Fantasy Football Week 4 Tight End Rankings: Can Dallas Goedert, Darren Waller turn things around?

It might be time to take a swing on these highly-drafted tight ends

By Chris Towers

Oct 1, 2023 at 8:53 am ET • 3 min read

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It's not all bad news at the tight end position in Fantasy Football heading into Week 4. Sam LaPorta looks like a legitimate late-round gem, having put up the most catches and second-most yards of any rookie tight end through his first three games. LaPorta looks like a legitimate must-start Fantasy tight end right now, and a big win for the, "Hey, maybe this rookie tight end class can be useful for Fantasy" crowd.

So, you know, it's only almost all bad news at tight end. The good news, I guess, is that there's kind of nothing but buy-low candidates at tight end, at least based on preseason expectations, because so few guys have been good so far.

Before we get to the Week 4 TE rankings, here are my thoughts on three buy-low candidates and one even I'm steering clear of.

Mark Andrews hasn't really had a huge game yet, and his current per-game target pace would be his lowest since 2020. I have faith he'll turn things around, but it is a new offense, so we can't necessarily just assume he'll dominate targets the way he has in the past. But yes, he's a buy-low candidate for sure.
Darren Waller has just one double-digit game in his first three, but with games against the Cowboys and 49ers in his first three, the Giants have also faced a ludicrously tough schedule so far. His 20% target share is low, but the Giants have also been in two blowouts; his target share was 22% in the one competitive game. I'd be buying.
Writing this before Monday Night Football, Dallas Goedert seems like the most obvious buy-low maybe at any position right now. He's been a model of efficiency since being elevated to a starting role in this offense in 2021, and I have no real reason to think that won't continue to be the case moving forward – if you don't think it will, you should probably also be fading Jalen Hurts. Buy Goedert.

And then there's Kyle Pitts, who is stuck in a miserable situation in Atlanta:

The Falcons have dropped back to pass 106 times this season. Here's how those have ended:

17 - Pitts target
17 - Bijan target
15 - London target
14 - Jonnu target
14 - Hollins target
12 - Sack
6- Ridder scramble
6 - Allgeier target
5 - Other

That's just terrible.
— Chris Towers …Is A Real Boy (@CTowersCBS) September 25, 2023

No team is targeting their tight ends more than the Falcons, but somehow Jonnu Smith is being targeted nearly as often as Pitts; yes, Jonnu Smith, who was a complete non-factor in two seasons with the Patriots and is averaging 6.0 yards per target this season. Desmond Ridder looks awful even when the Falcons are willing to throw the ball, and they aren't willing to take the kind of consistent deep shots they need to get the most out of Pitts (or Drake London for that matter). Pitts' situation looks no better than it did a year ago, and it seems like we're stuck with another year of him as a touchdown-or-bust TE option.

It's not impossible that Pitts breaks out, but it's looking increasingly unlikely by the week, especially with the Falcons coming off a loss where they threw the ball 38 times, which will surely only serve to confirm Arthur Smith's worse fears about what happens when they actually throw the ball. I'm losing hope quickly.

Here are my rankings for Week 4 at the tight end position: