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Welcome to Week 13! Land of no more bye weeks. Land of a healthy Rob Gronkowski. Land of backup quarterbacks. Yada, yada, yada. Here’s to you guys for making it to the end of the regular season (in most leagues). Hopefully your season-long tilts went far better than my own.
As always, find me on the Twitter machine at @HeathCapps or drop me a line at heathcapps19 at gmail dot com if you have questions or comments. Peace!
Week 13 Tight Ends
| RANK | PLAYER | OPPONENT | NOTES |
|---|---|---|---|
| RANK | PLAYER | OPPONENT | NOTES |
| 1 | Travis Kelce | @ OAK | The Raiders allow the 8th most points to tight ends. The only "fear" here is game script if it gets out of hand early. |
| 2 | Zach Ertz | vs. WAS | Ertz is a volume-monster. There's no way I'm letting a tough matchup deter me from playing him. |
| 3 | Rob Gronkowski | vs. MIN | Fun fact: Gronk has a higher average depth of target this year (13.4) than any TE on this list. Back to being an elite option. |
| 4 | George Kittle | @ SEA | The three guys ahead of him have slightly better QBs...the quality of all these targets matters, okay? |
| 5 | Greg Olsen | @ TB | We are all the way down to the fifth tight end, and it's the dependable Olsen in a great matchup? TE isn't horrible anymore! |
| 6 | Eric Ebron | @ JAC | With Doyle out for the season, Ebron will now receive volume AND red area love? Amen. Be sure to check on his back injury. |
| 7 | Cameron Brate | vs CAR | As bad as Carolina has been vs. TEs, plus the absence of OJ Howard...Brate is an extremely solid play this week. |
| 8 | David Njoku | @ HOU | The Browns are featuring Landry less in recent games, and that's good for Njoku. |
| 9 | Jared Cook | vs KC | He's the best weapon in Oakland, and no one confuses the Chiefs D/ST with the '85 Bears. |
| 10 | Austin Hooper | vs BAL | Baltimore is pretty average against tight ends, and I trust Matty Ice more than the next guy's QB... |
| 11 | Jordan Reed | @ PHI | A backup QB throwing him the rock and a rough defense against TEs (4th fewest fake points allowed). Low ceiling. |
| 12 | Kyle Rudolph | @ NE | Offically in WTH territory. Signs of life last week, and his outlook improves even more if Diggs misses practice Thurs/Fri. |
| 13 | Trey Burton | @ NYG | A middling matchup, a backup QB, and a tight end who doesn't see a ton of volume. Low floor. High ceiling, though. |
| 14 | Vance McDonald | vs LAC | He's a candidate to move up this list if we see some healthy practices this week (he missed Wednesday). |
| 15 | Chris Herndon | @ TEN | A brutal matchup (Titans allow the fewest points to TEs) but Herndon is the guy in New York (really). |
| 16 | C.J. Uzomah | vs DEN | He's seeing a lot of volume from backup Jeff Driskel, but that should be dampened by A.J. Green's return. |
| 17 | Jonnu Smith | vs NYJ | A tough matchup (10th fewest points allowed) and he's not seeing a lot of volume. |
| 18 | Gerald Everett | @ DET | Another low volume, high upside play. Hard to see Detroit keeping pace, too. |
| 19 | Matt LaCosse | @ CIN | A great matchup (2nd most points) and LaCosse is the guy at TE. How much can you trust a guy you just met, though? |
| 20 | Jimmy Graham | vs. ARI | He did not practice on Wednesday. Stay tuned. He's a candidate to move up or down this list depending on reports. |