I’ve mentioned this on multiple shows as well in the write-ups of these articles but I wanted to take a second to make this one clear up front. I’ve been researching tight end DFS data for a long time and one trend has become clear enough that it should be a “rule of thumb”: pay up for tight ends on FanDuel, pay down on DraftKings and Yahoo. Week in and week out, the elite tight ends are a higher percentage of your budget on DK and Yahoo than they typically are on FanDuel. Conversely, FanDuel gives us no discounts on the cheap guys - they are often 2% of your budget higher than the cheap guys. We always give you pricing and platform recommendations but just wanted to lay that out once and for all. Now, let’s get to NFL Week 6 top DFS picks at tight end!

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As a reminder, here is how we separate the groups here.  We do it this way so that you have an option no matter how much (or how little) money you have available to spend on tight end.

Top Tier:  the safest and most expensive guys available if you want to pay up

Mid Tier: affordable players that offer the best bang for your buck

Value Tier: the bargain bin players that are risky by nature but can have the huge upside in terms of value created

Fades: The guys we feel are the worst value proposition that you should actively avoid

NFL DFS Week 6 TE Top-Tier Picks

T.J. Hockenson, Minnesota Vikings

T.J. Hockenson has been pretty solid and now he gets the Bears defense in a game when Justin Jefferson is out. The Bears defense has been one of the worst in the league vs. passing in general and that includes the tight end position where they rank 25th so far this year. There are a couple of caveats here though. Hock should be a solid start regardless but the Bears have really been bad against the tight end because safety Eddie Jackson has been out. He got a limited practice in so it’s not as much of a slam dunk if he plays. Also, keep an eye on the wind here. If it’s over 20 miles per hour as some suggest it could be, then it could be tough to pass and we might want to pivot to our other elite option.  Hock is 13.2% of your budget on Draftkings while he’s 11.5% on Yahoo and 11.2% on FanDuel.

Sam LaPorta, Detroit Lions

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Sam LaPorta has been rock solid and that was with Amon-Ra St. Brown at full strength so there’s no reason to go away from him now. Definitely not until they juice his price and treat him as the truly elite option he’s been. One of the most underrated aspects of the tight end position is success vs. man-to-man coverage because that’s what translates best to red zone success where everyone goes to lock down one vs. one coverage. Among tight ends, LaPorta has the highest catch rate vs. man-to-man, he has the most contested catches, and he’s second in man-to-man targets and receptions. On FanDuel they actually do have him priced at 11.3% of your budget which is slightly higher than Hock so maybe use Hock there but on DK he’s 11.2% and on Yahoo he’s 10%.

 

Edit: It was reported that Sam LaPorta missed Thursday's practice with a calf issue. If he isn't a FULL participant on Friday, he could be dicey. They pay up pivot would be Hock or maybe Dallas Goedert but we suggest using Logan Thomas in that event and spending the money elsehwere.

NFL DFS Week 6 TE Mid-Tier Picks

Zach Ertz, Arizona Cardinals

Zach Ertz was our play in this spot last week and he delivered on that. This week his matchup is even better, facing a Rams team that has been bottom three against the tight end. Dallas Goedert has had a brutal season thus far but dropped a stat line of 8 receptions on 9 targets for 117 and a touchdown against this defense last week. Per usual, Ertz is more of a cash game play because, at this stage of his career, he’s not really one to have massive blow-up games but he does have two double-digit target games on his stat sheet through five weeks. He’s ~7% of your budget on DraftKings and Yahoo but 9% on FanDuel. 

Logan Thomas, Washington Commanders

The pricing for Logan Thomas this week is honestly baffling. When healthy, his usage in terms of route participation, routes run from the WR spot, target share, pass block % etc. is in line with the elite tight ends. Eric Bienemy and Ron Rivera LOVE the tight end. And, Logan Thomas leads the team in targets per game with 6.25. And that includes a game where he got a concussion and missed half of it. The Falcons are a bottom two team against the tight end this year so it’s another smash spot for our boy. Yet he’s the 14th most expensive tight end on the main slate, a slate that doesn’t include Travis Kelce, Mark Andrews, or Darren Waller. He’s the play of the week for me and he’s affordable on all platforms so get him in there.

 

NFL DFS Week 6 TE Value-Tier Picks

Cade Otton, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

This is not the sexiest play by any means. But we are talking about cheap options that have an okay floor where they could score a touchdown. Or two. Cade Otton quietly has a 82.3% route participation which is actually 7th among tight ends. He plays a full snap share but does block on some pass plays at time or that would be even higher. He has a plus matchup this week against a Detroit Lions team that ranks 30th against the position and, on top of that Mike Evans has been banged up. As of today, he has yet to log a full practice. If Evans is actually OUT, Otton is an obvious smash but it’s almost sneakier to play him if Evans does play. He’s ~6.5% of your budget on DK and Yahoo. As always, FanDuel doesn’t give us a much of a discount. 

Kylen Granson, Indianapolis Colts

It’s not a 100% ideal situation with Kylen Granson because they do rotate the tight ends. Drew Ogletree even got the start last week and technically played more snaps. But the split is not equal. Granson still led the tight end group in routes run which is what we care about. And Ogletree picked up a lot fo his snaps from the other blocking tight end, Mo Alie-Cox, who got hurt in the last game. Ganson is averaging 4.4 targets a game on the year which you really aren’t going to find for players in this price range. Minshew also barely missed him on a touchdown last week and, in Week 2, Minshew connected with him for a score. The Jags are ranked 23rd vs. the TE and Minshew is starting again so this isn’t a bad dirt cheap play. At $2,600 on DK, $11 on Yahoo, and $4,600 on FanDuel, it doesn’t get a whole lot lower.

NFL DFS Week 6 TE Fades

Dalton Schultz, Houston Texans

This one is going to be a trap play for some folks because they are going to see that Tank Dell is out, see the fantasy production the last two weeks, and think Schultz is a smash here. But they are missing two key realities. One is that Schultz has not been a full time player. In the last two games he’s played 49% and 49% of the snaps. The other is that the Saints are arguably the worst matchup for tight ends. Demario Davis and Tyrann Mathieu are a real problem. So I’d avoid this one.

Tyler Higbee, Los Angeles Rams

Unless the price for Tyler Higbee dramatically drops moving forward, he’s going to be a difficult start. Folks will look at this game log and his 11-target game and think “why not this week?” Well, the answer is that they now have Cooper Kupp back to pair with their other Cooper Kupp, Puka Nacua. That and the fact that the Cardinals under this new regime aren’t the walk-in-the-park they used to be for tight ends should have you off Higbee this week.