Week 3 TE Rankings

Two weeks of the NFL season have now been completed, and injuries are depleting the players at some positions.  Luckily the TE position has been relatively unscathed, other than Jordan Reed.  Yesterday we covered the QB, RB, and WR positions, so now it is time to tackle the TE's.  Below are the top 32 TE's in order for week three, and some added commentary below on a few guys.  Now that we have some more game film we can trust more than the preseason, the rankings of players will start to fluctuate more on a week to week basis.  As the season continues to progress, the matchups will also start to play more of a factor in these rankings, as some defenses are better matchups than others.  Remember that this is a weekly game, so the great 3 TD effort of Gates can't carry over, and the yet again poor outing from Witten won't count towards this week.  Those performances are good to know as an indicator of what they can produce in the future, but it isn't an exact science.

Zach Ertz - He has moved up in my rankings each week so far this season.  I love what I have seen out of him so far, and he is truly a great fit for the Chip Kelly offense.  Each week he should be able to post a lot of yards for a TE, with a chance at a TD as well.  Brent Celek is only going to take value from him with cheap redzone TD's, but other than that it is all Ertz.

Antonio Gates - I wrote him off too early before the season, and see that was clearly a mistake.  Ladarius Green has been no threat to his playing time, and the only thing standing in Gates way of a top 10 season is his injury history.  While healthy though, he needs to be ranked near the top of the position.

Niles Paul - Didn't take long for the Redskins to find another WR type guy to line up at the TE position.  Paul has been great in the first two weeks of the season, and even with Kirk Cousins behind center now, he still targeted Paul a lot.  He looks like Zach Ertz when playing, and if he can continue to do what he has so far, they will be ranked near each other.

Charles Clay - Had seven catches last week, but only managed 31 yards.  I expect the receptions to stay the same, but his yardage output should start to resemble a normal yard per catch average.  Very good matchup this week against the Chiefs who have already allowed three TD's to opposing Tight Ends.

Larry Donnell - I mentioned last week that Donnell was a guy to monitor, since he was used effectively in week one.  He backed up that outing with another solid performance, and is becoming a favorite target of Eli.  He has now crept into deep league starting territory, and has the chance to be a 10 team league starter here soon.  If you own Cameron, or even Gates, I would be picking up Donnell as a solid backup, unless Niles Paul is out there.

Mychal Rivera - My guy to monitor this week is Mychal Rivera.  Both weeks this season he has had 31 receiving yards, but that is not the number I am going to focus on.  He had seven targets last week, and had five in week one.  With Derek Carr as the starter, he is looking towards his TE as a safety valve, which helps out Rivera's value.  If the yardage can start to increase, and he maybe gets in the endzone, he could find himself moving up farther in my ranks like Donnell last week.

Consult the chart below and play the guy who is rated higher.  Good luck and get that win this week!