Fantasy Football Week One Tight End Rankings: Brock Bowers, Trey McBride

Every position matters in fantasy football. But tight end is one that is near and dear to my heart. It’s the biggest mystery with the most moving parts. That can make it frustrating at times but those are the kinds of challenges we take pride in taking on. How do we balance talent, scheme, opportunity, and matchup to rank these magnificent beasts? We won’t always get it right - but damned if we aren’t going to give it the old college try.

So that’s what I’m sharing with you folks here - for free. My weekly tight end rankings with a couple of quick notes on each tier. If you want my season-long tight end rankings for the Yin & Yang tight end strategy, those are available here at the bottom of this article. 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!

Also, contrary to popular belief, I don’t just play in leagues that only have tight ends. So, if you want my rankings for every single position, for every single format, those are available to Fantasy Alarm Members here. These rankings below are based on half PPR, so if you want full PPR or standard tight end rankings, those are in there as well! And, if you use promo code COOP25, that gives you get an additional 25% off our membership when you sign up!

SUNDAY UPDATES

• Removed players who already playing: Dallas Goedert, Jake Ferguson, Travis Kelce, Tyler Conklin, Noah Gray
• Darren Waller is INACTIVE today. He has been removed. Julian Hill and/or Tanner Conner are not appealing enough for us to consider but maybe a DFS dart throw.
• Kyle Pitts gets slight boost with news of that Darnell Mooney is inactive today.
• Dalton Schultz gets a slight boost to with news that Christian Kirk is inactive today.
• Brenton Strange drops one spot based on reports of Travis Hunter potentially being a full time WR. 

Week One Tight End Rankings: Tier 1

Not much to say here - these three guys offer the highest combination of floor and ceiling. They were drafted as the top guys for a reason.

Week One Tight End Rankings: Tier 2

We might have some long-term concerns about T.J. Hockenson and the target distribution in Minnesota, but we have three games of a Jordan Addison suspension before we worry about that. Same with David Njoku - as long as Joe Flacco is the quarterback, Njoku should be a pretty solid option. And the Bengals were one of the worst teams vs. the TE last year. It’s down the stretch when the Browns typically open up the quarterback clown car that worries us. 

Week One Tight End Rankings: Tier 3

Sam LaPorta and Mark Andrews started last year banged up, but they seem healthy, which makes them decent options, especially in half PPR or standard in these high-powered offenses. Andrews should generally be a Tier 2 type guy as long as Isaiah Likely is out, but on the rare occasions when Matt Milano is actually healthy, he can be annoying for tight ends. It will be interesting to see if Evan Engram is in a full-time role or more of a part-time role, but he’ll be involved in some way, regardless, so we are willing to start him.

Week One Tight End Rankings: Tier 4

This tier of guys should be fairly reliable, even if the upside isn’t crazy. Even in a part-time role last year, Dalton Kincaid was on pace for 98 targets, so we are hoping this year he plays even more. Hunter Henry did get 97 targets last year and led his team - he could easily be top two with Stefon Diggs on an improved Patriots team with an easy early schedule. Tucker Kraft was only a 70 target guy last year, but we expect an uptick there, plus there has been talk of more high aDot routes for him. 

Week One Tight End Rankings: Tier 5

In this range, we are starting to get into the guys who are probably the third target on their team. The safer options are Dallas Goedert and Zach Ertz, while the higher risk, higher reward guys are Kyle Pitts and Tyler Warren.

Week One Tight End Rankings: Tier 6

Here we have a lot of the higher-risk guys. We don’t know what the snap or target shares will be like for guys like Jonnu Smith, Chig Okonkwo, Colston Loveland, or Ja’Tavion Sanders. But the upside is appealing. The difference between Loveland and Warren is that we at least know Warren is the full-time tight end, whereas Loveland could split snaps with Cole Kmet. Jake Ferguson in this range is your safe pick, though he’s a slower guy behind CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens, so not the most exciting play. 

Week One Tight End Rankings: Tier 7

With the exception of Mason Taylor, most of these guys are likely the third target on their team. The problem we run into with Taylor is that we don’t know if he will be used heavily to block as an inline tight end (perhaps with Stone Smartt as the pass-catching tight end) or whether he will be running a lot of routes and involved there. He was used as an inline blocker often in college, plus the Jets just lost Alijah Vera-Tucker. If Taylor does have a good pass-catching role, he can move up these rankings pretty quickly moving forward. Guys like Elijah Arroyo and Darren Waller should be in a fairly consolidated target tree, but neither played NFL football last year, which carries some risk.

Week One Tight End Rankings: Tier 8

In this range, you have guys who do a little too much blocking for our liking, especially on pass downs. Theo Johnson, Pat Freiermuth, and Tyler Conklin could move up in the future if they are more involved in the pass game than we expect.