Week 11 Tight End Rankings - Standard Leagues

Welcome to Week 11, and the year of the quickest season ever. The major news item this week is the absence of Rob Gronkowski, who has now missed two straight days of practice. It seems highly unlikely that Gronk suits up this weekend, which means Martellus Bennett is a big mover. Let’s get into the rest of it...as always, I would love some dissension or additional comments below. Let’s make each other better!

1 Jordan Reed

2 Greg Olsen

3 Delanie Walker

4 Martellus Bennett

5 Tyler Eifert

We are splitting hairs this week with Reed and Olsen. Both have quality quarterbacks feeding them the ball and both have excellent matchups. Delanie and Martellus have similar situations to take advantage of as well. Two weeks ago a lot of the stud tight ends had great matchups but underwhelmed. Maybe this week things go the way we plan...maybe.

I am not going overboard with Martellus Bennett this week. Sure, he’s an easy TE1 play, but this is still a spread-the-wealth offense and Bennett will likely incur more blocking duties if Gronk remains out. Don’t believe me? Hop on over to Twitter and run a search for “Martellus Bennett block” and see what pops up. The dude is a monster. Sure, he’ll get his catches and be a major threat to score, but I can’t immediately anoint him as the top play at the position. He’s close, but I’m not pushing it that far.

6 Julius Thomas

7 Zach Miller

8 Eric Ebron

9 Jimmy Graham

Julius Thomas was one of only two tight ends to see double-digit targets in Week 10 (the other was Delanie). Thomas posted a 6-24-1 line on 10 targets, against a Houston defense that has very much limited opposing tight ends all season. This week, Thomas gets the Holy Grail of tight end matchups against the Detroit Lions (who have allowed nine touchdowns to opposing tight ends this season). Thomas is an excellent bet for a score this weekend. Don’t leave the big tight end off of your Bortles stacks.

Jay Cutler has to throw to someone following the suspension of Alshon Jeffery. He has shown no affinity for Cam Meredith just yet, so my money is on Miller and Eddie Royal to produce. Only time will tell. The matchup against the Giants is certainly appealing.

10 C.J. Fiedorowicz

11 Travis Kelce

12 Cameron Brate

13 Zach Ertz

14 Kyle Rudolph

This middle tier is starting to get a bit dicey. Two Houston tight ends not named C.J. Fiedorowicz scored a touchdown in Week 10, but my money is on “Fedora” to continue to produce in this offense instead of Ryan Griffin and Stephen Anderson. The rest of this tier all have uninspiring matchups, but carry enough of a floor to still remain close to TE1 commodities.

15 Jason Witten

16 Dennis Pitta

17 Ladarius Green

18 Coby Fleener

19 Will Tye

20 Jack Doyle

Fleener has been terrible this season, but the last time he faced these Panthers he lit up the scoreboard with a 6-74-2 line, and also tacked on a rushing touchdown. It was an epic performance that will almost certainly not be reprised—however, at such a thin position, that sort of upside warrants some consideration.

Will Tye had his best game of the season last week with Victor Cruz out of the lineup. Unfortunately, Cruz was a full participant in practice today (Thursday) but Tye still carries TE2 appeal in this Giants offense.

21 Vernon Davis

22 Gary Barnidge

23 Dwayne Allen

24 Lance Kendricks

Vernon Davis was a surprise addition as the fourth-best option of Week 10 on only three targets (3-66-1). Without the touchdown he still would have finished as the TE16, which is a massive indictment of the state of this sorry position. Davis has some standalone TE2 value this year and is widely available (only 9% owned in Yahoo). He and the Redskins face the Packers at home this weekend, which means Jordan Reed and Vernon Davis are both in play (Davis obviously to a much lesser extent than Reed). Still, the time to make a speculative add is now, before Davis posts another good game. Davis makes for a great stash with the oft-injured Reed ahead of him.

25 Charles Clay

26 Vance McDonald

27 Jesse James

28 Richard Rodgers

29 Ryan Griffin

30 Clive Walford

Giants tight ends combined for 11 targets against the Bengals in Week 10 and amassed a combined 8-71-1 line. Perhaps Charles Clay can carve out some value this week against Cincinnati. That’s scraping the bottom of the proverbial barrel, though. I would not be in love with trusting any name below Clay as a TE2 this week, but I always rank through 30 players, so there ya go.

Good luck in Week 11 and may the stat corrections be ever in your favor.