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There will be no crying about how we are already halfway home, not in this space. There may be crying about how poorly some of my seasonal leagues are faring, though. Give me all your sob stories in the comments...for instance, how many of you were torn on Mariota vs. Mahomes this offseason? For my part, my best ball leagues are littered with too much Mariota as a result of my leaning that way—and now my teams may as well be actual litter. Ugh.
Anyway, luckily every week is new, and we have DFS to keep us hopeful. These ranks are imagined with standard scoring settings in mind—think FanDuel, not DraftKings. Let’s hop to it. Give me your queries or your disagreements in the comments. Good luck in Week 8, ladies and gents! May your 2-5 teams enjoy the inevitable upswing (unless you drafted too much Trubisky).
Week 8 TE Rankings
| RANK | PLAYER | OPPONENT | NOTES |
|---|---|---|---|
| RANK | PLAYER | OPPONENT | NOTES |
| 1 | Travis Kelce | vs. DEN | He and Ertz are the target-monsters, but Kelce has the superior matchup. |
| 2 | Zach Ertz | @ JAC | He has 81 targets already, 17 more than Kelce (who ranks second). Volume > matchup, IMO. |
| 3 | Trey Burton | vs. NYJ | He had a legitimate breakout last week (9-126-1) and has TDs in 4 of his last 5 games. |
| 4 | George Kittle | @ ARI | An elite option, averaging 75.3 yards per game. |
| 5 | David Njoku | @ PIT | I could see ranking him as high as the No. 3 guy given his M/U, but recent injury gives me slight pause. |
| 6 | O.J. Howard | @ CIN | Great matchup with the Bengals, and Howard is getting the volume (9 targets last week). |
| 7 | Jared Cook | vs. IND | No more Amari Cooper means Cook leads OAK in targets (41). He also paces the team with 12 RZ looks. |
| 8 | Rob Gronkowski | @ BUF | Okay, I'll take a hurt Gronk over the rest of the bunch. |
| 9 | C.J. Uzomah | vs. TB | He is a safe TE1 against the Bucs, who are the softest defense against enemy tight ends. |
| 10 | Jimmy Graham | @ LAR | Inefficient and still only one score so far this year. But A-Rod is still his QB and the TE position is trash. |
| 11 | Evan Engram | vs. WAS | He and Graham are similar--both inefficient players a year ago. But Graham has the superior QB. |
| 12 | Kyle Rudolph | vs. NO | I prefer Rudolph in what could be a high scoring game...he seems better than the rest of the bunch. |
| 13 | Greg Olsen | vs. BAL | The Panthers return home after an epic win, and the Ravens are vulnerable to TEs. |
| 14 | Eric Ebron | @ OAK | T.Y. Hilton scored on a pair of RZ looks last week, but Ebron is still the best bet for paydirt--even with Doyle back. |
| 15 | Jordan Reed | @ NYG | This is a tough matchup, but sooner or later Alex Smith is going to get rolling with regard to TD passes. |
| 16 | Benjamin Watson | @ MIN | Could be a shootout if the Saints can keep pace, and Watson got rolling last week (6-43-1). |
| 17 | Vance McDonald | vs. CLE | He is running more routes than teammate Jesse James and this is a middling matchup for tight ends. |
| 18 | Chris Herndon IV | @ CHI | Has scored a TD in two straight weeks, and had 7 targets for a thin Jets receiving group last week. |
| 19 | Jack Doyle | @ OAK | I have Herndon and Doyle in one league, and right now I'm leaning Herndon until I see more positive reports. |
| 20 | Cameron Brate | @ CIN | I prefer his scoring upside over a guy like Ricky Seals-Jones, who has a terribly low floor each week. |