Looking for an edge at tight end in Week 16? With injuries and disappointing early performances thinning out the position, hungry fantasy football managers need to hit the waiver wire for upside and volume. If stability and upside are what’s needed, these are the tight ends who could tip the scales in Week 16fantasy matchups.
These rankings were last updated at 7:00 AM ET on Sunday, December 21, 2025.
Week 16 Fantasy TE Rankings
1) Trey McBride | Arizona Cardinals (vs. ATL)
2) George Kittle | San Francisco 49ers (at IND)
3) Kyle Pitts Sr. | Atlanta Falcons (at ARI)
4) Brock Bowers | Las Vegas Raiders (at HOU)
5) Travis Kelce | Kansas City Chiefs (at TEN)
6) Colby Parkinson | Los Angeles Rams (at SEA)
7) Dallas Goedert | Philadelphia Eagles (at WAS)
8) Tyler Warren | Indianapolis Colts (vs. SF)
9) Harold Fannin Jr. | Cleveland Browns (vs. BUF)
10) Dalton Schultz | Houston Texans (vs. LV)
11) Dalton Kincaid | Buffalo Bills (at CLE)
12) Colston Loveland | Chicago Bears (vs. GB)
13) T.J. Hockenson | Minnesota Vikings (at NYG)
14) Theo Johnson | New York Giants (vs. MIN)
15) Oronde Gadsden II | Los Angeles Chargers (at DAL)
16) Darren Waller | Miami Dolphins (vs. CIN)
17) Hunter Henry | New England Patriots (at BAL)
18) Brenton Strange | Jacksonville Jaguars (at DEN)
19) Juwan Johnson | New Orleans Saints (vs. NYJ)
20) Mark Andrews | Baltimore Ravens (vs. NE)
21) Mike Gesicki | Cincinnati Bengals (at MIA)
22) AJ Barner | Seattle Seahawks (vs. LAR)
23) Jake Ferguson | Dallas Cowboys (vs. LAC)
24) Dawson Knox | Buffalo Bills (at CLE)
25) Cade Otton | Tampa Bay Buccaneers (at CAR)
26) Isaiah Likely | Baltimore Ravens (vs. NE)
27) Greg Dulcich | Miami Dolphins (vs. CIN)
28) Gunnar Helm | Tennessee Titans (vs. KC)
29) David Njoku | Cleveland Browns (vs. BUF)
30) Evan Engram | Denver Broncos (vs. JAX)
Darren Waller, TE, Miami Dolphins (vs CIN)
Last week, the Baltimore Ravens did the impossible. They managed to completely avoid throwing to their tight ends against the Cincinnati Bengals. We can’t really criticize them since they won the game, but it was more due to the Bengals’ offensive ineptitude than the Ravens looking like an efficient offensive machine.
Despite being the No. 1 team at “defending” the tight end in Week 15, the Bengals still allow the most fantasy points per game to the position by an impossibly wide margin. They did not suddenly figure out how to stop the tight end.
Darren Waller is still extremely volatile. He’s yet to see more than three targets in a game since returning from IR. But he has a nose for the end zone, and the Bengals are allowing a touchdown per game to tight ends. You can certainly do worse.
Dallas Goedert, TE, Philadelphia Eagles (at WAS)
I know. It’s easy to recommend Dallas Goedert as a start after his second-best game of the season. Goedert now has registered games of 15.8 and 25.0 fantasy points in each of his last two. Impressively, he did this against two of the better teams at defending the tight end.
This week, Goedert gets a Commanders defense that allows the second-most fantasy points per game to the position.
Jalen Hurts has seemingly decided that checking it down all the time is how he wants to play. This is a game the Eagles should control and win handily, limiting situations in which they need to take any chances. That means more short passes, which benefits Goedert.
Should You Start or Sit Parkinson in Week 16?
Is it possible that Rob Gronkowski walked so Colby Parkinson could run?
The Stanford product has scored in five of his past six games, a run that nearly had an asterisk on it after his first TD was highly questionable against the Lions, but he squashed those concerns with a second score later.
2016-25, Highest TD% By A TE (min.35 targets)
- 2020Â Robert Tonyan: 18.6%
- 2024Â Mark Andrews: 15.9%
- 2025 Parkinson: 15.8%
- 2017 OJ Howard: 15.4%
- 2016Â Hunter Henry: 14.9%
It should go without saying that regression is to be expected, but regression can be a long-term thing, and we are very much in the short-term portion of the season.
Parkinson has earned an end zone look in four straight games (three more than he had for the season prior), and all signs point to Davante Adams (hamstring) being highly limited if not out altogether this week.
With an MVP candidate under center and the leader in end zone targets compromised at best, the situation around this unsustainable production is as advantageous as it’s been.
I was encouraged by the 9.0-yard aDOT on Sunday, a sign that Sean McVay is interested in exploring exactly what his emerging tight end can do vertically. This position has gotten harder, not easier, with time to rank (injuries to Daniel Jones and Patrick Mahomes, times shares in Buffalo and Baltimore, etc.), and that has paved the way for Parkinson to enter my top 10 for the first time this season.
Are you looking for start/sit advice for other players in your lineup? Read our Fantasy Football Start ‘Em, Sit ‘Em Cheat Sheet.
AJ Barner | SEA (vs LAR)
I assume you’re reading this section because you want to recreate the magic from the Week 11 meeting: 10 catches on 11 targets for 70 yards.
That performance looked good in the moment, as AJ Barner was able to succeed next to, not at the expense of, Smith-Njigba (28.6% target share with north of 100 yards), but it’s looked like fool’s gold ever since.
In the four games prior, he has totaled 12 catches and 107 yards. I know we had the weird 61-yard catch back in Week 6 against the Jags, but Barner doesn’t have a reception gaining more than 15 yards in a game since, and that means you’re relying on volume in an offense that ranks 26th in plays per game this season.
Every data point is worthy of our attention, not just the one that supports your streaming case that happened to come in this matchup. I don’t think the Rams have a hole that Barner is uniquely qualified to exploit, and in that regard, I expect his recent production (2-4 catches for 30 yards) to be more predictive than the outlier from mid-November.
Brenton Strange | JAX (at DEN)
There was a run in the middle of the season where Brenton Strange was a legitimate fantasy option and worthy of our trust, but that’s in the rearview at this point.
He turned 27 routes into just one catch against the Jets on Sunday and, despite being on the field plenty, that was his third straight game with under 50 receiving yards.
I think there’s a good player in this profile, and with his 25th birthday approaching, there is plenty of time for him to carve out a niche in this league, but he simply hasn’t been as involved in this offense as we need him to be since Jakobi Meyers got up to speed.
You could argue that Luke Musgrave just looked OK against this tough Broncos defense and that they force you to go to your secondary options more than usual: I’d listen to that case in a DFS setting where you can absorb more risk.
In a season-long semifinal, I’d rather not tempt fate and stream against potentially the best unit in the league.
