Fantasy Football Week 9 Tight End Rankings: Brock Bowers, George Kittle

So a funny thing happened. This year, to maybe streamline my workload a bit, I decided that I would simply post my weekly fantasy football tight end ranking to social media like Twitter, BlueSky, Reddit, etc. I figured that is all folks wanted anyway. But, as it turns out, folks apparently DO want to know what goes into the rankings process. So I ended up answering so many questions and comments each week that I was actually writing MORE than I would just doing it as an article. 

So guess what, folks? The article is back!

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 other questions you have for this week. But now you have all my thoughts below in advance, so hopefully that will make both of our lives easier. If you want to make your life MUCH easier, all of my fantasy football rankings for every position and every scoring format are available to Fantasy Alarm Members. Use promo code WIN to get 50% off your first month if you aren’t set up yet! 

These rankings are just tight end for Week 9 for half PPR. I will update this article again on Sunday at noon after the inactives have come out, so make sure you circle back then before finalizing your lineups. 

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

Week 9 TE Rankings - Tier 1

• Brock Bowers and Trey McBride - these guys are first or second in virtually every stat we look at, from the usage stats like snap rate, route participation, WR snaps, pass blocking to the production metrics like target share, first-read target share, endzone targets, you name it. Bowers has the edge in aDot, but McBride gets more screens. In a vacuum, we’d probably give the slight nod to Bowers, but football isn’t played in a vacuum, so who is ranked ahead on a weekly basis is matchup-based- and that is Bowers this week. 
• George Kittle - Speaking of matchups, because Bowers and McBride don’t have particularly great matchups while George Kittle does, he finds himself in Tier 1 this week. If folks wanted to rank Kittle as high as TE1, we wouldn’t argue. 

Week 9 TE Rankings - Tier 2

• Colston Loveland - Colston Loveland got off to a slow start production-wise. But his deployment was always pretty solid in terms of snap share, route participation, etc. We’d like to see him play more WR snaps, but with Cole Kmet out, he’s got a bigger role in general to handle. His QB is great, he’s tied for TE2 in endzone targets, and he has 28 targets over the last three games, so he’s a guy you are probably just putting in there. 
• Sam LaPorta - With Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jahmyr Gibbs locked into steady targets, it was always going to be a battle between LaPorta and Jameson Williams for targets. Williams has been winning that battle lately, but the last two teams they faced, the Vikings and Packers, are two of the toughest TE matchups. Miami is one of the easiest, so we have faith in LaPorta, but if he faceplants again, we may need to really start panicking here. 
• Tyler Warren - Some folks are worried about Warren because the Colts are falling apart. But I have to remind those folks that the best two tight ends in fantasy have been playing for the Arizona Cardinals and Las Vegas Raiders the last couple of years. Good fantasy TEs can be on bad teams - you still have to play the game. Warren basically played the entire game last week until garbage time, and he got 10 targets against a tough Jags D, so he should be a solid play vs. Dallas. 
• Harold Fannin - Harold Fannin will probably move down a couple spots if Deshaun Watson is indeed out. I know Shedeur Sanders targeted Fannin the most last year (48 targets for Fannin, 37 for Jerry Jeudy), but everyone liked Fannin last year. With KC Concepcion and Denzel Boston in town now and Sanders playing his first game of the year, it’s just too dicey to rank really high. Good matchup though, so you’re probably still starting him over streamers. This is where he would be ranked if Watson were starting, and I’ll update on Sunday as always. 
• Tucker Kraft - Kraft started slow off injury but has come back on lately. With no Jayden Reed, it’s not as big of a concern that Matthew Golden and Christian Watson have been peppered with targets, but that still isn’t ideal. This also isn’t a great matchup vs. New England, which is why Kraft finds himself towards the lower part of this tier. Still a guy you are likely starting, though, like everyone in this tier. 
• Isaiah Likely - One down game doesn’t usually bother us. But it does when it coincides with a QB change. The usage for Likely did not change in terms of snap share, WR routes, etc. - that was all great. But the fact that he had his worst game of the year with JJ McCarthy makes us a little nervous. If guys like Malachi Fields are more involved again here after the bye, we may need to adjust. If he gets like 7-8 targets again and it’s business as usual, he’ll go back to being ranked toward the top of their tier. 

Week 9 TE Rankings - Tier 3

• Kyle Pitts - In this range, we lean into upside. And Kyle Pitts offers just a little more of that than the rest of this group with his athleticism. Last week was a literal wash, but he was playing very well before that. We think he can bounce back here. 
• Travis Kelce - Travis Kelce was so great that even a diminished version of him is still really good. He no longer plays the entire game, but a 72% route participation is still pretty darn good. The big surprise here is that Kelce has had a big of a resurgence in the YAC department, though a couple long plays on some bad coverage have contributed to that. 
• T.J. Hockenson - T.J. Hockenson has been pretty involved even with the WRs back healthy. Josh Oliver suffering a torn pec really changed this from a TE rotation to a one-man show. And this Bills matchup isn’t as bad as it was back in the prime Matt Milano days. But if Kyler Murray is indeed out, Hock might move down these rankings when we update on Sunday, as Murray has been the quick-release, TE-heavy guy.

Week 9 TE Rankings - Tier 4

• Dalton Kincaid - You have some decisions to make in this tier. Dalton Kincaid has disappeared in a couple of tough matchups so far. And this isn’t a great one. But he also has more upside than a lot of this tier based on the offense he’s in and his deployment. If you wanted to stream any TE from this tier over Kincaid, you have the green light from me, but don’t drop Kincaid to do it. 
• Brenton Strange  - Brenton Strange has been pretty steady. Last week was his worst week in a while with only two targets, but he ripped off a 46-yard play on one of them to make up for it. He’s actually quietly been second on this team in targets and got 8, 8, and 7 in the three weeks prior to this. Baltimore is also not as bad of a matchup as you would think with Kyle Hamilton out there, so this is the kind of guy you might consider streaming over Kincaid if you want to be safe. 
• Greg Dulcich -  If you are looking for the high-risk, high-reward play from this tier, it’s this one. Though I don’t think he’s as risky as some might consider. He had the terrible game against Minnesota, but the Dolphins only ran 39 offensive plays, which is a super abnormal game script. In the other four of his last five games, he’s run over 70% of the routes and gotten 5+ targets in all of them. Now he gets Detroit possibly without Jack Campbell, Brian Branch, and Kerby Joseph? If all three of those guys are OUT this week, Dulcich might move to the top of this tier. 
• Dallas Goedert - We really don’t love starting guys in their first game with a new QB. The Giants also have a pretty good pass defense and rock-solid safeties. Goedert went from being a fairly safe play to a pretty risky one. 
• Chig Okonkwo - Okonkwo is at the bottom of this tier because we like the athleticism, we like the QB, we like his role in the offense, and we want to continue to roster him. But his matchup is terrible and, unlike some of these guys, the production hasn’t been high enough to really warrant starting him in a tough matchup. 

Week 9 TE Rankings - Tier 5

• Eli Raridon - You would think I would be wheels up here on Eli Raridon considering how much I talk about this guy. And when Hunter Henry got hurt last week, he did play 55 of 60 snaps. And the WRs are all hurt for New England. But these Packers safeties, with Evan Williams and Xavier McKinney deep with Javon Bullard pulling some nickel work, are no joke. If this were a better matchup, he’d be higher, but he just had a GREAT matchup last week and caught one pass. 
• Mike Gesicki - Mike Gesicki is playing more now that Erick All and Tanner Hudson are out. But his deployment still isn’t ideal - that’s why he has these games with 1-2 targets. Yes, he got 6 targets this week, but they threw 48 times, so that’s only a 12.5% target share. We just went through this with Tyler Higbee when the Rams threw 50 times in a couple of games. Chasing touchdowns is a dangerous game, but he’s there if you want to do that. 
• Michael Mayer - Michael Mayer is the tight end for the Raiders while Brock Bowers plays WR. And last week Bowers (36 routes) and Mayer (30) both ran more routes than the WRs. But is that really a great role for upside in fantasy, being the inline Dallas Goedert to Brock Bowers’s Zach Ertz? What is appealing about Mayer is that he can be spot-started while also having contingent upside if Bowers gets hurt. 
• Darren Waller - Super inconsistent usage and production. But he’s Darren Waller, so he can rip off big plays and score random touchdowns. So, of the junk pile, he’s a dart we might actually consider. 
• Terrance Ferguson - If Terrance Ferguson does play, he will probably go in this tier, perhaps even towards the top. We need to get a feel for exactly what his role might be, but you would expect some sort of rotation given they have done that all year. Still, he is best suited to play “big WR” of the bunch and, with Davante Adams out, there is upside to be had. 

Week 9 TE Rankings - Tier 6

• The Tier Six tight ends are basically a bunch of “starters” who don’t really offer much in terms of floor or upside. Juwan Johnson, Mark Andrews, and Mason Taylor are part of annoying rotations. Dalton Schultz, AJ Barner, Cade Otton, and Brevyn Spann-Ford play a lot of snaps but aren’t really giving you much upside with them. 

Week 9 TE Rankings - Tier 7

• These guys don’t really even start for their own team, and their roles are pretty loosely defined, but it’s the best of whatever is out there for two TE leagues or DFS dart throws.