It's Week 17 and on Fantasy Football Today we're spending much of the week recapping 2019 and looking forward to 2020. And there may be no more interesting position to evaluate than tight end. Yes, it's terrible. But it's really interesting.
The top tier has shrunk from three to two for me. Travis Kelce and George Kittle have separated from Zach Ertz thanks to consistency of targets and efficiency on those targets. Ertz sits atop a second tier that has grown. Austin Hooper, Darren Waller and Mark Andrews all belong, and Hunter Henry is right on the cusp.
Henry probably fits better in Tier 3 with Evan Engram and Tyler Higbee. All three have major questions that need to be answered before I feel comfortable with their 2020 ranking. After that? Well, there's a ton of upside.
Mike Gesicki, Dallas Goedert (a big part of Ertz's slide), T.J. Hockenson and Noah Fant will all be popular breakout candidates at tight end in 2020. Jared Cook doesn't have their youth, but he should be drafted as a starter after what he's done the past two years.
All told, the position looks intriguing, and maybe even exciting, in 2020.
Week 17 TE Preview
Who's Out
The following players are not being projected to play Week 17 at this time. Here's what it means:
Both Hayden Hurst and Nick Boyle are in play.
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Numbers to Know
- 84 - Zach Ertz needs 84 yards for a 1,000-yard season.
- 438 - Tyler Higbee has 438 receiving yards in his past four games. Only 17 tight ends have that for the season.
- 4 - Targets for Darren Waller in Hunter Renfrow's first game back.
- 17.2% - Target share for O.J. Howard the past two weeks. I'm not ready to give up yet.
Matchups that matter
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Waiver Wire Targets
It looks like one of the highest scoring games of the week, and Howard has been the No. 2 option in the offense the past two weeks.
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I hope the Ravens let Robert Griffin III sling the ball around a little.
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DFS Plays
Hooper finally bounced back with 15 PPR Fantasy points in Week 16 but still hasn't scored since Week 10. That changes this week.
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Volume plus talent has to equal production at some point, right?
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Heath's Projections
Non-PPR Rank | PPR Rank | TE | NON-PPR | PPR |
1 | 1 | Travis Kelce | 13.70 | 20.94 |
2 | 2 | George Kittle | 11.69 | 18.30 |
3 | 3 | Austin Hooper | 10.19 | 16.01 |
4 | 4 | Zach Ertz | 9.26 | 14.39 |
6 | 5 | Tyler Higbee | 8.33 | 13.61 |
5 | 6 | O.J. Howard | 8.55 | 13.11 |
7 | 7 | Dallas Goedert | 8.31 | 12.76 |
10 | 8 | 7.25 | 12.30 | |
9 | 9 | Darren Waller | 7.35 | 11.67 |
8 | 10 | Jared Cook | 7.57 | 10.57 |
12 | 11 | Mike Gesicki | 6.32 | 10.47 |
11 | 12 | Hunter Henry | 6.34 | 10.28 |
15 | 13 | 5.42 | 10.14 | |
13 | 14 | 5.74 | 10.06 | |
14 | 15 | 5.57 | 9.60 | |
20 | 16 | 5.06 | 8.69 |
