Fantasy football always keeps NFL fans guessing, and this week is shaping up to throw even more curveballs at the tight end position. There are plenty of intriguing narratives emerging, with production swings and unexpected usage trends stirring up the waiver wire.
Fantasy managers will need to consider recent shifts in team dynamics and game plans closely before locking in lineups. Stay tuned—there could be big surprises from some less obvious names.
AJ Barner | SEA (at LAR)
I’m fine with explaining away AJ Barner’s goose egg last week by way of the blowout, but what are you going to use to excuse seven catches on 65 routes during this four-game win streak?
The four-score-in-four-games run was nice earlier this season, but we are beyond that, and with the Rashid Shaheed acquisition, I think we can safely move targets from the TE position as a whole to the WR room.
The Seahawks are great, but that doesn’t mean you blindly roster a player on their team over players with more upside, even if they are the TE2 on their own roster (Isaiah Likely and Michael Mayer).
Brenton Strange | JAX (vs LAC)
Brenton Strange saw his window to return (quad) open this week, and that means we get one more warm body on the TE streaming radar.
Strange caught six passes in two straight games before suffering the injury in Week 5 against the Chiefs, and while that volume is valuable, the short targets have gotten a little more difficult to earn in Jacksonville during his absence.
Parker Washington has stacked together a few productive weeks, and Jakobi Meyers figures to be more involved as his comfort level with this system rises.
Brian Thomas Jr. being dinged up and Travis Hunter done for the season means that there are opportunities to be had for a Jags team that is a home underdog this weekend.
If Strange is available, I don’t mind a speculative add to leverage a favorable upcoming stretch. Playing him this week after the extended absence is a bit optimistic for me, however.
Brock Bowers | LV (vs DAL)
Make it make sense.
- Week 9: 80% snap share, 39.6% slot rate, 7.0 aDOT
- Week 10: 82.8% snap share, 39.6% slot rate, 10.0 aDOT
Variance happens, so I wouldn’t expect identical numbers in those games, but 43.3 in the former and 3.7 in the latter?
Bowers is healthy, and that’s great, but all pass catchers are, to some degree, dependent on the play they get under center, and Geno Smith is a hot mess right now.
I don’t think the Jakobi Meyers trade was to blame for the dud performance, though I do think there is something to be said for the increase in two-tight-end sets, which creates more competition for similar targets.
Of course, if the Raiders are going to average 5.3 yards per pass and go scoreless for the final 48 minutes of the game, it’s going to be an uphill climb for everyone. This matchup is the direct opposite of what Vegas saw in Denver (even without Patrick Surtain) on Thursday night.
There is no actionable here. You can’t escape the Smith vortex, and we have proof that Bowers can produce despite limitations under center. The rest-of-season projection is obviously somewhere between the best player in the sport and not a top 15 option at the position, but I don’t think this is the last violent swing in production that we see.
If you’re a matchups person and you still can trade, you’re praying for another spike game on Monday night and pivoting. The Raiders get the Browns, Chargers, Broncos, Eagles, and Texans from Weeks 12-16, a run that could see them post another game (or two or three) like what we saw this past week.
Bowers is great, but he is still human.
Cade Otton | TB (at BUF)
Cardio Cade Otton is an empty-calorie route runner when the team around him is healthy, and I stand by that.
It’s simply not the case these days, and really might not be for the remainder of the season.
Otton vacuumed in nine of 12 targets in the loss to the Patriots, a level of efficiency we can bank on with an aDOT below 5.5 yards in four straight contests. He hasn’t scored this season, and that’s not an accident (zero end zone targets and one red zone target on 25 routes), but for those in PPR formats, he’s a real threat to lead the position in receptions every week until told otherwise.
He’s a top-10 tight end this week, and I’d listen to the argument that pushes him up the third tier at the position and lands him closer to TE6 for Week 11.
Chig Okonkwo | TEN (vs HOU)
Chig Okonkwo turned 19 targets into four yards when he faced the Texans back in Week 4, and while I’m projecting growth from there, there’s no reason to be digging this deep at the position.
We’ve seen some flashes of efficiency from Okonkwo and Cam Ward, but it’s sporadic and rarely at a high volume. With a 4.6-yard aDOT as a part of an offense that rarely visits scoring position, there isn’t a realistic path to quality or quantity.
It’s hard to be completely off the streaming radar at the tight end position, but I’d really have to be backed into a corner to plug-and-play a tight end playing for a team that I’m not sure flirts with 20 points.
Cole Kmet | CHI (at MIN)
Cole Kmet was healthy and led the Bears’ TE room in snaps, but Colston Loveland drew the start and doubled him up in targets.
There’s no reason to be invested here. Ben Johnson has things moving in the right direction, and that direction is away from Kmet (one catch on no more than two targets in each of his past four games).
Wanting a piece of this offense is logical; doing it this way is not.
Colston Loveland | CHI (at MIN)
The Bears had Colston Loveland on the field to start the last game, and while the 9.5 fantasy points aren’t swinging matchups like his breakout game in Cincinnati did, it’s enough to assume that he continues to see this role expanded.
I’m encouraged by the upside. So few players at the TE position offer a realistic floor, so the fact that Loveland has earned multiple deep targets in two straight games says to me that this team trusts him to impact the game in a major way.
The short targets should be there weekly, and if the downfield usage sustains, especially against an aggressive defense like this that could leave a linebacker in an awfully uncomfortable matchup, we are looking at a top 10 player the rest of the way.
I’ve got him ranked as such: he’s not Tyler Warren, but he is awfully impressive and we have a large enough sample of Ben Johnson elevating players like that with time.
Dallas Goedert | PHI (vs DET)
Dallas Goedert caught three passes in a five-play stretch on the first drive of the second half, but that was pretty much all we saw of the tight end in the win over the Packers (4-43-0 finishing line).
He has a role in this offense, but he very much relies on finding the end zone, and that puts him in the same tier as half a dozen other tight ends.
Goedert is a fancy streamer. The seven touchdowns are intoxicating, but with 45 receiving yards in just one game this season, the floor is simply too low to trust consistently in this run-centric offense.
He’s a fringe top 15 tight end for me this week, just like he was last week and will be for weeks to come.
Dalton Kincaid | BUF (vs TB)
Dalton Kincaid had a pair of chunk gains, but that was all he was able to muster before suffering a hamstring injury that ended his day early.
He had a drop early last week in wet conditions. While the touchdowns have elevated Kincaid to a level where we are tempted to go this direction, considering that he’s yet to earn more than six targets in a game this season, he’s a little too dependent on TDs to rely on comfortably weekly.
The Bucs are something of a pass funnel, and that means that, should he clear all of the physical tests this week, he’ll again be on the low-end TE1 radar.
I don’t love the profile, but the position is filled with similar players, and there aren’t many offenses better suited to pay it off than the Bills.
If he can overcome this injury and the reporting is reasonably optimistic, he’ll crack my top 12 at the position. If not, I’m not interested in a pass catcher outside of Khalil Shakir.
Dalton Schultz | HOU (at TEN)
It’s not the Bengals, but this is a highly concentrated offense that we can feel good about projecting.
The backfield is Woody Marks’, and the passing game, regardless of who is under center, works through Dalton Schultz and Nico Collins.
Simple.
Schultz has cleared 10 PPR points in four of his past five games and has a 20+ yard reception in each of those four instances. He may not be an explosive athlete or attached to a potent offense, but with at least six looks in six of his past seven games, the opportunity floor resembles that of a Tier 2 tight end, and that means you’re starting him weekly.
Schultz has caught 10 of 11 targets against these Titans over his past three meetings, and if that efficiency sustains in this voluminous role, he’s a solid bet to finish inside the top 10 at the position.
David Njoku | CLE (vs BAL)
David Njoku has scored in consecutive weeks, and that’s piqued your interest if you’ve gone this direction, but you’re very much working on borrowed time.
He finished the loss against the Jets with just two targets, and more discouraging than that was how his role looked when compared to Harrison Bryant.
Week 10 Fantasy Participation Report
- Njoku: Ran a route on 47.9% of his offensive snaps
- Bryant: Ran a route on 68.1% of his offensive snaps
This is an offense that is broken on many levels, and that has me fading it whenever possible. A tight end committee would certainly qualify as a reason to fade, especially when we are talking about the wrong side of that split.
Evan Engram | DEN (vs KC)
The public is still overrating Evan Engram, and I’d hate to see you make that mistake.
His longest reception line last week was set at 14.5 yards: it took him 23 routes and five targets against the Raiders to total 12 yards, never mind on a single play.
We haven’t seen him reach 50 receiving yards in a game this season. Heck, he hasn’t hit 50 air yards in a game this season (five under 20) or seen a single end zone look.
Engram has been on the field for less than half of Denver’s offensive snaps in seven of nine games this season. While the Bo Nix experience will inevitably come with some spike chances, there’s no evidence that those opportunities are going to the tight end position.
At best, he’s a streamer that you’re hoping on. He’s done nothing with the looks, but he has been targeted on 22% of his routes, a rate that can get him home in a one-game sample should Nix put together four good quarters.
With his playing time and the limitations at the quarterback position, not to mention some youthful upside among the pass-catching nucleus, Engram is firmly a streamer and one that I don’t like to finish as a top 15 producer this weekend.
George Kittle | SF (at ARI)
The touchdown last week meant nothing for the 49ers, but it was great for fantasy managers.
Not only did we accrue bonus points, but we saw the rare athlete that blends physicality with finesse as good as anyone at the position.
We saw the player we drafted George Kittle to be back in August.
His snap share has been over 80% in all four games since returning from injury, and he’s caught 17-of-18 targets over the past three. I’m not ready to add him to the top tier at the position because the offense isn’t built around him, a benefit that the top of the board has, but he’s as good as anyone else in the sport, and I think you can bank on it with confidence for the rest of the season.
The WR room in San Francisco might get difficult to judge with time, but they are getting the scraps of what Kittle (and Christian McCaffrey) leave behind, not the other way around.
Harold Fannin Jr. | CLE (vs BAL)
If you’re a big “trust the process” believer, Harold Fannin is the tight end for you to ride into the sunset with this season.
He’s been held under 8.5 PPR points in two of his past three and wasn’t efficient against a JV-level Jets defense last week (four catches on seven targets), but the Browns clearly want him to establish himself as the tight end of the present and future.
He played one fewer snap than David Njoku last season, but he ran nine more routes and earned five more targets than the veteran. He’s a gifted player, but differences like that don’t happen without the scheme dictating as much, and that’s why I’m scooping up shares where I can for a rookie on a bad team that has the bye week in the rearview.
Njoku got the red-zone look and scored against New York, but it seems only a matter of time before that role is also Fannin’s.
I have him on the fringe of starter-worthy this week (TE13) with the game script likely to tilt in his favor, and I’m fine with being early to the party. The Browns face three very gettable defenses in the four weeks after this matchup (Raiders, Titans, and Bears), leading me to believe that it’s a matter of when, not if, he establishes himself as a top-10 player at the position.
Isaiah Likely | BAL (at CLE)
I see the TE “committee” in Cleveland very much slanting in one direction, a luxury we don’t have for the other side of this game.
Week 10 TE Usage, Ravens
- Mark Andrews: 41 snaps, 23 routes, 5 targets
- Isaiah Likely: 37 snaps, 17 routes, 5 targets
Andrews got the touchdown, but this duo is combining for 31 yards on 40 routes — gross.
Now, maybe part of Sunday’s showing was the result of a scheme built around fending off Minnesota’s blitz. I’d listen to that, and things were trending slightly in the direction of Likely before that win, but Charlie Kolar led the position in receiving in that game after finding the end zone in the previous two.
That’s not to say that Kolar has made this into a three-way competition as much as it is to say that, outside of Zay Flowers, Lamar Jackson couldn’t care less who is on the other side of his passes.
Likely was responsible for Jackson’s first completion last week, and I still rank him slightly ahead of Andrews for the remainder of the season because I give him the edge in opportunities, but with the veteran soaking up red zone usage and generalized indifference about getting either on track, neither cracks my top 15 this week.
Ja’Tavion Sanders | CAR (at ATL)
All nine passes thrown in the direction of Ja’Tavion Sanders over the past three weeks have been completed, thanks in large part to a 2.2-yard average depth of target (aDOT).
In a versatile offense with plenty of weapons, I’d be using that as a positive. If Christian McCaffrey or DJ Moore were still Panthers and attracting attention at a high level, these short targets, for an athlete like Sanders, would carry some upside.
But they don’t.
Those nine catches have netted just 56 yards, and considering that Sanders didn’t run a single red zone route last week, there’s no real path to getting him to double-figure PPR points.
Look elsewhere as you try to piece together this position down the stretch.
Jake Ferguson | DAL (at LV)
Jake Ferguson was shut out against the Broncos in Week 8, but that was pretty clearly an aberration.
He ran a season-high 43 routes against the Cardinals before the bye and saw seven targets, the sixth time he’s seen at least that many looks in a contest this season.
Even with Maxx Crosby, the Raiders are a bottom-10 pressure defense, and Ferguson is on the short list of most dangerous pass catchers when given time to operate.
Ferguson, When Dak Prescott Is Not Pressured
- 51 targets (six in the end zone)
- 44 receptions
- 287 yards
- 6 TDs
His stat lines haven’t looked like it lately, but Ferguson is a Tier 1 tight end in PPR formats this week, and I expect him to hold that status strong for the remainder of the season.
Jonnu Smith | PIT (vs CIN)
Aaron Rodgers playing one of his worst games didn’t help things, but I’m not sure it matters.
This Arthur Smith pass game is having trouble getting DK Metcalf into fantasy lineups consistently, so why would we think it can support a tight end committee?
To be honest, if Jonnu Smith, Pat Freiermuth, and Darnell Washington were all one player, I wouldn’t be interested.
OK, that was phrased poorly. If they were all literally combined into one another and we had a 19’3″, 770-pound tight end … yes, they’d have my attention. But role-wise, no thanks. The three of them combined for one fewer target than Calvin Austin earned last week, and that means none of them are even worth a second look long-term.
For one week against the Bengals?
Smith ran one more route than Washington and Freiermuth combined in the loss to the Chargers, so he’d be my pick, but he’s outside of my top 15.
Kyle Pitts Sr. | ATL (vs CAR)
What could have been.
Kyle Pitts dropped a big pass on Michael Penix’s first offering of the game, a play that had a chance at being a house call from 56 yards out, given the YAC abilities of the tight end.
But it wasn’t meant to be, and in an offense like this that is as concentrated on a single pass catcher as any in the league, the missing of an opportunity is crippling.
The first pass of the second half also went to Pitts (25-yard gain), a sign to me that this offense is looking to get him going early. That said, there was no momentum to be gained.
Pitts finished with two catches for 38 yards despite a very reasonable 20% target share. He’s been held without a touchdown in five straight games and has failed to reach 40 receiving yards in five games this season.
He’s certainly on the radar as a backend option at a brutal position, but I’m not ranking him as a must-start, even in a reasonable matchup.
Luke Musgrave | GB (at NYG)
There was some hope that Luke Musgrave would be a waiver wire find after the Tucker Kraft injury, but in a week where WR1 Romeo Doubs missed time, the TE ranked sixth in targets against the Eagles.
Kraft made the role work; the role didn’t make Kraft.
There’s no need to bank on Musgrave as a weekly option moving forward. We know that the target hierarchy on Green Bay is a moving piece week-to-week, and I’d rather not throw a dart in this fashion at the position.
Mark Andrews | BAL (at CLE)
Mark Andrews has scored 16 times on 84 receptions since the beginning of last season, an absolutely absurd rate that has him functioning as something of a touchdown vulture.
Last week, we saw him line up as a “wildcat” quarterback, pivot, and pitch the ball to Lamar Jackson on a third-and-one.
Did it work? No. It’s a tight end weirdly handling the ball and pitching it to the leader of the franchise with everyone holding their breath. But the result means less to me than the idea.
The idea that Todd Monken found it necessary to scheme up a variation of the Andrews sneak has me inclined to think we’ll see more of him under center in short-yardage situations moving forward.
Personally, I’d let Derrick Henry hit the line at full speed and let the chips fall where they may, but what do I know?
Andrews has had his struggles earning volume outside the red zone in this, his age-30 season, making his usage creativity at the very least.
We know he’s still very dangerous in close, and we saw it last week with him uncovering in the back of the end zone for his fifth TD of the season. The limitations on volume scare me, especially with a gifted athlete like Isaiah Likely essentially splitting snaps with him, but if you’re content to chase a touchdown with your tight end, there are few better bets.
Michael Mayer | LV (vs DAL)
Michael Mayer has low-end TE1 appeal if Brock Bowers is inactive for any given week, but with the super sophomore seemingly at full strength, there’s no reason to burn a roster spot on his backup.
Over the past two seasons, Mayer has turned 59 targets into just 311 yards and one touchdown: he’s not a lineup lock without Bowers, and he certainly doesn’t profile as the type who will take work off the starter’s plate in a meaningful way.
Noah Fant | CIN (at PIT)
Noah Fant is a fine player with a theoretical role, but this is the most concentrated pass game in the league, and he’s simply not a part of it enough to rank him as a viable starter.
Fant hasn’t earned five targets once during this Joe Flacco heater, and if we dial back some of the per-pass value for Flacco’s bottom line moving forward, his primary tight end moves from streamer into the abyss of options that I don’t spend much time looking at in anything but the perfect matchup.
And considering that Fant can’t face the Bengals, the number of optimal opponents shrinks by one.
Oronde Gadsden II | LAC (at JAX)
A quad bruise cost Oronde Gadsden time last week and has the breakout tight end listed as day-to-day as the team prepares for Week 11.
I hate to oversimplify things here, but following Los Angeles’s actions is the play. It’s very possible they sit him for this game, knowing that they have their bye in Week 12 and bigger fish to fry sooner than later (Eagles and Chiefs in Weeks 14-15).
If they elect to skirt this as an excuse to buy him plenty of recovery time, it tells me that they are very confident in his status, and thus we can trust him to be a valued member of this high-pass-rate offense.
Should he sit, the TE streaming situation is bleak, depending on your league. Harold Fannin and Theo Johnson are my two favorites, but if you have to dig deeper, you’re getting into the “ride-the-Joe-Flacco heater” range and hoping a guy like Noah Fant stumbles into the end zone.
It sounds like, at worst, you’re dealing with a minor inconvenience for a player that was essentially found money.
Pat Freiermuth | PIT (vs CIN)
Pat Freiermuth has caught 81.8% of his passes over the past three games and is part of a passing game that demands a quick release.
In theory, that’s gold. In practice, it’s Aaron Rodgers and the 2025 Steelers.
Freiermuth hasn’t reached 35 receiving yards in any of those games and is stuck in a three-member committee where he’s neither the most athletic (Jonnu Smith) nor the biggest (Darnell Washington).
This offense has more questions than answers after a disastrous showing against the Chargers, which means you can feel good about skipping this team when it comes to streaming the position.
And yes, I’m aware that he went 5-111-2 in the first meeting. I’m happy to bet against a repeat. You can find me at KyleSoppePFN on all social channels.
Sam LaPorta | DET (at PHI)
With Dan Campbell taking over the play-calling responsibilities from John Morton last week, this offense looked free and loose again.
Of course, some of that could have been an awfully forgiving Commanders’ defense that may have finished the game with more punches thrown than defensive assignments fulfilled. Still, a wide-open passing attack is good news for those rostering Sam LaPorta.
He’s been a highly efficient player all season long (81.6% catch rate), and if this change means more volume through the air, their tight end could bump into the second tier at the position.
As it is, he’s in Tier 3, and that still means you play him weekly. I want to see some high-leverage usage (one end zone target this season), but that’s more of a cherry on top than a requirement given his stable target count.
T.J. Hockenson | MIN (vs CHI)
This JJ McCarthy experience isn’t exactly going well for the primary pass catchers.
TJ Hockenson has turned 66 routes this month into five targets and 19 yards. The worst part? They won a road game against the Lions and hung around against the Ravens in those two games, reasonably positive results all things considered.
I don’t think he’s being phased out of this offense, but I do think McCarthy will have to be told to look in this direction, as it’s clearly not in his nature (Hockenson was under 20 yards in each of the first games this season as well).
The matchup is golden, so if you’re the super forgiving type and willing to give him one more week, I can’t really stop you, but I’ve been discouraged enough by the lack of opportunity to drop him down to TE16 in my Week 11 rankings.
Theo Johnson | NYG (vs GB)
A shoulder injury popped up during practice last week, but Theo Johnson was off the injury report before the game, and it didn’t take long for him to make his presence known.
Against the Bears, he became the first tight end in nearly a full year (Week 12, 2024 Jonnu Smith) to have at least six grabs and 70 yards in the first half of the game.
Jaxson Dart threw each of his first two passes to the ultra-athletic prospect and clearly trusts Johnson to make plays in high-leverage spots.
The rookie quarterback’s status is up in the air at the moment, and a Russell Wilson-led offense isn’t nearly as appealing. Should Dart play, I’d rather roll the dice on his tight end than gamble on disappointing veterans like Zach Ertz, T.J. Hockenson, or Mark Andrews.
If that’s not the case, he falls below that tier and would only be on my radar as a DFS punt.
Travis Kelce | KC (at DEN)
Travis Kelce was effective in his only game against these Broncos last season (20.4 PPR points), but 5.3 yards per target is the part of that game I believe is most sticky, which is why I’m proceeding with caution.
It’s not a huge sample this season, but Kelce has lost more than a full yard off of his yards-per-route average when Rashee Rice is on the field (1.07) than off the field (2.08), and if the Broncos have a blueprint of sorts to slowing him down further, the floor is low.
READ MORE: Soppe’s Week 11 Fantasy Football Start ‘Em Sit ‘Em: Analysis for Every Player in Every Game
That said, because of a high pass projection for the Chiefs this week, Kelce’s ceiling is also enticing, and let’s face it, upside at the TE position is almost impossible to turn down.
Kelce is a play for me this week with the understanding that there is risk involved. The reflex seems to be to play the future Hall of Famer without a second thought: I don’t think that’s right, but I think you’re on the right side of math this weekend.
Trey McBride | ARI (vs SF)
Trey McBride is turning in the type of season that we thought he would, and given the lack of stability on the high-end at the position elsewhere, that has him shaping up to be one of the best picks in the first handful of rounds from the summer.
He was great before the Jacoby Brissett takeover, but he’s cured the TD allergy that afflicted him for so long with a touchdown in four straight games. Last week, he adjusted to a ball that was tipped at the line, broke a tackle, and found paydirt against a Seahawks defense that was playing at a very high level.
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His first touchdown of this season came in Week 3 against these 49ers, a game in which he led the team in receptions (five) and targets (eight). That was a Kyler Murray start, and if we are to believe that Brissett has unlocked something further in him, there’s a chance for him to break the slate on Sunday.
His floor is unlike anything anyone else at the position has, and that makes him a nice DFS cash game play that also comes preloaded with the potential to do something special.
Tucker Kraft | GB (at NYG)
Tucker Kraft was on his way to being one of the best values of the year through the first two months, but a Week 9 ACL tear ended his season and has him targeting the first week of next season as a return.
It’ll be easy to forget, in nine months, just how much of an asset Kraft was.
Don’t let that happen. In the two games before the injury, Kraft posted a 30.2% target share with three touchdowns. This organization has struggled to develop a WR1 since the Davante Adams era, which opens the door for Kraft to have a peak George Kittle/Mark Andrews trajectory.
Zach Ertz | WAS (at MIA)
Zach Ertz was serviceable against the Lions last week (4-54-0), but I think that’s about the best we can hope for in this Marcus Mariota-led offense. On Sunday, four different Commanders earned 3-5 targets, and that was in a game played without Terry McLaurin.
For the season, Ertz has a 7.8 aDOT and averages 2.13 PPR points per target from Jayden Daniels, numbers that shift to 10.0 and 1.56, respectively, under Mariota’s watch. If I can, this is an offense I’m actively distancing myself from, and the tight end position is certainly an easy spot to start.
If you’re only left with tight ends attached to below-average offenses, I’d prefer Theo Jenson and Harold Fannin moving forward than a player like Ertz playing out the string.