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Which tight ends will shine in Week 1 for your fantasy football teams? We’ll take a look at all of them in our PPR rankings.
The NFL season is so close we can smell it! For now, that smell is wafting across our faces like Nic Cage as he exits the prison bus in Con Air. It’s a good smell. A fresh, invigorating smell, full of newly applied deodorant and just cut grass. Let’s all try to remember this feeling. It probably won’t last.
We’re not all going to win our fantasy football leagues and our favorite team probably won’t win the Super Bowl. I’m talking averages here Chiefs fans! But, there is a good chance if we made the right picks at tight end, we’ll have a leg up on the competition. We’ve argued about Sam LaPorta, Travis Kelce, Mark Andrews, Trey McBride, George Kittle and the like, but now it’s time to play some real football and see how the chips fall.
Week 1 will be all about the established tight ends as usual. Rookies can make a big impact, as we saw last season, but they aren’t a great bet, especially in Week 1 this year. The position feels deeper than previous years, as we have some true stars coming up, while we have great veterans hanging around. But, the position also leads to down weeks and much consternation for fake footballers.
What to do with Taysom Hill?
Hill has been the ultimate boom or bust tight end, but there are signs that he might be an even bigger part of the offense this season. He managed to finish as TE12 in PPR leagues last season on just 81 rushing attempts, 33 receptions and 11 passing attempts. He totaled six touchdowns plus one passing touchdown. His 4.9 yards per carry was easily the highest on the team with Alvin Kamara at 3.9 yards per carry on 180 attempts.
The trouble is we can’t always count on a big enough workload, but when he does get touches, they are often in high leverage situations. Last year he was second on the team with 34 red zone looks to Kamara’s 46. If for some reason he’s still on your waiver wire, grab him, as his upside remains good with his red zone looks and the prospect he’ll see more work this season.
Week 1 tight end injuries
T.J. Hockenson, Vikings
Hockenson was added to the PUP list to start the season, which means he’ll miss at least the first four games. He will be back this season, but the timing is still unknown. Johnny Mundt will likely take his spot, with Josh Oliver mixing in. At this point they aren’t fantasy relevant.
Brock Bowers, Raiders and Mark Andrews, Ravens
Both Bowers and Andrews have been resting injuries, but appear ready to go for Week 1. It will still be a good idea to keep an eye on their practice reports throughout the week.
Week 1 tight end sleepers
Noah Fant, Seahawks vs. Broncos
Fant has never really lived up to his potential, but he also still has some potential left. The Seahawks new offense should be better suited for him and he has no other tight ends to really compete with. The Broncos ranked last in fantasy points allowed to the position last season and I like Fant’s chances of having a strong start to the season.
Taysom Hill, Saints vs. Panthers
As I wrote earlier, Hill’s upside is great and there is a real chance he sees more work this season. I’m willing to take that risk this week against a sub-par Panthers defense as long as I don’t have a stud at the position.
