsburgh debut campaign, limiting him to 10 regular-season games and 270 offensive snaps. Take his seasonal stats and throw them in the garbage. He was finally healthy for the playoffs, when he threw a 10-catch, 112-yard effort at the Jaguars. Pittsburgh didn't draft a tight end or make a move in free agency, so McDonald only needs to push past the ordinary Jesse James to enter our fantasy plans. It's hard to get a ton of targets in a city that also includes Antonio Brown, JuJu Smith-Schuster and Le'Veon Bell, but Ben Roethlisberger has always looked for big targets around the goal line. And heck, McDonald found a way to score seven times in 2015-16 with the 49ers, despite drawing only 91 targets while dealing with some messy quarterback play. There's legitimate sleeper value here if he can overcome an August foot injury.

After spending the majority of the offseason preparing to serve as the No. 1 option in San Francisco, McDonald was shipped off to Pittsburgh in the final week of the preseason. He'll join incumbent starter Jesse James as the main guys at tight end there, but McDonald -- and his second-round pedigree -- averaged a cool 16.3 yards per reception with the Niners last season and should take over as the primary receiving option at the position. However, McDonald is notorious for his penchant to drop passes, which certainly inhibits his upside in any case. Also, it's possible the Steelers opt for a tight-end-by-committee approach, which would obviously cap McDonald's upside even further -- despite playing the Steelers' powerful pass attack.

While it didn't result in fantasy relevancy, McDonald received the most playing time of his three-year career in 2015, finishing the season with 326 yards on 30 receptions to go along with three touchdowns. He enters 2016 listed at No. 1 on the depth chart, but he will share snaps with Garrett Celek due to Chip Kelly's heavy usage of two-TE sets. In an offense that doesn't boast many quality options at wide receiver, McDonald could be relied upon heavily in the passing game, especially if Blaine Gabbert -- who makes his living off of short, safe passes -- wins the starting job.

The 49ers expected McDonald to take a step forward in 2015, but he could never get things going after dealing with a slew of injuries. His career 14.9 YPC shows that he can be a big play tight end, but he will need to stay on the field in order showcase his abilities. The team retained Vernon Davis and Derek Carrier and added two more tight ends in the 2015 draft, so McDonald will have to fight for a roster spot during training camp.

McDonald is currently listed as the backup to Vernon Davis on the 49ers' 2014 depth charts. While he only had eight catches in 2013, his 14.9 YPC shows that he has big-play ability. His stock would skyrocket should Davis go down with an injury.

McDonald has received positive reports so far at rookie camp as a pass catcher and could see some targets in two-tight end sets if he wins the backup TE job.