Fantasy Football Week 1 Tight End Ranking: Should You Start Evan Engram, David Njoku, and Brock Bowers?

It’s that time of year. If you’re reading this, you have your fantasy football roster pulled up and, even if you don’t want to admit it, you’re wondering, “How am I going to mess up this beautiful roster that I put together?”

We’ve all been there. Don’t worry, I’m a professional.

Well, at the very least, I try hard. Really hard. And with that, I present to you my Week 1 fantasy rankings that have far too much data supporting them to possibly be wrong.

Top 20 Fantasy Tight End Rankings

1) Sam LaPorta | Detroit Lions (vs. LAR)
2) Dalton Kincaid | Buffalo Bills (vs. ARI)
3) Travis Kelce | Kansas City Chiefs (vs. BAL)
4) Mark Andrews | Baltimore Ravens (at KC)
5) Trey McBride | Arizona Cardinals (at BUF)
6) Evan Engram | Jacksonville Jaguars (at MIA)
7) George Kittle | San Francisco 49ers (vs. NYJ)
8) Jake Ferguson | Dallas Cowboys (at CLE)
9) Kyle Pitts | Atlanta Falcons (vs. PIT)
10) David Njoku | Cleveland Browns (vs. DAL)
11) Brock Bowers | Las Vegas Raiders (at LAC)
12) Pat Freiermuth | Pittsburgh Steelers (at ATL)
13) Dallas Goedert | Philadelphia Eagles (vs. GB)
14) Dalton Schultz | Houston Texans (at IND)
15) Taysom Hill | New Orleans Saints (vs. CAR)
16) Luke Musgrave | Green Bay Packers (at PHI)
17) Zach Ertz | Washington Commanders (at TB)
18) Jonnu Smith | Miami Dolphins (vs. JAX)
19) Cole Kmet | Chicago Bears (vs. TEN)
20) Hunter Henry | New England Patriots (at CIN)

The Top Tight Ends To Start in Week 1

Evan Engram, Jacksonville Jaguars

I like Brian Thomas Jr.’s potential as much as anyone, but there is no denying that, until proven otherwise, Engram is the man best suited to thrive in this Lawrence-led offense.

What if Evan Engram is the Jags new Ridley…..These is a more than 0% chance Engram is the TE1 this year pic.twitter.com/3ymLckFIhY

— Jeremy (@PopesFFH) August 24, 2024

Engram finished 2023 with the second-most catches ever by a tight end in a single season (114), doing so in a very consistent and efficient manner. I’m projecting a little less volume but a little more scoring equity in 2024, something that could land him among the top five scorers at the position this week against the Miami defense that allowed the third-highest red-zone completion percentage last season (65.5%).

Brock Bowers, Las Vegas Raiders

I’m fine rostering Bowers and hoping that the raw talent wins out. That said, history tells us that you’re essentially betting on a touchdown if you start the Georgia star in his NFL debut, a shaky bet at best for a team with one of the lower implied totals on the Week 1 slate.

Since 2002, only one time has a tight end scored double-digit PPR fantasy points in his first career game when not finding the end zone. If you’re curious, Coby Fleener was that player, and he had the benefit of playing in an offense led by college teammate Andrew Luck and a game script that required three times as many pass attempts as rushes (the Colts lost 41-21 in Chicago).

Bowers’ preseason usage was encouraging, and there is a path to him mattering this season. But he’s not ranked as a fantasy starter for me this week and likely won’t be for this first month – not until we get a grasp on his role and how this offense is going to function.