Fantasy Football with Ian Hartitz artwork

Week 9 Fantasy Football Tight End Rankings: Best game environments, TE streamers, MORE

STACKED extracted the fantasy-relevant player signal from this video and kept the full transcript here for context.

25 min
Duration
Estimated from transcript
Nov 5, 2026
Published
Thu, November 5, 2026
26
Player insights
25
Players mentioned
Topics
Sam LaPortaBrenton StrangeBrock BowersChigoziem OkonkwoColston LovelandDallas GoedertDalton KincaidDarren WallerEli RaridonGeorge KittleHarold FanninHunter HenryIsaiah LikelyKyle Pitts
Player analysis

Player insights

26

Brenton Strange

NegativeProjection18:28

Ranked TE15 vs Ravens on Thursday Night Football. Ranks 4th among tight ends in yards per route run this season behind only Darren Waller, Brock Bowers, and George Kittle—elite efficiency metric. However, volume remains a significant concern (similar to teammate Parker Washington), and this matchup vs the Ravens is not expected to be a boom week. Boom weeks likely coming in more favorable matchups.

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Brock Bowers

PositiveProjection0:26

Ranked TE1 in Week 9. Currently averaging the third most PPR points per game in a single season in NFL history, establishing elite historical scoring pace.

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Chigoziem Okonkwo

NegativeMatchup20:53

Ranked TE18 against the Rams. Made impressive catches last week (OBJ-level catch over the middle and a one-handed catch attempt in the end zone), but Ian Hartitz advises against streaming him this week due to the Rams' defensive strength potentially welcoming back Miles Garrett and concerns about Jaden Daniels' offensive line holding up. However, Okonkwo has a favorable schedule ahead (Giants, Bengals, Cardinals, Titans, Texans, Falcons through Week 15) and could be available on waivers after a potentially bad game.

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Colston Loveland

PositiveBreakout0:39

Ranked TE5 against Buccaneers on Sunday Night Football. Breakthrough emergence after brutal start; posted 4.8 PPR points per game (TE37 status) in first five weeks, but has now scored in three straight games since Caleb Williams returned with 65 yards/TD, 69 yards/TD, and 65 yards (no TD). Receiving 28 targets over last three weeks (second-most on team behind Luther Burden's 21). Offense scoring 59, 31, 30, and 34 points with Williams under center. Ian Hartitz moving him to top-five TE and not expecting to move him out soon.

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Dallas Goedert

NegativeProjection22:50

Ranked TE20 against the Giants in Week 9. Ian Hartitz is not excited about the Joe Milton-led Eagles offense; Vegas has the Eagles' offense projected to score the third-fewest points in Week 9, making it difficult to expect Goedert to score a touchdown.

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Dalton Kincaid

NegativeProjection11:45

Ranked tight end 11 this week despite strong recent performance (86 yards, 1 TD, 6 targets last week, should have had 2 TDs). Primary concern is matchup: Vikings defense has allowed only 22 catches to opposing tight ends this year, seven fewer than the next-lowest defense, which has discouraged opposing offenses from running tight ends. While Kincaid spends time split out wide and has shown 70% route rate weeks, he's also dipped under 60%, and in Josh Allen's offense, adequate route rate has been sufficient most weeks due to overall firepower, but the Bills could underperform against a tough Vikings defense, which would make Kincaid's usage more marginal.

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Darren Waller

NegativeProjection23:33

Ranked TE24 against the Broncos in Week 9. Waller ran a season-high 66% route participation on Bryce Young's dropbacks last week, but competing tight ends Tommy Tremble and Mitchell Evans have trending route participation, and coach Dave Canales shows no signs of sidelining either. Waller posted five-week lows in two straight games coming out of the bye, making boom weeks unpredictable. Ian Hartitz does not expect a strong performance against Denver's defense.

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Eli Raridon

PositiveSleeper20:34

Talented rookie tight end, likely the number one or two highest-recruited tight end in his class alongside Oscar Delp. Played at Notre Dame where he dealt with injuries and limited target volume, but has done good things this year. Would be on the streaming radar if Hunter Henry is ruled out with his foot injury.

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George Kittle

PositiveProjection0:11

Ranked TE3 in Week 9; Ian Hartitz notes if Mike Evans (rib/Achilles) and Christian McCaffrey (hamstring) are ruled out, would move Kittle up to TE2. Kittle has looked fantastic this year despite tearing his Achilles less than one calendar year ago, posting third-best PPR per game on season. Niners are implied to score week-high 31 points against the lowly Raiders. Positioned in top right quadrant of game environment chart—best matchups of the week featuring a good offense and a good matchup, with optimal Vegas-implied scoring and favorable EPA-allowed defense matchup. Notably unique in that he scores virtually all of his fantasy points as a traditional inline tight end; chart analysis shows nobody else is even close to Kittle's consistency in scoring as an inline TE, positioned at the opposite end of the spectrum from Brock Bowers, Trey McBride, and Isaiah Likely, who score primarily from wide receiver alignments.

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Harold Fannin

PositiveBreakout8:15

Tier two tight end with dramatic turnaround after Shador Sanders took over at QB. Posted only 13 yards combined in weeks 5-6, then 91 yards against Titans and 154 yards against Steelers. Under Sanders (weeks 12-17 last year), Fannon put up more fantasy points and targets than anyone except Trey McBride and Kyle Pitts. Facing league's sixth-worst defense in fantasy points per game; Ian Hartitz expects Sanders to get Fannon going again.

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Hunter Henry

NegativeInjury20:23

Ranked TE16–17 vs Packers for Week 9, but Ian Hartitz notes a foot injury concern. If Henry is ruled out, Hartitz plans to replace him with Eli Raridan as a streaming option.

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Isaiah Likely

PositiveProjection0:37

Ranked TE4 against Eagles. Despite two catches for 12 yards on four targets before bye, has posted 16 PPR points per game on season (third-best at position). In five quarters with JJ McCarthy, caught eight targets for 56 receiving yards, one touchdown, and one two-point conversion. Eagles have been historically bad against slot receivers all season (only Lions allowed more fantasy points to slot pass catchers), creating strong matchup setup.

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Kyle Pitts

NegativeProjection16:38

Ranked TE14 vs Bengals in Madrid. Posted 2 catches for 6 scoreless yards last week despite being wide open on a crosser that could have gone 60–70 yards if completed. Primary concern is QB Michael Penix Jr.'s uncharacteristically poor performance—worst EPA-adjusted yards per attempt since Sam Darnold in 2019—which severely limits upside despite a favorable matchup. Bengals defense is bend-don't-break (24th EPA per play from goal line to 21-yard line but 4th best in red zone), further limiting TD upside. Ian Hartitz worried about Pitts overall, more so because of Penix's struggles.

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Mason Taylor

NegativeInjury6:00

Jets tight end with back injury; limited participation on Wednesday practice. Ian Hartitz not overly concerned about severity but status remains uncertain for upcoming game. Ranked TE23 and appears likely to play this week; if ruled out, Ken Sadique would move up to TE15-16 range.

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Michael Mayer

NegativeMatchup23:11

Ranked TE21 with a full-time role averaging 16 PPR points per game. Ian Hartitz is nervous about the Raiders' offensive line holding up against the 49ers' defensive front, which is welcoming back DeForest Buckner and Nick Bosa (presumably after their bye). Mayer's production is limited by the strength of San Francisco's defense.

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Mike Gesicki

PositiveProjection13:18

Ranked TE12 vs Falcons in Madrid. On a 5-game touchdown streak; one more TD away from cracking into the elite group of 6+ consecutive games (currently tied with Travis Kelce, Rob Gronkowski, Jimmy Graham, Tony Gonzalez, Mark Andrews; NFL record is 9 by Antonio Gates). Despite being classified as a tight end, Gesicki has zero catches as an inline TE this year and only 4 total snaps as an inline TE per PFF—he's functionally a WR3 for the Bengals. Posted season-high 74% route rate last week, likely due to Drew Sample's snaps and routes taking a big hit when the Bengals fell behind 13-0 early. The Bengals have been the best offense in football over the last month with favorable upcoming matchups, making Gesicki enticing if the 70% route rate sustains.

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Rashee Rice

NegativeUsage19:42

One of the Chiefs' two top targets but has zero targets inside the 10-yard line this season, a stark contrast to the red zone volume given to role players like Kenneth Walker (three), Noah Gray (two), and Andrew Armstrong (one more than Rice and Kelce combined). Ian Hartitz expressed frustration with Andy Reid's red zone play-calling, calling it "all the freaking razzledazzle BS that Andy Reid always pulls out of his ass inside the 10 yard line."

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Sam LaPorta

PositiveMatchup0:58

Ranked TE6 against Dolphins. Recent two-week stretch (18 and 33 scoreless yards) against Packers and Vikings—two of the top three EPA-allowed defenses—not indicative of ability. Now faces Miami Dolphins, worst EPA-allowed defense to tight ends this season; only Lions and Commanders have allowed more fantasy points per game to the position. Laporta is a talented player in an offense Ian Hartitz loves with a great matchup ahead.

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PositiveMatchup3:58

Ranked tight end six; recent two-week stretch (18 and 33 scoreless yards) against Packers and Vikings—two of the top three EPA-allowed defenses—not indicative of ability. Now faces Miami Dolphins, worst EPA-allowed defense to tight ends this season; only Lions and Commanders have allowed more fantasy points per game to the position. Laporte is a talented player in an offense Ian Hartitz Fantasy Football loves with a great matchup ahead.

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T.J. Hockenson

NegativeProjection9:54

Tight end 10 on season; only played three full games with Kyler Murray under center, posting 119 yards on 13 catches plus 35 yards/TD and 58 yards/TD in recent games. Last two games saw only five targets each, indicating Cardinals aren't force-feeding him. Ball-control offense leaning on defense. Facing Bills on Monday Night Football. Ian Hartitz expresses skepticism about Kyler Murray's play (worst of his career by decent margin) and cautions against assuming matchup advantage; notes Bills defense has better matchup against Vikings passing game.

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Terrance Ferguson

PositiveRole5:00

Rams tight end with practice window opened for potential return. Ian Hartitz notes it would be positive development but recommends waiting a week before confidently inserting into lineups to assess immediate role and snap share upon return.

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Travis Kelce

PositiveProjection19:19

Ranked TE16 vs Jets. Hasn't scored a touchdown since Week 3 but has posted 9.3, 8.4, and 12.7 fantasy points over the last three weeks, averaging TE7 per game. Red zone opportunity is severely limited—leads Chiefs with 42 targets overall but has zero targets inside the 10-yard line, same as Rasheed Rice. By comparison, Andrew Armstrong has one more red zone target than Kelce and Rice combined, highlighting Andy Reid's inability to get his top two targets into the end zone despite his typical red zone creativity. In a deep tight end week, comparable flex options like Zay Flowers may be preferable.

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Trey McBride

NegativeMatchup0:32

Ranked TE2 despite historically elite scoring (seventh all-time PPR per game), but faces nightmare matchup against Seahawks. Cardinals' QB change from Jacoby Brissett to Gardner Minshew worked out last week, but Vegas implies only Ravens score fewer points than Cardinals this week, creating ceiling risk despite McBride's talent. However, McBride's talent transcends situation—historical precedent shows Week 5 against Lions, McBride scored 45.8 PPR points when Lions gave up 45.8 points to the tight end position collectively. Lions remain worst defense against tight ends this year despite recent improvements.

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Tucker Kraft

PositiveMatchup9:00

Clear-cut number three target in Packers offense with 49 targets (behind Matthew Golden's 82 and Christian Watson's 66). Averaging 13.8 fantasy points per game since week four, sixth-highest at position. Packers are league's most pass-heavy offense with Jordan Love leading in attempts and drop-back rate over expected. Facing Patriots, who have been good against tight ends overall (under 10 points allowed) except for Brock Bowers and Coulson Loveland. Ian Hartitz trusts Packers' offensive philosophy and production.

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Tyler Higbee

NegativeProjection22:17

Ranked TE19 against the Commanders in Week 9. Despite the Commanders being the second-worst defense in fantasy points per game against tight ends on paper, Higbee has posted back-to-back games of just 14 yards even without Terren Ferguson or Kobe Parkinson in the last game, making him unreliable despite the favorable matchup. Ian Hartitz views this as ridiculous production given the opportunity.

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Tyler Warren

PositiveMatchup10:28

Tight end five in PPR points per game despite ranking 31st among 32 tight ends in yards per catch and yards per target. Represents first domino in tight end position leveling off; only 2.3 fantasy point gap separates him from George Kittle (TE4) and two-point gap to TE13. Has at least nine targets in three of last four games. Ranked TE10 this week with strong recent performance: 86 yards, 1 TD, 6 targets last week, should have had 2 TDs (one dropped). Facing Cowboys defense, which Ian Hartitz describes as "incredibly mind-numbingly bad" despite having some blue-chip players.

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Full transcript

Episode Transcript

244
0:00It is a great day to break down my week nine fantasy football tight end rankings. Going to be going tight end
0:04one to tight end 24. Talking through why I have them ranked there, best matchups, worst matchups, everything in between.
0:10So, also tackling some bigger picture topics, looking at the best game environments for this week and looking at what tight ends are actually scoring
0:16ethically. All right, I'm talking hand in the dirt, putting up points as an inline tight end, not all this slot, not
0:21wide stuff, but it all counts the same in fantasy anyway. But anyway, guys, appreciate you tuning in with that.
0:26Let's get after it with tight end one Brock Bowers. currently averaging the um third most PPR points per game in a
0:32single season in NFL history. He is pretty good. Tight end two, we got Trey McBride. On that same list, he actually
0:38ranked seventh. All right, so some historically awesome tight ends falling out in the year 2026. The problem here is a nightmare matchup against the
0:46Seahawks and the change from Jacobe Pratet to Gardenner Mchu that honestly obviously worked out for the Cardinals last week, but man, you do look at the
0:53Vegas team implied point totals and only the Ravens are implied to score fewer than the Cardinals this week. So, you know, could be McBride getting all the
1:00yards and touchdowns anyway out there. I do not doubt the man. He is still my tight end, too, after all. That said, if
1:06we do see a bunch of injuries pile up in Sam Fran, could see myself moving KD ahead of him. But, you know, it's Trey
1:11Mc Prize, George KD, you're starting them even if there's a fire. Tight end three, I got George KD, who again, if
1:16Mike Evans with the rib and Achilles issue and Christian McCaffy with the hamstring all ruled out, I'll move him up to tight end, too. Feeling crazy.
1:22Call the newspapers. All right. But look, either way, he's looked fantastic this year, despite tearing his AC, despite tearing his Achilles, excuse me,
1:30less than one calendar year ago. Tight end for PPR points per game. And even with some of these injuries lingering out there, Niners are implied to score a
1:37week high 31 points against the lowly Raiders. Tight end four, Isaiah likely against the Eagles. Guys, I know before the buy, the two catches for 12 yards
1:46and only four targets wasn't ideal. We saw JJ McCarthy throwing more than Malik Neighbors. It was quite the fallback after again a huge likely game in week
1:53six. That said, that huge likely game in week six did also include some goodness from JJ McCarthy. Okay, in that fourth
2:00quarter, he caught two of four targets for 44 yards and a touchdown along with another two-point conversion. So, it's not like we haven't seen JJ McCarthy do
2:08good things with Isaiah likely. We just only seen them for five quarters. And in those five quarters, we've gotten a touchdown. We've got eight targets and a
2:15two-point conversion on top of the 56 receiving yards. So all in all, not too shabby. And just overall in the season
2:21now 16 PPR points per game for Isaiah likely third best market the position.
2:25So the Eagles, they've been so bad against anyone pretty much lined up in the slot all season long. In fact, only
2:31the Lions have allowed more fantasy points overall. Two pass catchers lined up from the slot. Isaiah likely tight end four. Tight end five. Welcome back.
2:39I guess you know we moved him up here last week, but yeah, he's here. He's here to stay now. Coulson Lovely go up
2:44against the Buccaneers on Sunday Night Football. Three games since Caleb Boys returned. We got 65 yards TUD, 69 yards TUD, and 65 yards without a TD, but
2:53still a pretty good game against the Seattle Seahawks. So, tight end three production, our long national nightmare is over. Coulson Lovelin's actually
3:01scoring fantasy points again. So, he put all those 0 and5 fantasy squads on his back and now they're maybe two and six
3:06or something. But look, it's good if you were able to make it through. Again, what was a hellaciously horrible first five weeks for Coulson Lovelin because
3:14my god was that bad. I calculated how bad it was before. It was shockingly bad. Um, yeah, 4.8 PPR points per game in the
3:24first five weeks for Coulson Lin. Tight end 37 status, right? But yikes. Anyway, we've seen this offense now 59, 31, 30,
3:34and 34 points with Caleb Williams under the center. not in the weather game in week two going up against a very tough
3:39Buccaneers defense. I get it. But when we got Lovelin playing well, Caleb and Ben Johnson doing their thing and featuring the offense around Lovelin
3:46like we thought they would. 28 targets over these last three weeks. Luther Burdens is second with 21. I'm going Coulson Lovelin as a top five tight end
3:53and tentatively not expected to move him out of this top five spot anytime soon.
3:58Tight end six for me. Last one in this tier. I got Sam Leaport to go up against the Dolphins guys. It has not been great
4:03over the last two weeks. 18 and 33 scoreless yards after the buy and also after Leaporta went on what I'm part of
4:09my take and had some choice words for the Detroit Lions as a whole. That said, I think the bigger issue was two really
4:15tough matchups, guys. Packers and Vikings. If you go back weeks five through eight, decent samples the second half of the short season we've had so
4:22far, those are two of the top three defenses in the EPA allowed for per dropback. Okay, so I don't think Leaporta not exactly boommy against them
4:29is a huge indictment on his ability as a player. Now we get to find out what he can do against a bad defense,
4:34specifically the worst defense the EPA allowed per drop back this entire season in the Miami Dolphins. So again, only the Lions and Commanders have actually
4:42allowed more fantasy points per game to the tight end position. I'm not letting two weeks get in the way of a really
4:48talented player who we've seen ball ball out throughout his NFL career in an offense we love in a great matchup that
4:53tentatively is not supposed to be raining. Sam Leaporta, tight end six.
4:57Key question here though, guys, is looking at those game environments. All right, I doing this every position. I think I'll continue to do so because I
5:03like the way these charts are turning out. On the x-axis, we got implied team points. We can calculate that for every
5:08single team based on their Vegas spread and their game over under. Again, Vegas is basically telling us what they think the scores are going to be through those
5:14two numbers every single week. And then y-axis, we do PPR points per game allowed to the tight end position. So, as we can see in this handy dandy Excel
5:22chart, top right, best matchups of the week featuring a good offense and a good matchup. George KD, Sam Laaporta, and whoever winds up playing tight end, all
5:30of them basically for the Rams. So, was Tyler Higgby, Davis Allen, a little bit of Max Clear last week didn't matter for
5:36any of them because the Rams do not like fantasy football. Um, we could see Terence Ferguson come back. They opened up the practice window. That'd be sweet
5:43if he did. Probably would still want to wait a week before completely, you know, shoving him into lineups of all shapes
5:48and sizes, but good times could be ahead there. Tight ends in good offenses and bad matchups. Dolan Concade, Hunter Henry, Mike Jiki, Travis Kelce. Going to
5:56be talking about all those guys shortly.
5:58Coloulston Lovelin to an extent as well.
6:00Just a little bit more respect to the Bears offense from Vegas. Bad offenses and bad matchups. We have Trey McBride and Mark Andrews standing out there
6:06along with Dallas God and Aronda Gaston.
6:09Again, not ideal for Trey McBride, but it's Trey McBride. And then a bad offense, but in a good matchup, we do
6:14have the Jets pair of tight ends. We'll see if Mason Taylor winds up playing. He was still limited on Wednesday with the
6:19back injury, so I'm not too concerned there. But man, all the way up there in the middle. Greg Dolich serving as the
6:25chartbreaker right now because he's in a Dolphins offense that yeah, not exactly expecting to light the world on fire this week. They are implied for fewer
6:31than 22 points. But the Lions have been so far and away the worst defense against tight ends this year that it's
6:38not even funny, guys. When you look at the collective scoring from opposing tight ends against the Lions this year, not just the highest scoring, but like
6:46every tight end room. Week one, tight ends scored 27.7 PPR points against the Lions. Week two it was 31. Week three
6:5441. Week four 13.6. Week five 45.8 points. That was when McBride went nuts.
7:01And that Tegan Quintio guy, whatever the hell his name is from the Cardinals, also scored two touchdowns. They got Brian Branch back. Week seven, still
7:09gave up 16.7 points. Week eight, 19.2.
7:12Of course, we have the very sad situation with Jack Campbell. Said he has movement, his lower extremities.
7:16That's fantastic. You know, God willing, prayers up. Hope he gets back to full health. It's not going to help that defense though without that dude on the
7:22field. So, the best game that the Lions have had against tight ends, they still allow 13.6 PPR points, which would be
7:30good for the fifth highest mark on a per game basis at the position this year.
7:34So, look, Greg Dolitz, it's not a slam dunk. Like, it's going to take a few minutes for me to get to him still, but
7:39man, if you need a streamer, it's tough for me to point to someone better. It's the matchup and it's also the reality
7:44that we actually have seen him get season high routes last week with 72% highest since week one I should say but
7:50that 70% number is important we're usually looking for it and we've seen a floor develop here all right only has one performance better than tight end 17
7:57better than tight end 15 this year that said he's got at least four catches and 37 yards in four of his last five games
8:03this Malik Willis le passing attack they're top 10 in EPA per drop back over the last four weeks I don't think
8:09they're going to be a top 10 group the rest of the season but they're moving in the right direction. At a minimum,
8:13they've gone for horrific to average to bad. We can take that in a good matchup.
8:19Tier two guys, low end title ones you shouldn't. Hey, let off by Harold Fannon. Oh my goodness, what a turnaround, man. 13 yards and freaking
8:27total 13 yards in weeks five and six.
8:29After that, 91 yards in the game-winning, you know, long yak play against the Titans and then 154 yards in that beatd down against the Steelers.
8:36But, you know, his fantasy managers were certainly happy. And now without Deshun Watson seemingly going to the concussion protocol, we got Shador Sanders under
8:43center who when he took over last year from weeks 12 through 17 helped Fannon put up more fantasy points and have more
8:49targets than anyone other than Trey McBride and Kyle Pittz. So look, it is a good match up against the league's six
8:54worst defense and fantasy points per game as well. I'm unsure if we can get a true sneaky shootout happening in New
9:03Orleans, but man, Shador's up to the task. Could be fun. At a minimum, I think he gets Fannon going again. 10 and
9:09eight. I'm going Tucker Craft against the Patriots. All right. Remember that drop fil week three performance against the Falcons. He's in pretty good sense,
9:16man. 13.8 fantasy points per game since week four. That's good for the six highest mark at the position. So, he is
9:22the clear-cut number three target in this offense. Matthew Golden's got 82 targets. Christian Watson got 66. And you got to go down a bit to find Tucker
9:29Craft there at 49. But, you know, it is the league's most passy offense. Jordan Love leads the league in attempts. the
9:34number one drop back rate over expected.
9:36Malaflur knows they can't run the ball, so he hasn't been trying to run the ball. They've been throwing a rock. So,
9:41Patriots have been pretty good against tight ends overall. They've allowed under 10 points. Everyone not named Brock Bowers and Coulson Lovelin. That
9:48said, I do trust in his Packers, Jordan Love, Matt Laflur overall, just offensive philosophy and their production. And Tucker Craft is a big
9:54part of that. My tight end eight tight end nine, I'm going TJ Hog against the Bills here on Monday Night Football.
10:00Tight end 10 on the season. We've only seen him in three full games with Kylo Murray under center 119 yards on 13
10:06catches and then more recently 35 yards in the TUD and 58 yards and a touchdown.
10:10So those last two games only had five targets. So it's not like they're force feeding him the ball non-stop. It is
10:15still a ball control offense trying to lean on that defense. The big reason why I just couldn't get Hawinson higher is I
10:21don't believe in Kyler right now. He's playing the worst offense of his career and it's by a pretty decent margin. a
10:27winnable enough matchup against the Bills. But you know, I'm trying to hold myself accountable and push back on the idea where it's like, oh yeah, this
10:34Vikings game is a great matchup against the Bills. You know who has an even better matchup? The Bills defense against this Vikings passing game. Okay,
10:41so I don't think anything's guaranteed with the way Kyler is playing under center. TJ Hawinson, my tight end nine.
10:46Tighten and 10. I'm going Tyler Warren against the Cowboys. It's been such a weird year for Tyler Warren. He is 31st
10:53among 32 tight ends in yards per catch and yards per target with Jake Ferguson who arguably up is up there with Mark
10:59Andrews as the most disappointing highest paid tight end in the league this season. So on the other hand, Warren, he's a tight end five in PPR
11:07points per game this year. Now it's one of those things where Warren is the first kind of domino that we start
11:13seeing the tight end position really level off. Okay, because there's a 2.3 fantasy point gap between George KD, tight end four, and Tyler Warren, tight
11:21end five. There's a two-point gap between Tyler Warren and tight end 13, Dallas. Okay, so it's pretty much the big four and then it's a bunch of other
11:29guys that we see go up and down depending on the week. That said, he's facing the Cowboys. He's had at least
11:35nine targets in three of the last four games. I don't know if the Cowboys defense is bad enough to make Daniel
11:41Jones in this Colts offense look good, but I would have put it past them.
11:45Again, it's one just incredibly mind-numbingly bad performance after another. They somehow have some relative blue chip players right now. I've seen
11:54the viral clips of Caleb DS not exactly going amazing right now, but he also nice stuff on Jeremiah Love in the goal
11:59line. People don't really share that one as much, but Dear Overton's back. He had nice pick on I think this covering
12:05Dallas a couple weeks ago. Quinnon Williams obviously good in the middle.
12:08Joey Porter Jr. I just don't know how they're this bad, but they are and I'm done trying to overthink and believe
12:14that they can't be turning it around.
12:15So, Tyler Warren, tight end 10, tight end 11, Dalton Concaid. Last week was great. 86 yards, touchdown. Should have had a second touchdown. Drop a little
12:23bit of stroll into the end zone from 11 yards out. Got the six targets though.
12:28Things were good. The reason why I can't even get conc though in my top 10 tight ends, it's just how dominant the Vikings
12:34have been against this position, guys.
12:36They bled so much that it really has caused opposing offenses not even to try to run their tight ends out there. Okay,
12:42they've only allowed 22 catches to opposing tight ends this year. Got seven fewer than the next lowest uh defense.
12:50Maybe great offense beats great defense.
12:52Again, it's a tough matchup for the Bills offense. It's a freaking tough matchup for the Vikings defense as well.
12:56I get that concade does spend plenty of time in the slaughter out wide, but we've already this year we've gotten lucky and gotten some games where he's
13:03pushed for that 70% route rate, but we've also seen him dip under 60%. And he's in a Josh Allen led offense where
13:08you know what, having a good not great route rate has been fine more weeks than not because of the overall firepower,
13:14but it is reasonable to believe the Bills could be more good than great. And then that all of a sudden takes Kinc
13:19Kad's okay usage and makes him more of a me player. So, tight end 11 for me this week. Tight end 12, Mike Tiki going to
13:26Madrid against the Atlanta Falcons.
13:28Don't look now, guys. Tikki touchdowns in five consecutive games. The NFL record is held by none other than Mr.
13:36Antonio Gates at nine. Then there's a fiveway tie with six consecutive games with a touchdown in NFL history among all tight ends. Okay. Travis Kelce, Rob
13:45Gronowski, Jimmy Graham, Tony Gonzalez, and Mark Andrews. One more game with a touchdown away from Mike Jasiki cracking into that group. So, I'm rooting for the
13:53guy. Is it still hilarious that he's even called a tight end? Yeah, like he has zero catches this year as an inline
13:59tight end. He has played four total snaps as an inline tight end according to PFF. So, what was interesting though last week he because he's a they're
14:08factoed wide receiver three, but we call him a tight end because we're just crazed weirdos playing fantasy football, you know. He had a season high 74% route
14:16rate last week.
14:18I don't think it's because Eric All was out. Eric all isn't you know why just not playing more snaps in the slot. What
14:25I did see was Drew sample his snaps and routes taking a big hit. And the other time that happened was in week four. You
14:34know a coincidence of those two games week four against the Jaguars last week against the Titans.
14:40Big deficits early on. Bengals were down 13 to three in week four and they were down 13 to nothing after the first
14:45quarter last week. So, I'm looking at this and just been a borderline tight end one this year. So, that's how I'm
14:51treating him right now. If we see the 70% route rate stuff sustain moving forward, that's where it can get really enticing because the Bengals schedule,
14:59man, don't look now. They do have some spashable matchups and they've been the best offense in football for the last month. Anyway, key question though,
15:05guys, inspired by Mike Diki. I want to see what tight ends are scoring points, you know, ethically as tight ends with
15:11their hand in the dirt lined up in line and which ones uh maybe not doing it so much. So in the slot in the out wide, I
15:16got a chart to show just that. So look again, we'll take our fantasy points how we can get them. But I just wanted to
15:20point out that if you're slandering Brock Bars or scoring too many points lined up as a wide receiver, keep that energy for Trey McBride for Isaiah
15:27likely. And yes, our guy Mike Tiki, you can see all the way down there in the bottom right hand corner of the graph.
15:32So nobody else is even close to those four guys, man. But on the other side of things, nobody's even close to George KD
15:39scoring all of his points as an inline tight end this year. So, just very very fitting that not only is George KD one
15:44of the best productive, you know, real life and fantasy tight ends in football, but he also does it as a traditional
15:50inline tight end. Hell yeah, George.
15:53Guys, before we keep on going to my tight end 2 tier of things, I did want to give a quick shout out to our friends
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16:23free channels. Stop overpaying for live TV. Stream smart this season with Sling Select. Head to sling.com today to get started. All right, guys. Titans 13 and
16:32on. Tight end 13 is going to be Greg Dol for reasons that we have already explained. Trust the spreadsheets. All right, tight end 14. I got Kyle Pittz
16:38going against the Bengals in Madrid. Two catches for six scoreless yards last week. He was wide open on a crosser that
16:44honestly looked like it might have had a chance to go 60 or 70 yards if he made like one dude miss in the open field,
16:50but Michael Pennock sailed it. And that's my primary problem here. That was such an uncharacteristically horrific performance from Penn. And I can't just
16:59blame it on the rain because when I went back and watched it and watched the four interceptions, he's just throwing it
17:04right to guys. And I know the Buccaneers are a good defense, but man, I want to be careful about putting too
17:12much stock in the 60 minutes of bad footballs. We've seen a lot more. You know, we've all had bad days out there.
17:17We don't want to be judged on our worst day ever. But it was a bad day. Again, worst one adjusted yards per attempt
17:24since Sam Donald saw Ghost back in 2019.
17:26That's how bad it was. This wasn't like, ah, you know, didn't have an answer today. This was like, what the hell was
17:32that, bro? do you need to go get some help? That's how bad of a day it was.
17:36So, and here's the other crazy thing.
17:40They're playing the Bengals. And now, we all remember last year how bad the Bengals defense was against tight ends, historically bad. So, this season, the
17:48number one defense in terms of giving up the most yards to opposing tight ends is the Lions. The number two defense is the
17:54Bengals. But the Lions have given up 11 touchdowns to opposing tight ends. The Bengals have given up zero. This is the
18:02most bend don't break defense going on that I've ever seen. Maybe not ever, but you know, very much bend don't break.
18:08The Bengals ranked 24th in EPA per play from their goal line up until the 21 yardd line. But in the red zone, all of
18:15a sudden, fourth best defense in EPA allowed per play. So, Bendo break, I'm worried about Pitts overall, more so because of Michael Penn. It's just kind
18:23of a deeper week at tight end. You know, if you wanted to rank Kyle Pitts inside the top 10 or something like that, I
18:29couldn't overly disagree with you there.
18:31I just have some other options and matchups I prefer. Tight end 15. I got Brenton Strange going against the Ravens on Thursday Night Football. I don't
18:38think this is going to be the boom week for Strange, but it will be coming. This is now the tight end four in yards per
18:44hour run behind only Don Cade, Brock Bowers, and George KD this season. He's a hell of a football player and it's a
18:50great offense, but as Parker Washington fantasy managers know, we just need more volume. So eventually I do think we'll see some fancy friendly shootouts. T-
18:58law going back and forth with different quarterbacks capable of doing so. I do not think that Joey Fenano led Ravens are capable of doing that. 10 and 16 I
19:06got Travis Kelce versus the Jets. Hasn't scored a touchdown since week three. Has scored 9.3, 8.4, and 12.7 fantasy points though over the last three weeks. So he
19:14hasn't been killing you and he's still a tight end seven per game. I just again it's a deep week. This is the line where
19:21I stop feeling as good about the tight ends. But, you know, I was talking about in the wide receiver video, you get to
19:26the Michael Wilson, the Zay Flowers of the world, I don't know if I could start Kelsey over Z Flowers necessarily, but
19:32tight end is deep this week and I do think if you have, you know, some good options and you're kind of worried about
19:37the flex, I wouldn't be afraid of putting some of these tight ends in that range of things. So, the wild part here
19:42though, Kelsey leads the Chiefs with 42 targets overall. He has zero inside the 10 yard line. So does Rasheed Rice. It's
19:50honestly crazy to me. All the freaking razzledazzle BS that Andy Reid always pulls out of his ass inside the 10 yard
19:56line. He can't get his two top targets a single look. Kenneth Walker has three.
20:01Noah Gray has two. Taquin Thornton and Xavier Worthy and Jaylen Royals have two. Andrew Armstrong. Do you even know who Andrew Armstrong is? I barely do. He
20:10has one more target than Travis Kelce and Rashice combined inside the 10 yard line this year. So, could it change?
20:16Yeah, I'm sure it will at some point.
20:18Travis Kelce for me not getting any fantasy friendly red zone opportunities.
20:23Literally not getting any tight end 16 for me. Tight end 17. I got Hunter Henry against the Packers for now. If this
20:29foot injury keeps him out, I am literally going to cross out his name and put Eli Raridan in there instead. So
20:34fun rookie coming up. He was actually, I believe, the number one or number two between him and Oscar Delp, highest recruited tight end in his class. Was in
20:41a Notre Dame offense where he dealt with some injuries, dealt with them putting the ball in other guys hands out there.
20:45So again, talented rookie and he's done good things this year. He would be on the streaming radar if Henry is eventually ruled out. Tighten 18, Chica
20:53Conquo against the Rams. Streamer of the week from last week did not quite work out. So my apologies everyone. I will
20:58watch the film and get better. But I did watch the film and good god did jig look good out there. Unreal OBJ level catch
21:04over the middle and then had the second one-handed catch in the back of the end zone where he just couldn't quite get
21:09his feet down. So I don't think this is the week to try to go back the well with Chick. It's a Rams defense that could be
21:14welcoming back Miles Garrett and I am just terrified to see how Jaden Daniels that offensive line hold up against that group. That said, moving forward guys,
21:22after this Rams game, Giants, Bengals, Cardinals, Titans, Texans, and Falcons through week 15. Something to keep in mind here with guys like Antonio
21:32Conquenti uh still being out there on the wave wire or getting cut after a potentially bad game this week. Tied at
21:3719, Tyler Hickby against the Commanders.
21:39Again, we expect the Rams to score a lot of points. It's the second worst defense of fantasy points per game. On paper,
21:44this is an amazing matchup for tight ends. I just have no confidence of us picking the right one or them actually
21:50doing anything at all. So, back-to-back games for just 14 yards for Higgby, even with no Terren Ferguson or Kobe Parkinson in the last one, just
21:58ridiculous. So, Ferguson did get his practice window open. I would be very hesitant to immediately throw him back into the top 10 conversation,
22:05particularly this week, if he is going to be able to be activated. But hey, moving forward could be a bright future
22:10and bright present, I should say, for Ferguson with Devonte Adams out of the picture. Tight end 20, I got Dallas against the Giants. It's tough for me to
22:17be too excited about this Joe Milton le offense. Actually, I am more excited about it than watching Tanner McKe because Milton's a mad man with an arm
22:24that can, you know, challenge Uncle Rico out here. But look, Vegas has Eagles offense play to score third fewest points in week nine. Just can't be, you
22:31know, expecting Dallas Collar to be scoring a touchdown with that sort of stuff. Looking at me in the face. Tight end 21 Michael Mayer tight end 16 PPR
22:38points per game plays a full-time role.
22:40I just again similar to Washington I get nervous about the Raiders holding up against this defensive front. Niners are welcoming back Deorest Buckner after
22:47actually trading for him and then also getting Nick Bosa back presumably coming back from their buy 10 and 22 Jawan Johnson seven total yards in his last
22:55two games. They could also be getting Jordan Tyson back. Could also be getting Kelvin Banks back which would help the offensive line maybe allow Jawan to run
23:01some more routes out there. But yeah, not I would like to see evidence that Jawan can gain 10 yards in a game again
23:06before putting him in a fantasy lineup.
23:08Tight end 23, Mason Taylor. Again, seems like he is going to be playing this week. If he is out, I could get Ken
23:13Sadique up a little bit higher than this. Probably around tight end 15 range. 15 16 no Mason Taylor. I could get him up there because again, these
23:25wide receivers are presumably healthy.
23:27We'll see if Garrett Wils can clear the concussion protocol. So, lots of injuries to keep an eye out with the Jets. I will be sure to explain them
23:33much more in depth here on our Friday injury show. And lastly, tight end 24 Darren Waller against the Broncos. So, he ran a route on the season high 66% of
23:42Bryce Young's dropbacks last week. But man, we still got Tommy Tremble, we still got Mitchell Evans. His routes were trending up, meaning Waller going
23:50into their buy and then coming out of the buy, all of a sudden he had fiveweek lows in two straight games. So, I don't
23:55think Dave Canal has any plans to completely push Tremble or Evans to the side. It's just going to be tough for
24:01Waller to predict the boom weeks. Don't think it's coming against the Broncos.
24:04But anyway guys, that's going to do it for me. I appreciate you tuning in. If you like the video, please like the
24:07video and that subscribe button always helps as well. As always, you can find my written content over at rotowire.com.
24:12Five articles per week, baby. My fingers are sore. Going to be pulling some construction duty, landscaping duty. Ah, that's all right. Uh, be pulling that
24:20soon. But yeah, uh, articles, ranks, all that jazz. Team Rotoire, don't you forget it. Anyways, I appreciate you guys. Ian Hardit, until next time. Take
24:27care everybody.

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