Fantasy Football with Ian Hartitz artwork

Week 5 Fantasy Football TE Ranks and Tiers: Isaiah Likely TE6, Tyler Higbee TE13, 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
Oct 8, 2026
Published
Thu, October 8, 2026
27
Player insights
26
Players mentioned
Topics
Sam LaPortaAJ BarnerBrenton StrangeBrock BowersColston LovelandDallas GoedertDalton KincaidDalton SchultzDarnell WashingtonDavid NjokuGeorge KittleHarold FanninHunter HenryIsaiah Likely
Player analysis

Player insights

27

AJ Barner

NegativeProjection18:59

Ian Hartitz ranks AJ Barner as TE19 for Week 5 against the 49ers. Barner's usage is game-script dependent: in Week 3 when the Seahawks played from behind, he had five catches for 69 yards; in Week 4 when they controlled the game, he had only one catch for 12 yards on three targets. The matchup against the 49ers could bring out a shootout scenario that favors Barner.

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Brenton Strange

NegativeProjection18:38

Ian Hartitz ranks Brenton Strange as TE17–18 for Week 5 against the Eagles. Strange ranks seventh in yards per route run at the position dating back to Week 1 of last season and is a good real-life football player, but Hartitz is skeptical about consistent volume and doesn't want to lean in this week, though he's a viable option if in a bind.

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Brock Bowers

PositiveProjection0:30

Ranked TE2 for Week 5 with 27.6 and 20.6 PPR points in first two games; averaging 24.1 PPR points per game, which is the best single-season mark in NFL history. Ian Hartitz questions whether Bowers will ever score under 20 fantasy points in a game again. Despite tough matchups ahead for the Raiders, Hartitz is not sweating Bowers' talent.

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Colston Loveland

NegativeProjection14:15

Ian Hartitz ranks Colson Loveland as TE14. Bears offense looks good despite Case Keenum taking first snap in Week 1. Loveland had 6 catches for 57 yards on 9 targets last week. Hartitz believes Loveland is very good at football and would crack top 12 if not for Higbee's situation lasting another week or two. Projects Loveland to be a comfortable top-10 tight end by season's end, though questions whether he reaches the top-3 heights some experts predicted. Hartitz notes this ranking does not justify a fourth-round draft pick.

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Dallas Goedert

NegativeRole24:33

Ian Hartitz notes Dallas Godert could have a chance to come back from injury, but it's unclear if he will be in an immediate full-time role upon return, which would impact both his and Zack Zeutz's fantasy value.

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Dalton Kincaid

PositiveProjection2:29

Ranked TE5 for Week 5 against Rams. Kincaid leads all tight ends in receiving yards after the first month of the season. His performance has correlated with Josh Allen's play—went 'crazy' in two weeks Allen went crazy, then declined when Allen's play declined. Joe Brady acknowledged underutilization with only two targets in Week 4, stating 'There's no reason Don Cage should have two targets.' Route rate dropped from 68-79% in first three weeks to 56% in Week 4. Hartitz rates worry meter at 3 out of 10, noting Kincaid still leads position in receiving yards.

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Dalton Schultz

NegativeBust24:24

Ian Hartitz ranks Dalton Schultz as TE27 in Week 5 with 39 scoreless yards over the past two weeks. Hartitz warns against trusting Schultz despite a recent Bengals game that may tempt fantasy players back into his lineup, citing the return of Nico Collins to the lineup as a reason to fade him.

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Darnell Washington

PositiveUsage24:42

Ian Hartitz ranks Darnell Washington as TE29 for Week 5 and calls him 'fun to watch.' Aaron Rodgers has an affinity for force-feeding Washington in the red zone—Washington is a very large human being—which provides consistent red-zone target share. The Steelers have been throwing the football successfully over recent weeks, supporting Washington's upside despite the offense flowing heavily through DK Metcalf first and Roman Wilson picking it up as well.

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David Njoku

NegativeRole7:56

Njoku ranked tight end 9 despite scoring 20+ points in three straight games; the Cleveland offense looks better than last year but is more crowded with Denzel Boston and Casey Conception working underneath areas, limiting Njoku's ceiling relative to his recent production.

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George Kittle

PositiveProjection1:07

Ranked TE3 for Week 5. Hartitz maintains that Kittle is the most versatile tight end in football, comparing him favorably to Travis Kelce as more of a complete player. Kittle is averaging 2.84 yards per run, the third-highest mark of his career. Despite being older and coming off an Achilles injury, Hartitz observes he 'literally looks almost better than ever.' Mike McDonald's Ravens defense has limited Christian McCaffrey and Patrick Ricard over the years but not Kittle, who scored 126 yards and two touchdowns in the 2023 matchup and another touchdown in subsequent matchups.

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Harold Fannin

PositiveRole7:22

Fannon is ranked TE9 with three touchdowns in the last two games. The Browns offense has scored 20+ points in three straight games and looks significantly better than last year. However, the position is crowded with Denzel Boston and Casey Concepcion working underneath areas; Ian Hartitz likes the talent and improved offense but notes the crowding limits upside despite Fannon not being "quite the same world beater after the catch."

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Hunter Henry

PositiveRole24:27

Ian Hartitz ranks Hunter Henry as TE28 in Week 5. Henry is banged up with injury concerns, but the primary issue is role compression: the Patriots like Eli Raridon too, so Hartitz expects targets to be spread around more often than not, with Romeo Dobbs and Super Dear Douglas likely to see significant target share ahead of Henry.

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Isaiah Likely

PositiveRole5:13

Ranked TE6 with 36 targets this season, nine more than Malik Neighbors. Likely has a full-time role. Ian Hartitz notes that Jameis Winston showed evidence of accuracy in Week 4, supporting Likely's value despite Winston's historical erraticness. If Malik Neighbors is out due to soreness, the Likely versus Concade decision becomes more interesting, with Likely potentially moving ahead.

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Jake Ferguson

NegativeProjection16:56

Ian Hartitz ranks Jake Ferguson as TE16 for Week 5 Thursday Night Football against Buccaneers, assuming both Cowboys wide receivers are out. Ferguson has caught three touchdowns in his last three games and Hartitz wouldn't be surprised if he makes it four for four. However, Hartitz is not convinced Ferguson is better than Brennan Smoot at this point on the Cowboys depth chart, though Dak Prescott still likes him.

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Juwan Johnson

NegativeMatchup6:42

Johnson is ranked TE8 and is TE3 overall on the season, but faces a significant matchup downgrade against the Vikings, who have allowed the fourth-fewest PPR points per game to tight ends. The Vikings' aggressive blitzing forces opposing offenses to keep tight ends in for pass protection more than usual, reducing route opportunities and limiting Johnson's upside despite his strong season-long production.

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Kenyan Drake

PositiveUsage8:16

Drake is ranked TE10 going against the Browns. After a goose egg last week, he bounced back with 105 yards and a touchdown the prior game. Gino Smith leads the NFL in completion rate at 7.7 yards per attempt. With A.D. Mitchell (finger), Mason Taylor (thumb), and Bree Hall (quad) potentially out, Drake is the clear second option behind Garrett Wilson with route rates up to 67% last week from 57% in weeks 2-3.

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Kyle Pitts

NegativeProjection16:11

Ian Hartitz ranks Kyle Pitts as TE23 for Week 5 against the Ravens. Pitts doubled his season yardage with 47 yards last week on a 43% route rate, though the Falcons weren't putting him out there early in games. Hartitz would be more optimistic about Pitts if he were getting going in a shootout-heavy game, but the Ravens have only thrown the ball 45 times over the past two weeks, and Hartitz doesn't think Huntley and the Ravens are up for a shootout task against the Falcons.

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Michael Mayer

NegativeProjection17:14

Ian Hartitz ranks Michael Mayer as TE17 for Week 5. Mayer is putting up big numbers now that Brock Bowers is back and is playing full-time roles with 87-88% snap rates over the last two weeks. Jack Bowers is on IR and Jayl Naylor has a concussion, solidifying Mayer's role in the Raiders offense. However, Patriots have been the best defense against tight ends this year, which is a concern for Mayer in Week 5, though Hartitz acknowledges it's only been four weeks of data.

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Mike Gesicki

NegativeProjection15:29

Ian Hartitz ranks Mike Gesicki as TE15 against Dolphins in revenge game, assuming Jamar Chase will be out and Tee Higgins (adductor injury, not groin) will play. Gesicki had 69% route rate in Week 4 and could be full-time role as Bengals' number three pass option. However, Hartitz is cautious: last season with full-time role, Gesicki averaged 21 yards per game with just one touchdown across five games with 60%+ route rate. If Tee Higgins is also out, Gesicki could move up to TE10, just over Kenyan Sadi.

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Pat Freiermuth

NegativeProjection19:59

Ian Hartitz ranks Pat Freiermuth as TE22 for Week 5. His routes have been fluctuating between low 60s and mid-70s, and Aaron Rodgers has an affinity for force-feeding Darnell Washington in the red zone. The Steelers offense flows heavily through DK Metcalf first with Roman Wilson picking it up as well, leaving limited opportunity for Freiermuth. Hartitz notes the Steelers have one of the top five easiest schedules for tight ends over weeks 5–10, but would need to see Freiermuth get a full-time role and more targets to be excited; a Michael Pittman injury could help, but that's speculative.

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Sam LaPorta

PositiveProjection2:05

Ranked TE4 for Week 5. LaPorta leads all tight ends in routes run overall and has season-best marks in targets, receptions, and yards. Historically, tight ends who finish as the league leader in routes run finish as TE1 overall in fantasy football five years running. LaPorta is on pace for 136 targets, a mark that has only been topped by Trey McBride and Brock Bowers since 2024. Hartitz notes some contract friction but suggests LaPorta may be more motivated than ever.

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PositiveProjection2:05

Ranked TE4 for Week 5; leads all tight ends in routes run overall; has season-best marks in targets, receptions, and yards; historical note that tight ends who finish as the league leader in routes run finish as TE1 overall in fantasy football five years running; Hartitz notes some contract friction but suggests Leaporta may be more motivated than ever.

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T.J. Hockenson

PositiveProjection11:32

Hockenson is ranked TE12 with significant upside contingent on injury status of Vikings receivers. If Justin Jefferson or Jordan Addison is out, Hockenson could move up to TE8; if both are out, he could swap with Isaiah Likely or even Sam LaPorta. Last week he was 13 for 13 on targets from Kyler Murray for 119 yards and should have had a touchdown. The Saints defense has been the fifth-worst in PPR points allowed to tight ends.

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Trey McBride

PositiveProjection0:30

Ranked TE1 for Week 5 against Lions defense, which has allowed the most passing yards through four weeks of any defense over the past five years. McBride has posted 69.2 total PPR points through the first four weeks of the season, the most by any tight end during the first four weeks going back at least five years; Ian Hartitz calls it a 'special special start.'

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Tucker Kraft

PositiveRole6:03

Kraft is ranked TE7 and has consolidated passing game volume in a Bears offense throwing more than ever because they can't run the ball. He has three drops this season versus six across his first 42 games; Ian Hartitz attributes this to the passing game now being concentrated around three guys rather than a decline in Kraft's catching ability, noting he didn't "magically forget how to catch the football."

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Tyler Higbee

PositiveProjection13:13

Ian Hartitz ranks Tyler Higbee as TE13 for Monday night against Bills. Bills defense is poor with secondary banged up: Terence Ferguson on IR and Kobe Parkinson dealing with shoulder/knee injury. Higbee has 77% and 76% route rate over last two weeks; had 8 catches, 62 yards, 1 TD with Puka Nakua out, then 5 catches, 67 yards with Nakua back. One of only five tight ends with 30+ PPR points over last two weeks. Matthew Stafford has three straight 300+ yard games. Rams have one of the top five easiest schedules for tight ends over weeks 5-10. If Kobe Parkinson and T Ferg remain sidelined, Hartitz expects to remain hyped about Higbee.

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Tyler Warren

PositiveProjection9:48

Warren is ranked TE11 but has underperformed significantly. He had 9 catches for 50 yards in Week 4 with 5.7 yards per catch and 4.8 yards per target, dead last among 28 qualified tight ends. He has not had a target more than 15 yards downfield all year, limiting both yardage and touchdown upside. Daniel Jones has been statistically one of the worst quarterbacks in football, and Warren only received 5 targets last week despite the Colts having limited receiving options (no Alec Pierce, no Keenan Allen). Ian Hartitz wants to move him down even further, noting the Colts have one of the toughest schedules for tight ends over weeks 5-10 and neither Warren nor the offense is playing good football.

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Full transcript

Episode Transcript

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0:00It is a great day to break down my week five fantasy football tight end rankings in tiers. Going to be going through my
0:05top 30 options at the position and at the end of each tier going to be covering some bigger picture questions.
0:10Today that's going to be putting into context just how special some of these starts have been from guys like Brock Bowers, Trey McBride, Sam Leaporta and I
0:16do mean special going through some of the best and worst upcoming schedules now that we actually have a decent sample size defensive performance and
0:23also just looking at those defenses and seeing who are the single worst groups that we want to be targeting. Hence, it's the Lions. With all that said,
0:30guys, let's get after it with tight end one this week. Yeah, I'm going with Trey McBride against the Lions. Okay, all due
0:35respect to Brock Bowers. He's the tight end too here. But yeah, looking at this Lions defense, they have allowed the most passing yards through four weeks of
0:42any defense over the past five years.
0:45Okay, think about how bad the Cowboys have been to start a couple of these years. The Bengals 2026 Lions, even worse. So, wheels up for Mr. Trey
0:53McBride. Again, should be a hell of a shootout and a fun game between Jared Goff and Jacobe Brassette. What a time
0:59to be alive. Tight end two, I got Brock Bowers, guys. 27.6 and 20.6 PPR points to start the season. Will Brock Bowers
1:07ever score under 20 fantasy points in a game again? We don't know. We don't know. Tight end three, I got George KD.
1:14Just incredible, man. I've always maintained, you know, for at least the last five or so years that if we had a Space Jam
1:21style like aliens invade the planet and we got to play a football game, defend the human race basically. I think KD
1:27will be our tight end one. All due respect to Travis Kell, just more of a receiver. KD everything he can do. He
1:32looks just as good as ever out there, busting that screen like he did last week, continuing to be a badass blocker.
1:38It's it's incredible, man. And I will say too, as great as Mike McDonald is, and I've talked about this in the
1:43quarterback and the running back, and he's actually done a pretty good job of limiting Perie and CMC over the years, not really KD, man. 126 in that 49ers
1:51Ravens game back in 2023. Had two touchdowns and another touchdown, you know, in these other two matchups against him. So, yeah, got with the
1:58Achilles earlier this year. He turns 33 here shortly. Still just keeping on keeping on. Shout out George KD, man.
2:05Tight end four. I got San Laora, guys.
2:07season best marks in targets, receptions, and yards. Great note from Jacobs Gibbs. You guys can catch on with Theo over from the Rotoire Fantasy
2:14Football podcast channel. They do that like once a week, I think. But anyway, great note from Jacob, the league leader at tight ends in routes, overall routes.
2:23Okay, so whatever tight ends run the most routes on the over the course of the season, they finished as a tight end
2:27over one overall in fantasy football, five years running. And I'm talking about Sale La Porter right now. So, as you can probably guess, St. Leaporto
2:35currently leads all tight ends and routes. So great football player. A little bit of weird friction with them stopping the, you know, contract talks
2:42at this point. But you know what? Maybe that just means Leapora is more motivated than ever. My tight end four here headed to Smashbot. Tight end five.
2:49I'm going Don Concade against the Rams.
2:51Guys, I get it. It's been a rough two weeks, but you know, Concade went crazy in the two weeks that Josh Allen went
2:59crazy, and then we've gotten a little bit lesser versions of Josh Allen, and Concade's been down there with him.
3:04He still leads all tight ends and receiving yards. You know, if I would have told you before the season like, "Hey, Dolan Concincaid, he's going to
3:12lead all tight ends and receiving yards after the first month," I think he'd be pretty pretty happy making that investment, right? Joe Brady after the
3:19game said, quote, "There's no reason Don Cage should have two targets, especially with the flow of the game and how that
3:25goes. I got to find a way to get the ball in his hands and do a better job of that." Kind of like that meme of the
3:30dude in the banana outfit, like we're all trying to find out who did this, Joe. But at least he's being open about
3:35it. Let's just get those routes back up.
3:37All right. Again, we ideally want we ideally want a 100% route rate, but a tight end 70% plus is usually good
3:43enough, particularly in an offense like the Bills. We saw concave between 68 and nice percent during the first three weeks of the year. He was down to 56% in
3:50week four. I'm like a three out of 10 in the worry meter here. Again, leading the position of receiving yards, Don
3:56Concaid, tight end five. Key question for this tier. I just want to take a second because the more I was just
4:02diving into these guys as I was writing my article about it, I was like, damn, all five of these dudes are really
4:06having some nice starts to the season.
4:07So, one again, just try to put a little context to that and we'll go ahead and do that. So, Trey McBride, guys, 69.2
4:13total PPR points. That's the most by any tight end during the first four weeks of a season going back at least five years.
4:19So, special special start for McBride.
4:21He has been crushing it. Brock Bowers, he is averaging 24.1 PPR points per game in two games. I get it. Minus sample
4:29size. I'm just saying that's the best single season mark in NFL history. Not too bad. George KD, he's averaging 2.84 yards per run right now. That is the
4:39third highest mark of his career, man.
4:42It's not even that George KD is, you know, 90% of KD. Wow. Getting up there in age coming off the Achilles, he's
4:48still doing it. He literally looks almost better than ever. Sam Leaporta mentioned the routes. He's on pace for 136 targets, a mark that has only been
4:57topped by Trey McBride and Brock Bar since 2024. Pretty good. And finally, Dolan Concade. I mentioned the yards per run number. He's at 3.07. Man, that
5:06would be good for the second highest mark of the last decade, only behind 2019. George KD tier two. I got 10
5:13and1's with a question mark. Okay, let off by tight end six. Isaiah likely 36 targets this year, man. That's nine more
5:20than Malik Neighbors. And any tight end not named Trey McBride hasn't been, you know, the most efficient with him. I would say some of that probably has to
5:26do with a little bit of erraticness from Jameus Winston as well. But full-time role for Isaiah likely, we got evidence that Jameus Winston can in fact throw a
5:34forward pass with a reasonable degree of accuracy in week four. Right back up here in my top six. And with Malik
5:39Neighbors having this soreness weird thing going on, had an interesting quote about that as I'm recording this on Wednesday evening. Yeah, if Isaiah
5:46Likely, I'm sorry. If neighbors out of the picture, Likely versus Concade becomes very interesting. That commander secondary is bad, too. I don't think I could get him
5:57ahead of Leaporta, but I'd be fine going likely over Concaid if we do find out that neighbors out of the picture. Tight
6:03end seven, Tucker Craft, guys, going against the Bears. Hey, you bounce back.
6:08All right. Should have had two touchdowns. Thank God that they reviewed the second one. He caught it in the corner of the end zone and at first they
6:14said incomplete. It looked like he maybe didn't get his second foot in bounds. He did and we got the score. Would have
6:19been a lot cooler if he dropped, you know, if he didn't drop, I should say, the three-yard score. I will say though,
6:24he only had six drops across his first 42 games before the season. He leaves the position with three this year. It's
6:30been unfortunate. I don't think Tucker Craft magically forgot how to catch the football. This passing game is now consolidated around three guys. Things
6:40are looking good for Tucker Craft.
6:41They're throwing the ball more than ever because they have to and they can't run the ball. The whole panic about oh my
6:46god they almost had to use Tucker Craft as an offensive lineman in a game.
6:49That's that was always ridiculous. It's not anything to worry about right now.
6:53Tucker Craft my tight end seven. Only thing holding him back a little bit is just likely he's playing well and getting a lot of targets. We talked
6:58about the big five guys and the Bears defense is playing pretty damn good.
7:02Tight end eight, I got Jawan Johnson, guys. He's the overall tight end three on the season. It's just a matchup, right? So I think it's a little bit
7:08twofold. The Vikings have been really good everywhere to start the season, particularly against tight ends. They've allowed the fourth fewest PPR points per
7:15game to the position. And I just think, and we saw this with Greg Dol last week, season level routes, and we see him at
7:19running backs when they play the Vikings as well. When you blitz as much as the Vikings, you just kind of force opposing
7:25offenses to have to keep their tight ends and running backs more than usual to help not get their quarterback get absolutely killed out there. All right,
7:30so I know Jawan's been used kind of like as a glorified big slot throughout his career anyway. So, it's probably a
7:35lesser impact on him than a more traditional inline option like maybe Tucker Craft, for example. So, I'm not saying he need to bench Jawan Johnson.
7:42But yeah, tight end eight where is a better match up. He'd probably be vying for a top five spot. Tight end nine, I
7:47got Harold Fannon. Three touchdowns in the last two games in a Browns offense that's weirdly kind of enjoyable. Just watching the playmakers wise, they've
7:56scored 20 plus points in three straight games. Things that don't usually happen in Cleveland. So, Fannon hasn't been quite the same world beater after the
8:03catch, but you know what? The offense looks a hell of a lot better than it did last year. So, tight end nine. It's a
8:09reasonable matchup. We like the talent.
8:10The offense is okay. It's just more crowded. We got Denzel Boston, particularly Casey Conception working those underneath areas of the field.
8:16That's the only reason why Fannon isn't hired. Tight end 10 staying in the same game. I got Ken Sneak going against the
8:22Browns. Hear me out. I know. I know. The goose eggs sucked. Did come one game after this rookie went for 105 yards and
8:29a touchdown and looked good doing it.
8:31Gino Smith this year leads the NFL in completion rate, averaging a healthy 7.7 yards per attempt. What happened last week? Ben Johnson and the Bears ran all
8:40over them. They kept the ball and the Jets ran 32 freaking plays against the defense from the Bears that we have seen
8:46now for the better part of the last three weeks look really freaking good out there. So assuming it seems like this could be the case based on initial
8:53practice report data. AD Mitchell with the finger, Mason Taylor with the thumb, Bree Hall at the quad, if all those guys
9:00are out again, it's Kenyan Sadi behind Garrett Wilson pretty clearly, man. We believe in Sadi's talent and he actually got the
9:10route rates up last week.
9:12It was the It was the best goose egg that we have ever seen. Kenyan Sadique last week. All right. 67% routes. He was
9:19at 57% back in the back in the uh week two three game. Yeah. Kenyan Sadi tight end 10. I'm still believing man. And
9:28honestly, I'm looking at it.
9:32The Saints just throw the ball so much.
9:34I don't think I can get him ahead. Juan, I trust Tucker more.
9:41Let's flip it. Kenyan Sadi over Harold Fannon. Sadiq tight end eight. Fannon tight end nine. Sadique tight end nine.
9:48Fannon tight end 10. There we go. We got there. Tight end 11. Tyler Warren hasn't been good, man.
9:57He got the two touchdowns to start the season to kind of save those days. He had like nine catches for 50 yards or
10:02something on week four. 5.7 yards per catch, 4.8 yards per target this season.
10:08Dead last among 28 qualified tight ends.
10:11He has not had a target more than 15 yards downfield all year. It's not the rarest thing a tight end, and I know
10:17Tyler Warren's skill set is supposed to be at least built more around being that big body badass. You know, I think about
10:23the days of him running Wildcat on Penn State. Like this dude was a terror to try to get the foot get in the ground.
10:28He did a lot of good things as a rookie.
10:31I just haven't seen much from him this year at all to be frank. And maybe there's just Daniel Jones in this
10:36offense more than anything. Daniel Jones has statistically been playing like one of, if not the worst quarterbacks in football.
10:42But that's the other problem. If I'm not getting anything downfield for Tyler Warren, we haven't seen the Yak juice.
10:50And now we don't really expect too much touchdown upside.
10:54It's inexplicable to me in this offense with only Josh DS involved that Tyler Warren also only got five targets last week. Like we were all so pissed off
11:03about the Josh Allen usage that Tyler Warren only getting five targets in a game with no Alec Pierce with no Keenan
11:08Allen just kind of flew under the radar.
11:10So just got to get the ball to Laquan Treble and Nash Duelan what he can guys I almost said with all due respect to
11:18them but I you know I can't just hate on someone and then say with all due respect respectfully do you feel
11:24confident in the Colts scoring enough touchdowns other than Jonathan Taylor to get one on Tyler Warren? I don't tight end alone.
11:32Tight end 12. I got TJ Hawinson. This is assuming Justin Jefferson and Jordan Addison will play. If one of them is
11:39out, I could get Hawinson probably up as high as tight end 8. If both of them are out, I probably switch him with Isaiah
11:44likely. I mean, maybe even Sam Leaporta.
11:4713 for 13 on targets from Kylo Murray last week. Say what you want about Kyler Murray. You can call him short. You can
11:54say he's not very tall. You can say that he is again someone who just is not a tall human being. You could also say
11:59he's not a very good quarterback at this point in time. He can feed a tight end.
12:03And that was even the thing with Tram McBride. Kobe helped start getting Trey McBride touchdowns, but Tram McBride was still the tight end too. I believe
12:10overall the year that he was mostly catching balls from Kyler Murray. So Kyler knows what to do here. 13 for 13
12:17last week, 119 yards and should have had a touchdown if he actually put the best interest of his fantasy managers ahead
12:22of his real life team. I guess I get it.
12:24Saints have been the fifth worst defense and PPR points game allowed the position. TJ Hawinson back in the top 12. Congratulations.
12:31Key question for this one, guys. Want to highlight the best and worst defenses against tight ends this year. And spoiler, yeah, it is the Lions. Look at
12:37this freaking chart. That is them all the way up there in the top right.
12:41Chiefs haven't been great either. I do think at a certain point we see defenses that are really good against wide receivers kind of funnel that production
12:47inside to tight ends and running backs.
12:49And we also see the more zoneheavy defenses wind up giving up more targets to tight ends and running backs as well.
12:55So, things to keep in mind there. But, you know, we'll take the fantasy points however we can get them. So, Lions and
12:59Chiefs stand out as easily the two worst. The Commanders also haven't been all that good and they haven't been good on a very low level of volume. Also seen
13:07the Raiders, Dolphins, Buccaneers, Saints, and yes, the Bengals still be quite bad against the position as well.
13:12So, Bengals last week, man, could have even been worse against Brandon Strange.
13:16I would be continuing to target them with guys of most shapes and sizes.
13:19We'll talk about Greg Dol here in a little bit. Tier three streamers and potential flex plays. I'm starting off starting off with tight end 13. Tyler
13:27Higgby again this Monday night shootout here against the Bills. Cannot say pretty much any good things about this Bills defense at the moment and their
13:33secondary is banged up. Meanwhile, with Terence Ferguson on IR and with Kobe Parkinson dealing with a shoulder and knee injury that has him not practicing
13:41at all, at least last week that was the case, it's looking like another full-time role for Tyler Higgby. He's had 77 and 76% route race over these
13:49last two weeks. had the eight catch 62 yard and one touchdown game with Puka Nakua out of the picture and still
13:54caught five passes for 67 yards with Puka back in action last week in that comeback win over the Eagles. So Higgby
14:00man he's only one of five tight ends with 30 plus PPR points over these last two weeks. It's a Bills defense again
14:05that we don't care about. So yeah, I'll take the number three pass catcher for the Rams, Matthew Stafford. Three straight games of 300 plus yards.
14:12Expecting him to keep on keeping on.
14:15Tight and 14 Coulson Lovelin working our way back up the ranks. You guys feeling better yet? I'm I know I'm not. It
14:21sucks. But yeah, better days hopefully are going to be ahead. He's got the roll. The offense looks good, man.
14:27They've started Well, they technically did not start Tabag because they had to do the whole Case Keenum taking the first snap gimmick, but they have had
14:37three quarterbacks play each of their first four games. They're winning football and the offense looks good. So, better days should be ahead. We got six
14:44catches for 57 yards last week, nine targets. I know the Bears ran a ton of plays out there, but I still do believe
14:49Coulson Lovelin is very good at football. And hey, if we didn't have because he would be cracking this top 12 pretty easily. The Higgby situation is
14:58going to last probably only another week or two.
15:02I'm giving Warren probably more benefit of the doubt than I even should.
15:05Hawinson's getting propped up. Sadique with some of the injuries going on.
15:09Jawan's got Tyson out. So, I don't know if Lovelin is going to get back and be this top three tight end that a lot of
15:15people, a lot of alleged fantasy experts, 100% me again, my bad. I don't know if we're going to get to those
15:20heights. I do think by season's end, Coulson Loveland will be a comfortable at least top 10 tight end in fantasy football. Was that worth a fourth round
15:29pick? Absolutely not. Tight end 15. I'm going Mike Diki at the Dolphins. Revenge game here for Mike Diki, guys. This assumes Jamar Chase will be out and that
15:38T. Higgins with an adductor injury, not a groin, an adductor injury will be in.
15:43We got a very nice 69% route rate from Mike Jiki in week four. With all the injuries going on, he could just be a
15:49full-time role. Deacto number three pass game option here. I don't know though, man. It feels trappy. I expect him more looking back at how he did last season
15:59when he had a full-time role. Five games with a route rate north of 60%. He averaged 21 yards per game and have with
16:05just one total touchdown. So this year he's had a couple scorers already.
16:11The one against Pittsburgh I know was blown coverage, but you know that happens against different teams. So I just don't want to get too carried away.
16:17Tight end 15 is a pretty good rank for Jiki. I just think in this game against the Dolphins is Burrow really got to
16:23drop back 50 plus times. Again, I'm dubious of that. I think we can honestly see Dante Meyers be the number two
16:29option here behind T. Higgins. And that just kind of leaves Mike Jasiki as the number three, maybe even number four. a
16:34good not a great route rate, good matchup and everything. Not enough for me to move him ahead of some of these
16:39other guys. So, if T. Higgins is also out, it gets a little more interesting.
16:43In that case, God, how could you not be moving him up the ranks? I could get him up to probably tight end 10. I think I would
16:54go just over Kenyan Sadi in that case.
16:56If both wide receivers were out tight end 16, I got Jake Ferguson against the Buccaneers in Thursday Night Football.
17:02I'm not convinced Ferguson's even better than Brennan Span forward at this point on the Cowboys, but Dak Prescott still likes him. The Cowboys paid Jake
17:08Ferguson a lot of money. He has caught three touchdowns in his last three games. Wouldn't be surprised if he makes a four for four here on Thursday against
17:14the Buccaneers. Tight end 17. I got Michael Mayer, guys. He's putting up big numbers now that Brock Barers is back because that's how fantasy football
17:22works. But he's legit playing full-time roles all season long. 87% 88% snap rates these last two weeks. Jack B is on
17:29IR. Jayl Naylor's got concussion. I mean, the 2026 Raiders are kind of doing like the best 2011 Patriots impression since I don't know, the 2011 Patriots
17:38out here. So, you guys can pick whether Mayor or Bowers is the Aaron Hernandez in that picture. I Oh, it's pretty
17:45clearly Mayor, I guess. So, yeah, don't don't kill people. Michael Mayer, don't do that. It's a bad thing. Don't do that. Michael Mayer, he's a tight end 13
17:56on the season.
17:58And Captain Kirk and the Raiders look good. Now, the Patriots have been really stingy against tight ends. All right, Patriots actually the best defense
18:06against tight ends this year, but it's also four weeks. And again, for me, these tiebreers, that's what matchups are. All right, so yeah, I got Ferguson,
18:14I got Jiki, I got Lovelin ahead of Mayor. If it was a dream matchup, we were facing the Lions. I'd probably have
18:19them knock on the tight end one door for now. Tight end 17, tight end 18, I got Brenton Strange. Eagles have been pretty
18:25good against tight ends. I'm not convinced the Jaguars got to keep their foot on the gas and really throw the football, which has been the one thing
18:30impacting Parker Washington and Jacobe Myers and PTJ and Josh Cameron and obviously Brettton Strange as well. I will say Bretton Strange guys, he's
18:38seventh in yards per run at the position dating back to week one of last season, but he's a damn good real life football
18:45player. We've seen the flashes and fantasy as well. This isn't the week I want to lean in. I'm skeptical that we
18:50actually will get enough consistency, enough volume here to be ranking Brett and Strange as like a weekly top eight option anytime soon. But hey, you can do
18:59worse than a tight end if you're in a bind. You can do worse than someone that plays all the time, is in an offense we
19:04really like, and is a real good football player. That's what we have in Brentton Strange. Similar sentiment to AJ Barner.
19:10We just Yeah, honestly. Have we ever seen them in the same room together?
19:13Same time 10 and 19 for me. AJ Barner going against the 49ers. We saw it in week three when they actually had to
19:18play from behind. Five catches, 69 yards. Week four, they controlled the game, one catch for 12 yards on only three targets. All right, I it's not
19:26guaranteed that we're going to get a back and forth shootout between the Seahawks and 49ers. But if you were to pick an offense to hopefully bring it
19:32out of the Seahawks might be the 49ers 10 and 19 for me. Tight end 20 is Greg Dolitz. We get the Bengals bump. He only
19:40ran around 50% of the dropbacks last week, but it was against the Vikings.
19:44And as we were talking about earlier, I do wonder if that was because he just had to stay in a little bit or more
19:48likely they just wanted to have wiser and some of their more blocking dudes out there to try and not, you know, get
19:54Malik Willis absolutely shredded out there. So, it's just still the Dolphins, man. He has 90 scoreless yards this season. I'll probably put him in some
20:02inevitable losing DFS lineups, but do I really want to go to Warren Fantasy with Greg Dolitz if I can help it? Not
20:09really. T1, Mark Andrews could have had two touchdowns last week. Lamar actually missed him, I think, on their first drive of the game. But we're probably
20:16not going to have Lamar. We got former Pro Bowl QB Tyler Snoop Huntley. I don't want to play Mark Andrews this week.
20:21Then we got Pat Fry, Titan 22, last guy in this tier. His routes have been going up and down a little bit. He's been in
20:26the low 60s for a couple games. Then he's been up in the mid70s other times.
20:30Aaron Rogers has an affinity for just force feeding the ball to Darnell Washington in the red zone, which I don't know, it is a very large human
20:36being. I probably do the same thing out there as well. Either way, it's good that the Steelers are actually going out
20:42there and throwing the football successfully over these past few weeks.
20:45But it is still an offense that's heavily flown through DK Metaf first.
20:48And we've seen Roman Wilson really pick it up here as well. If Michael Pitman is going to be out of the picture, that
20:53helps a little bit, but again, just not enough for me to get overly excited about Pat Fryouth. Titan 22 for me. Key
20:59question for this tier, guys. Best and worst upcoming schedules of the position. Okay. So, looking at weeks five through 10, next six weeks of
21:06action, we got the four weeks of data. I now will be going through the top six.
21:11Yeah, top six. Top five, whatever. We'll go top five. Top five easiest schedules belong to the Steelers, Rams, 49ers, Jets, and the Vikings over the course of
21:20these next five weeks. So, again, more of a tiebreaker than a rule of thumb to completely change your tight end mindset
21:26and everything. But if we do start seeing Pat Frymouth have a full-time role. Maybe Michael Pitman is someone who's going to be injured after he went
21:33to the locker room on a scooter or whatever, then it would be a situation where we believe enough in Pat Fry's
21:38receiving ability. It's just getting the targets and getting out there. You take away Michael Pitman and that could be something to be excited about,
21:43particularly given this schedule with the Rams again, Tyler Higgby right now benefiting from some good matchups. If we do see Kobe Parkinson sideline
21:50alongside T Ferg, we're continue to be hyped about Higgby. George KD could be playing, you know, 11 freaking Godzillaas out there. I think we would
21:58still start him in fantasy. Kenyon Sadique continues to be someone we're very excited about as long as again the rest of the pass catchers not named
22:04Garrett Wilson our sideline. And then with the Vikings, man, if Kyler is going to keep doing this, only target the tight end BS. Well, it's going to be
22:11annoying if we own Justin Jefferson and Jordan. Good for those of you who picked up TJ Hawinson.
22:16Toughest matchups here. Don't tell me a ton for the Raiders and the Bills. It's just the offenses and Brock Bowers and
22:22Don Kay's talent. All right, I'm not going to be sweating. The Raiders and Bills having two of the three toughest, you know, schedule stretches coming up.
22:29Commanders, Jaguars, and the Colts also are there. Indy's the one though, man.
22:34Tyler Warren, I want to move him down even further.
22:38It's not playing good football. The offense isn't playing good football.
22:42Now, you had tough matchups on top of it. Not great. And last up, tier four.
22:46The other guys, I got Kyle Pittz, tight end 23. He actually doubled up his season yardage with 47 yards last week.
22:5343% route rate. They weren't even putting him out there early, man. I I don't get it. But you know what? They're
22:58scoring. They scored 80 points over the last two weeks. So, who am I to criticize what Kevin Stfansky is doing out there? I'd be more optimistic and
23:06Kyle Pitt's like actually getting going in more of a shootout heavy game because Penn has only thrown the ball 45 times
23:12over the past two weeks. I just don't I'm not sure Huntley and the Ravens are up for that task. If anything, I think
23:16it'll be like more of a rock fight than if the Falcons are going to score 35. I don't see the Ravens keeping up. You
23:21know what I'm saying? tying 24. I got Kate Odd against the Cowboys on Thursday Night Football. Rookie QB's best friend, but it's just, you know, an undrafted
23:29rookie QB. I know it's the Cowboys, but better streaming options out there for me. Tight end 25, Aronda Gaston against the Broncos. Similar thing with Lad
23:37Mcconi where it's like, okay, even if we want to try to buy in to these guys having the full-time roles, being able
23:44to go out there and stuff. Let's assume Charlie Kohler doesn't return this week with the offensive tackles now being hurt and out. Joe Alt and Rashawn
23:51Slater. I just don't want anything to do with anyone in Los Angeles. 10 and 26 Chikio Conquo against the Giants. If we
23:58see both Stefon Diggs and Terry McLaren out with the hamstring injuries, I'll consider moving him up a bit. He was eased back into action last week. They
24:05didn't play him in a full-time role, which is why I have him this low. I wouldn't go anything crazy with it
24:09because we don't know that he's going to have this full-time role anyway. But I would probably get Chig as like, you
24:14know, a sort of lottery ticket play. I think I'd get him up like a at or above Greg Dolid. So probably still not anyone
24:20you're overly caring about. 10 and 27 Daltton Schultz 39 scoreless yards last two weeks once people want to play him after the Bengals game. Can't trust him
24:27with Nico Collins back. 10 and 28 Hunter Henry. It's banged up, but the problem is they like Eli Raridan, too. So I just
24:33think it's going to be spread around more times than not to Romeo Dobs. And I I think it's going to be Super Dear
24:39Douglas as number two over Hunter Henry.
24:42Titan 29, Darnell Washington. That dude's fun to watch. And lastly, Titan 30, Zack Z in London. Just had the routes go down. It sounds like Dallas
24:50Goddard could have a chance to come back. Now, if Dallas God comes back, the problem is we don't know if he's going
24:54to be in an immediate full-time role.
24:56You'd like to think so because again, who else they throwing the football in Philly to right now with Devonte Smith still sideline, but again, tough to be
25:02too excited about. Let's face it, anyone in the general vicinity of the Eagles right now. But guys, that's going to do
25:07it for me. I appreciate you tuning in.
25:09If you like the video, please like the video. Hit that subscribe button. Always helps as well. Week five, we're here. Go
25:14out there, play fast, play loose, set your fantasy lineups right, and you know, try to be a good person if you can
25:19as well. It is just fantasy football, but it is just fantasy football, so let's try to win while we're here.
25:23Anyway, guys, I'm Ian Herd. Thanks again for tuning in. Until next time. Take care everybody.

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