I’m not going to lie to you folks, the tight end landscape is a complete mess right now. The decisions are TOUGH if you are still in fantasy playoffs. Quarterbacks are getting hurt and benched. The guys we typically rely on are either dealing with that in many cases or are dealing with matchup issues. Cats and dogs, living together. Mass hysteria.

Luckily for us, when it comes to DFS, we aren’t constrained by rosters or waivers. We can pick and choose our spots. And, unlike redraft leagues, we don’t really care about floor. We just care about upside. That gives us the freedom to shoot the moon, especially for GPPs. So let’s aim for the sky. 

 

 

 

NFL DFS TE Top Tier Picks For Week 16

Trey McBride, Arizona Cardinals - DraftKings: $5,400 | FanDuel: $6,500

I sincerely apologize to Trey McBride. I had him in the Fades section last week for the first time all year. I thought that going up against the brutal pass defense of the Houston Texans would be a major problem for McBride. It wasn’t. Not at all. He’s the leader in virtually every statistic for tight ends and is en route to a top-five all-time season. If you can afford him, he’s virtually always been worth it. 

Kyle Pitts, Atlanta Falcons - DraftKings: $4,900 | FanDuel: $6,200

The return of Drake London will likely scare some folks off Kyle Pitts this week. And that is just fine with us. As we know exactly What Makes An Elite Tight End from years and years of research. And the most important factor has always been being a top two target on the team, not just the top target. The greatest all-time tight end season in fantasy was Rob Gronkowski in a year that Wes Welker got 172 targets, after all.

So we’ll ride the hot hand with Pitts here. The Cardinals have a unique mix of bad defense and good enough offense that leads teams to face them to score 40 points virtually every week. I think both Drake London and Kyle Pitts can eat here with Darnell Mooney being the third fiddle. He hasn’t done much at all, even with London out anyway. 

 

 


 

NFL DFS TE Mid-Tier Picks For Week 16

Travis Kelce, Kansas City Chiefs - DraftKings: $3,900 | FanDuel: $5,300

Patrick Mahomes is done for the season. Everyone knows that. But guess what? You still have to play the games. Whether Travis Kelce plans to retire or not is irrelevant. In fact, if he does plan to retire, he probably wants to do a little more stat padding while he has his last chance here. And Gardner Minshew is no slouch in terms of backup QBs.

Not to mention, the Tennessee Titans' defense has had a really weird run out in the secondary this year that has left them super thin. They traded Roger McCreary and Jarvis Brownlee. They released Quandre Diggs. They lost L’Jarius Sneed to injury. They’ve also been without Jalyn Armour-Davis. Recently, they’ve been actually starting safeties at corner, like rookie Kevin Winston Jr at nickel. This past week, they were ravaged by injuries once again, with safeties Xavier Woods, Mike Brown, and Kevin Winston Jr all going to season-ending IR. They literally have to cobble together a secondary

Juwan Johnson, New Orleans Saints - DraftKings: $4,000 | FanDuel: $5,700

If you are looking for a cash game option that skews a little more “reliable with a hint of upside”, Juwan Johnson fits the bill. He’s offered a rock-solid floor with at least four catches in five straight and in seven of his last eight. In fact, besides the three-game stretch after he hurt his knee against Buffalo, he’s been pretty consistent most of the year. I’m a little surprised at how low he consistently is in the consensus rankings week to week.

Not only does he offer consistency, but this week he gets a premium matchup with the New York Jets. We like him better on DraftKings as that’s a full PPR format, but he can be used on either. Any player getting his kind of volume could pop off for a couple of touchdowns in any given week if things break right. 

 

 

 

NFL DFS TE Value Picks For Week 16

Darren Waller, Miami Dolphins - DraftKings: $3,500 | FanDuel: $5,200

Folks will be scared off with the switch to Quinn Ewers. And that’s because it is kind of scary - for your fantasy football playoffs. But we really don’t care so much about the floor when it comes to DFS. Our top priority has always been upside. The upside for Darren Waller this week was always TE1 overall. And, even though the floor is now lower, the upside remains the same.

The fact of the matter is that the Bengals are the stone-worst team against the tight end that we’ve seen in the modern era. Everyone knows it, and they can’t stop it. Waller came out last week and put on another one of his Waller-like performances, catching 7 of 8 for 66 and 2 touchdowns. How many other tight ends are doing that ever? Sure, Ewers could faceplant. But he could come out like Shedeur Sanders did with Harold Fannin and just pepper Waller with targets. And we’ll take a stab at that at his insane price in DFS. 

Evan Engram, Jacksonville Jaguars - DraftKings: $2,700 | FanDuel: $4,800

For the most part, Evan Engram has been disappointing. He’s definitely not a guy we can rely on in redraft. But the Broncos have actually chosen a couple of key spots this year to lean on Engram. And that’s typically when it’s a good matchup for a “big slot” tight end.

The most heavily targeted games for Engram have come against teams that struggle against the tight end. His most heavily targeted games came against the Bengals, Jets, and Giants early on. Recently, against the Commanders with Bobby Wagner on the back end of his career, he got nine targets, catching six for 79. Not only are the Jaguars one of the worst teams against the tight end this year, but we also have the revenge game narrative working in Engram’s favor. The only game this year where he technically “started” was against his other former team, the New York Giants. And in that game, he got 8 targets. 

 

 

 

NFL DFS TE Fades For Week 16

Brock Bowers, Las Vegas Raiders - DraftKings: $5,900 | FanDuel: $7,400

We faded Brock Bowers last week against the Eagles. And Kenny Pickett threw for 64 yards, with only 28 going to Bowers. And they got completely shut out. Now they play the league’s best defense. Trey McBride was able to make things happen in garbage time, but at least Jacoby Brissett has been delivering fantasy goodness even in weird spots. We can’t trust Pickett to do the same. 

Harold Fannin, Cleveland Browns - DraftKings: $7,400 | FanDuel: $8,000

Harold Fannin has been the go-to guy for Shedeur Sanders and a guy we have featured heavily in these articles. But we really, really do not like running tight ends up against the Buffalo Bills. As we just mentioned, there are three teams that are really just a no-fly zone for us in DFS, where we can use anyone we want. He’s still a start in redraft based on projected target volume alone, but we aren’t going to pay the price in DFS.