The vast majority of fantasy football managers were not pleased with the production of their tight end last week. Hoping for better performances this week, should fantasy managers be considering Taysom Hill and Dallas Goedert as potential starting options?
Which Tight End Should You Choose from Taysom Hill and Dallas Goedert in Week 2?
To say Week 1 was rough for the tight position would be putting it mildly. A grand total of five tight ends reached double-digit fantasy points. Of the top seven tight ends on the week, four of them were barely rostered/started.
Goedert was the last TE1 on the week with a measly 7.1 fantasy points. Hill was unhelpful with his 4.6. Although, that was still more than earlier round TEs Dalton Kincaid, Mark Andrews, and Evan Engram.
The PFN Start/Sit Optimizer has this one firmly in favor of Goedert. He is projected for 8.7 fantasy points to Hill’s 7.6. I agree with the Optimizer, ranking Goedert three spots ahead of Hill in my Week 2 rankings. For reasons I will discuss below, Goedert might actually be a really strong start this week.
Taysom Hill Fantasy Outlook This Week
With Hill, we all know the drill when we start him. Hill is the ultimate touchdown-or-bust tight end because he’s not a real tight end. He will give fantasy managers a couple of carries, maybe a reception, and occasionally a pass or two. But ultimately, it comes down to whether he scores.
Hill had five carries in Week 1. I think most of us would sign for five carries from our tight end, even if he didn’t catch a pass, as long as the potential for a touchdown exists. He is also incredibly good at making something from nothing when he gets the ball in his hands.
Taysom Hill is a freak. Lined up as HB, simple pitch play, RT and TE get beat, turns this into a 10 yard run pic.twitter.com/hnI2e4o3Od
— Blair Redd (@bhrredd) September 12, 2024
The Saints’ two running backs are both 29 years old. Alvin Kamara has scored plenty of touchdowns in the past, but he’s not exactly a goal-line guy. Hill very well may be at least in a tandem with Kamara at the goal line.
The concern this week is the Saints are touchdown underdogs at Dallas. They scored 47 points last week and Hill didn’t account for a single touchdown. This week, the Saints’ implied team total is 22 points, less than half what they did against Carolina.
Even so, you could certainly do worse than Hill. It’s not as if the Saints aren’t projected to score at all. Just know that Hill’s floor is 2-3 points. But if he scores, he will be worth starting.
Dallas Goedert Fantasy Outlook This Week
On your average week, Goedert would be another random tight end. Worth starting, but with minimal upside. This week, however, Goedert may end up being a must-start.
Goedert played 82% of the snaps last week. He ran 27 routes and caught four of five targets for 31 yards. The production wasn’t great, but the role is encouraging. He’s on the field and in a position to earn targets. It’s just difficult to do that alongside A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith, with Saquon Barkley dominating on the ground.
According to head coach Nick Sirianni, Brown’s hamstring tightened up at Friday’s practice. While it doesn’t sound like a major concern, Brown did not practice on Saturday, drawing a questionable tag for Monday night’s game.
Of course, we will not have the benefit of certainty by the time lineups need to be set. However, it sure looks as though Brown is trending toward missing Monday’s game against the Falcons.
Brown sitting would elevate Smith into the WR1 role. For Goedert, he would become the presumptive second option in the passing game, as the wide receivers behind Brown and Smith are… not great.
If the Falcons offense can get it together a bit, this game has sneaky shootout potential. Goedert could be in line for one of his largest target shares of the season.
Even if Brown plays, Goedert is the better start over Hill. But if Brown sits, Goedert becomes a surefire TE1 play.
Kyle Soppe’s Fantasy Outlook for Goedert and Hill
Dallas Goedert: The Eagles had more rushes than pass attempts last week, and if that continues in games in which they hold the lead, Goedert will have a difficult time returning top-10 value at a position that is deeper than it’s been in quite some time.
Goedert posted an 81.1% snap share and ran a route on 78.9% of Hurts’ dropbacks last week – marks that are much more impressive than his 7.1 PPR points reflect.
That’s my concern: His usage can’t get much better, and in a game where the Eagles scored 34 points, he was hardly usable.
Is Goedert fancy Cade Otton? That might be a bit harsh, but this is a concentrated offense, and he’s not really a big part of it.
More often than not, Barkley will post impressive usage rates (be it on the ground, like against the Packers, or via the short passing game), adding another obstacle.
The fact that he is on the field plenty as a part of a top-10 offense keeps Goedert valued above the streamers that are available on your waiver wire, but I’m not optimistic, given his lack of a ceiling.
You’re likely going to have to roll Goedert out there based on roster construction (few managers roster multiple tight ends), but he’s at the top of my “look to sell following a strong performance” list at the tight end position.
Taysom Hill: The random number generator saw an end-zone target in the first quarter and finished Week 1 with five carries to go along with a pair of targets.
That’s about what I think we can expect from him, and that’s only going to be of use when he finds the end zone. I prefer him to the low-usage options at the position (Dalton Schultz and Pat Freiermuth for example), but he still doesn’t crack my top 12 given the depth at the position (Isaiah Likely was the big add of the week after his huge debut, and I’d play him ahead of Hill).