Week 1 of the fantasy football season has arrived. As always, it is crucial to know what players are the preferable starts. Taking player talent, performance, and matchup into account, here are my Week 1 TE rankings.
Top 30 Fantasy TE Rankings
FIND MORE POSITIONAL RANKINGS: QB | RB | WR | K | DEF | Flex | SF
1) Sam LaPorta | Detroit Lions (vs. LAR)
2) Mark Andrews | Baltimore Ravens (at KC)
3) Trey McBride | Arizona Cardinals (at BUF)
4) Travis Kelce | Kansas City Chiefs (vs. BAL)
5) Dalton Kincaid | Buffalo Bills (vs. ARI)
6) Evan Engram | Jacksonville Jaguars (at MIA)
7) George Kittle | San Francisco 49ers (vs. NYJ)
8) Kyle Pitts | Atlanta Falcons (vs. PIT)
9) David Njoku | Cleveland Browns (vs. DAL)
10) Jake Ferguson | Dallas Cowboys (at CLE)
11) Dallas Goedert | Philadelphia Eagles (vs. GB)
12) Brock Bowers | Las Vegas Raiders (at LAC)
13) Pat Freiermuth | Pittsburgh Steelers (at ATL)
14) Dalton Schultz | Houston Texans (at IND)
15) Hunter Henry | New England Patriots (at CIN)
16) Taysom Hill | New Orleans Saints (vs. CAR)
17) Cade Otton | Tampa Bay Buccaneers (vs. WAS)
18) Colby Parkinson | Los Angeles Rams (at DET)
19) Tyler Conklin | New York Jets (at SF)
20) Noah Fant | Seattle Seahawks (vs. DEN)
21) Luke Musgrave | Green Bay Packers (at PHI)
22) Juwan Johnson | New Orleans Saints (vs. CAR)
23) Jonnu Smith | Miami Dolphins (vs. JAX)
24) Gerald Everett | Chicago Bears (vs. TEN)
25) Chigoziem Okonkwo | Tennessee Titans (at CHI)
26) Greg Dulcich | Denver Broncos (at SEA)
27) Tucker Kraft | Green Bay Packers (at PHI)
28) Zach Ertz | Washington Commanders (at TB)
29) Cole Kmet | Chicago Bears (vs. TEN)
30) Isaiah Likely | Baltimore Ravens (at KC)
The Top Tight Ends To Start in Week 1
Taysom Hill, New Orleans Saints (vs. CAR)
This may end up being the lowest Taysom Hill is ranked all season.
Despite knowing who he is, we really don’t know for sure how he will be utilized this season. I am going out on a limb and saying he will be featured more than we expect.
The Saints don’t have a clear third offensive weapon behind Chris Olave and Alvin Kamara. However, they do have a new offensive coordinator, Klint Kubiak. I expect him to be more creative offensively and move Hill all over the place.
Hill could see touches as a quarterback, running back, and receiver. He also is likely to handle at least a goal-line rush or two.
Fantasy managers who punted TE and ended up with Hill may end up feeling really good about it.
Colby Parkinson, Los Angeles Rams (at DET)
There is a clear top 12 at tight end. Odds are, each manager in your fantasy league drafted one of them. You probably don’t need to dig deep this early in the season.
But, if you do, Colby Parkinson has sneaky appeal.
This projects to be the highest-scoring game of the first week. With Tyler Higbee still recovering from his torn ACL, Parkinson has been operating as the clear TE1. He may very well be a near-every-down player.
Last season, the Lions allowed the eighth-most fantasy points per game to tight ends. We’ve seen Higbee be a TE1 in the past. Parkinson hasn’t done much to this point in his career, but he’s in the right spot to be a surprise TE1 this season, or, at the very least, this week.