Week 14 Tight End Rankings - Standard Leagues

Playoffs are upon us, ladies and gents! Most situations are pretty clear, except for the health of Jordan Reed (separated shoulder). According to the Washington Post, Reed hopes ‘adrenaline’ helps him get through Sunday’s game at Philadelphia. That doesn’t sound too promising for an oft-injured player. My outlook for Reed’s ceiling is bearish considering his injury, the resurgence of Vernon Davis, and the vulnerability of the Philadelphia cornerbacks on the outside. Kirk Cousins could easily attack this defense with DeSean Jackson and Jamison Crowder. For my part, Reed is a TE2 only, a ranking based mostly on his skills and the fracturing nature of this Eagles team.

I was initially skeptical about Cameron Brate this week, who generally needs a score to be worth a roster spot. However, the depleted nature of the Tampa Bay receiving corps has tipped the scales into Brate’s favor. He is easily a Top 10 option with an expected bump in volume this week. He and Mike Evans should be showered with targets in this potentially high-scoring affair against the New Orleans Saints. I am all-in on Brate this week.

There are few sure things at this position, especially now with Rob Gronkowski lost for the season and Greg Olsen seemingly fading in the second half. Last week’s huge game by Dwayne Allen (three touchdowns) reminded me to consider touchdown equity a tad bit more when deciding between players in the same tier. In those situations, I especially prefer tight ends who are tied to quality signal-callers. Dwayne Allen certainly fits that bill.

Note: Travis Kelce is not in these rankings as he already played in the Thursday Night Game. Good luck, ladies and gents.

1 Tyler Eifert

2 Jimmy Graham

3 Cameron Brate

4 Delanie Walker

The first tier ends here, because Olsen has been horrible and does not deserve to be in the first tier of anything at this juncture. Delanie Walker sneaks into this tier due to the dominance of the Denver cornerbacks—where else will Marcus Mariota look to besides Walker and his running backs?

5 Greg Olsen

6 Antonio Gates

7 Zach Ertz

8 Eric Ebron

9 Jason Witten

10 Ladarius Green

11 C.J. Fiedorowicz

12 Coby Fleener

Jason Witten slays the New York Giants, but for some reason his consensus ranking on FantasyPros is TE15. Since the G-Men’s cornerbacks have been solid this season and funneled action to opposing tight ends, I see no reason why Witten won’t exploit this matchup.

Fleener’s outlook improves due to the road game (where we generally fade Brandin Cooks) and the injury to Michael Thomas. Fleener is officially flex-worthy for your first-round playoff matchups.

13 Kyle Rudolph

14 Dennis Pitta

15 Gary Barnidge

16 Hunter Henry

17 Vance McDonald

I don’t want Reed in a tier with these healthy options. It just feels wrong. The narrative in this tier is that Vance McDonald just got paid like a starting tight end...so maybe the 49ers will get him more than four targets this week. We shall see.

18 Jordan Reed

19 Lance Kendricks

20 Vernon Davis

21 Martellus Bennett

22 Jermaine Gresham

23 Dwayne Allen

24 Austin Hooper

I truly dislike these options. Tight end is such a crapshoot. Kendricks has the best matchup, but can Jared Goff get him the ball? Will Martellus ever give us a healthy-looking stat-line again? How much will Jordan Reed actually play? I would like Vernon Davis much more against a crumbling Eagles unit if Reed were out.

25 Jared Cook

26 Will Tye

27 Daniel Brown

28 Trey Burton

29 Ryan Griffin

30 Jack Doyle

And that’s it! As always, feel free to share in the comments section. Good luck in those playoff matchups and in those DFS lineups. The clock is officially ticking on the NFL season, so let’s all enjoy it while we can.