Fantasy Football Week 17 Tight End Rankings: Trey McBride, Harold Fannin Jr.

Hopefully, Santa is sleeping right now after his long night. Because if he’s watching me post a tight end article on Christmas morning while my family is in the other room spreading holiday cheer then I’ll probably be in big trouble. Hopefully he understands that his special day also overlaps with the most sacred time of year for us - fantasy football championship week.

Note - the site producers/editors obviously are not working on Christmas morning so please excuse any spellign errorrs or weird formatting.

If you are busy with holiday festivities this week, you make things easy on yourself and just grab my rankings for EVERY position and format which are available to Fantasy Alarm Members here. Those are paywalled for our members because they support us and they are all on the nice list. I’m not saying you are on the naughty list but becoming a Fantasy Alarm member pretty much guarantees that you do get on the nice list for next year. And you can take advantage of our Holiday Sale that gets you 50% off for the next six months!
 

As always, I’ll be available for comments or concerns in the Twitter or Reddit threads, so feel free to weigh in there with your own thoughts - or any questions you have for this week!

*Players highlighted in red have injury concerns that we need to monitor

Thursday Notes

Week 17 Tight End Rankings: Tier 1

Trey McBride - We have a tight end here on pace for a top five all time season. And he’s about to go up against the worst defense we’ve seen against the tight end maybe ever. Being in Tier 1 by himself might not be enough.

Week 17 Tight End Rankings: Tier 2

Harold Fannin Jr - Harold Fannin Jr has bene the clear number one target for Shedeur Sanders ever since he took over. He was able to give us a fantasy relevant week last week against the Buffalo Bills, a team that we usually try to avoid at all costs. He deserves this ranking this week. 

Kyle Pitts - Harold Fannin passed his test against the Bills and Kyle Pitts passed his test with Drake London returning. It’s clear that Darnell Mooney is a distant third and it also seems if Drake London’s knee might not be 100%. So we’ll ride with Kyle Pitts one  more time here . His four straight excellent games has quietly proppelled him to TE2 on the season. 

Juwan Johnson - We’ve been higher than consensus on Juwan Johnson for pretty much the whole season but we probably should have ranked him even higher last week. He was already a great play with Devaughn Vele on IR and then Foster Moreau got hurt mid-game last week. On top of that, the Titans secondary has been RAVAGED with injuries. I mean, they were already starting rookie safety Kevin Winston Jr out of position at nickel corner and then he too was lost for the year. This is a good spot for Juwan. 

Week 17 Tight End Rankings: Tier 3

Hunter Henry - Hunter Henry is one of those “old reliable” type tight ends. He’s not particularly fast so don’t bank on YAC. But he’s very good vs. man to man coverage and that generally translates well to the redzone where teams are in lockdown coverage. He had a down week against the Bills but virtually everyone does - his other games recently have been pretty good. It’s a great matchup with the Jets so we just have to hope the Jets push back. 

Colston Loveland - This ranking could change for the Sunday update if Luther Burden and/or Rome Odunze are active. But as of now, they are looking like they could miss again. I know Colston Loveland didn’t deliver in the box score but he had the fourth highest route participation of any tight end last week and the highest he’s had all year Back in Week 9, when he had his second highest route participation, he caught 6 of 7 for 118 yards and 2 TDs. Football is a small sample size game so having a down week last week in a weird game script should not deter us from chases the upside present here.

Tyler Warren - You need to have a little holiday faith for this one. Because Tyler Warren has not delivered since Philip Rivers took over. But he’s been close. He’s gotten 15 targets over the last two games and he’s gotten at least six targets in six of the last seven games. Rivers is getting the ball out in 2.41 seconds on average which is by far the quickest of any QB in the league which plays right into his style. And the matchup is good. 

Dalton Schultz - Schultz isn’t a super sexy play. And he’s not immune from down weeks. But he and Nico Collins routinely lead this team in routes run. Jayden Higgins never really graduated to an every down player while Xavier Hutchinson and Christian Kirk rotate. The matchup isn’t great here vs. Derwin James and the Chargers zone but Schultz is fairly safe at an uncertain position.  

Jake Ferguson - Much like Hunter Henry and Dalton Schultz, Ferguson isn’t particularly athletic. His 4.81 40 is a big reason why his YAC isn’t particularly impressive. Unlike Schultz/Henry, he doesn’t really have a path to being a top two target on his team in most weeks without a WR injury. But what he does have here is a matchup with Washington and Bobby Wagner, who has struggled covering tight ends this year. If they go with man coverage in the red area, Ferg has a good shot to find paydirt. 

Week 17 Tight End Rankings: Tier 4

George Kittle - Kyle Shanahan said that George Kittle “has a chance” to play on Sunday. Unfortunately, they play on Sunday Night Football. This ranking reflects the players I would just play ahead of him if we don’t have a definitive answer. If you have Colston Loveland, that puts you in a good position to wait and see. Otherwise you’d have to be okay starting either Jake Tonges or the Rams tight ends. Tonges would likely end up right at the bottom of this tier but I do like him more than the Rams options.

AJ Barner - The problem for Barner all year was the rotation with Elijah Arroyo. But Arroyo is on IR after hurting his knee and the usage for Barner has been better lately. This past week he played 94% of the snaps and ran 87% of the routes. He’s also gotten 6 targets in back to back weeks. So we have him ranked the highest we’ve had him all year.

Brenton Strange - This is a good matchup. Strange is a good player. His QB is playing well. That makes Strange a reasonable option. The problem is that Parker Washington is back to go alongside Brian Thomas Jr and Jakobi Meyers. If those guys got a bunch of looks and Strange only got a few, would we blame the Jags? I might move Strange up a couple spots for the Sunday update is Sauce Gardner plays as that could push things inside. 

Dallas Goedert - This is a terrible matchup that we try to avoid. Goedert also hasn’t done much vs. man coverage and he doesn’t really get endzone targets - his TDs have been on gadgety plays like shovel passes. But those have been working so maybe he can sneak a TD like Harold Fannin Jr did against the Bills last week. I wouldn’t expect big yardage totals. I feel like many folks are ranking Goedert high or starting him because “that’s what you’re supposed to do”. But I’d rather not use him vs. Buffalo.

Week 17 Tight End Rankings: Tier 5

Travis Kelce  - This tier makes me sad. Because these guys are no longer easy to trust. With this play you have to just hope Chris Oladokun understands that this is very likely Travis Kelce’s last game ever in Arrowhead Stadium. If folks don’t want to lean into that narrative I completely understand. 

Mark Andrews - The hypothetical upside for Andrews is always there. The Ravens believe it as they gave him a ton of money. He just hasn’t delivered lately. Going up against Xavier McKinney and Quay Walker can also be challenging.

Week 17 Tight End Rankings: Tier 6

Taysom Hill  - My stance on Taysom Hill has always been the same. Only you can make this decision for yourself. He’s not like any other tight end for obvious reasons. The floor is uniquely low and the ceiling is uniquely high. I will say that Foster Moreau and the running backs being hurt has me ranking Hill higher than I’ve ranked him since Week 7 of 2023. But the call is yours to make.

Week 17 Tight End Rankings: Tier 6

These tiers are kind of a “choose your own adventure” bunch. You could bet on Dalton Kincaid maybe miraculously recovering from this knee issue. Flip a coin on a Rams or Titans tight end.. Lean into John Fitzpatrick being out with Luke Musgrave. Or pick a Steelers tight end with DK Metcalf suspended. The fact that I have Taysom Hill ahead tells you everything you need to know.