Week 5 TE Rankings - Standard Leagues

Already past the quarter pole of the season? What is happening to my life? It continues to speed by faster each day. Many of you certainly feel the same, so let's save you some time with some tight end news and rankings for Week 5.

Rob Gronkowski returns, so Rob Gronkowski is your best option. This is applies across the board, either in NFL DFS or in your seasonal leagues.

Travis Kelce allegedly has a tough matchup against the Bears, who only allow about 40 yards per game to the tight end position. However, Jimmy Graham caught seven of eight targets for 83 yards and a touchdown against Chicago in Week 3. Richard Rodgers, Jermaine Gresham, and Mychal Rivera are the other tight ends Chicago has "defended." You do your own math on that one, but I see no reason to remove Kelce from elite status this week.

Owen Daniels draws the Raiders, which makes him a legitimate top 10 option. Through the first four weeks of the season every tight end to face Oakland has finished 4th or better in the tight end ranks for that week, including luminaries such as Crockett Gillmore and Gary Barnidge. Top 10 seems like a certainty for Daniels given the copycat tendencies of the NFL, the savvy of Peyton Manning, and the lack of a running game in Denver. If the Raiders are so easy to attack with tight ends, why alter the approach?

Antonio Gates returns from suspension and Philip Rivers is coming off his best game of the season. Gates is firmly in my top 10 each week until he proves to me he does not belong. I sold him short last season and got burned repeatedly. He is still a reliable target for Rivers. He will get his opportunities.

Dwayne Allen is another guy who shakes things up this week, as he is probable to play on Thursday. If you enjoyed Coby Fleener these last two weeks, it is time to say goodbye. This timeshare will make all the tight end production from this offense completely unpredictable.

It does not sound promising for Crockett Gillmore to return this week, but he is worth checking in on closer to Sunday as he has a cheese matchup with the Browns, who give up the 8th most fantasy points to tight ends. If Gillmore doesn't go, Maxx Williams or Nick Boyle will take on some low, low, low TE2 appeal.

Finally, Jordan Reed has another head injury and is in the NFL's concussion protocol. With no other reliable pass-catching tight end on the team, be ready to fire up the pass-catching waiver-wire play of the week, Chris Thompson.