The tight end preview will look a little bit different this week. The vast majority of Fantasy Football leagues are heading into the Fantasy playoffs, so I will try to give you an overview of the position for the next three weeks. There will still be Week 15 waiver wire ads below, but there will also be Week 16 stashes. Let’s start with those.
When we go looking for streamers, one of the first things we look for is matchups. Unfortunately, the best matchups in Week 16 aren’t going to help us much. David Njoku plays the Bengals, and Trey McBride plays the Panthers. The Raiders face Evan Engram, and the Buccaneers play Jake Ferguson. If you are in one of the 42% of leagues where Ferguson is still available, congratulations. You’ve hit the jackpot.
That’s because Ferguson is the top streamer of Week 15 (Panthers) and Week 16 (Buccaneers). He’s had a disappointing season because of injury, bad quarterback play, and terrible touchdown luck, but I will happily start him the next two weeks.
If you aren’t lucky enough to find Ferguson or Hunter Henry (I guess he was dropped on his bye), you’re going to have to get creative. The Chargers’ terrible injury luck may give us an opportunity to do just that. With Hayden Hurst on Injured Reserve and Will Dissly set to miss multiple weeks, it’s time to consider Stone Smartt.
While I’m not ready to proclaim with Bob Dylan that everybody must get Stone, I do think desperate teams should at least consider it. Justin Herbert has targeted his tight ends on 22.5% of his passes this season, and Smartt should see the lion’s share of those targets in the Fantasy playoffs. After Dissly went down in Week 14, Smartt turned three targets into 8.4 PPR Fantasy points.
Here’s everything else you need to know about tight end in the Fantasy playoffs:
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Playoff TE Preview
Who’s Out
Numbers to Know
Matchups That Matter
Waiver Wire Targets
DFS Plays
Projections
Who’s Out
The following players are not being projected to play in Week 15 at this time. Here’s what it means:
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Will Dissly
TE LAC L.A. Chargers • #81 Age: 28 • Experience: 7 yrs.
Stone Smartt is a low-end streamer if Dissly is out.
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Numbers to Know
- 0 — Trey McBride still has zero receiving touchdowns on the season. I’m not sure anyone has ever been more due.
- 12 — Tucker Kraft has seen 12 targets in his last two games without Romeo Doubs.
- 8 — Cade Otton has eight catches in three games since Mike Evans returned.
- 16.69 — The Bills and Lions have surrendered a combined 16.69 PPR FPPG to tight ends this season. Noah Gray and Tucker Kraft are the only tight ends to score touchdowns against them since Week 4.
- 2.4 — Kyle Pitts has scored 2.4 PPR Fantasy or fewer in four of his last five games.
Matchups that matter
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Sam LaPorta
TE DET Detroit • #87 Age: 23 • Experience: 2 yrs.
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Dawson Knox
TE BUF Buffalo • #88 Age: 28 • Experience: 6 yrs.
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Jake Ferguson
TE DAL Dallas • #87 Age: 25 • Experience: 3 yrs.
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Stone Smartt
TE LAC L.A. Chargers • #84 Age: 26 • Experience: 3 yrs.
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Pat Freiermuth
TE PIT Pittsburgh • #88 Age: 26 • Experience: 4 yrs.
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Waiver Wire Targets
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Hunter Henry
TE NE New England • #85 Age: 30 • Experience: 9 yrs.
Hunter Henry ranks top 12 in Fantasy points per game amongst tight ends who will be active this week. That’s even more impressive because he’s only scored one touchdown all season. If I could get Henry, I think I would just set it and forget it rest of season. He only has one game with fewer than 9.4 PPR Fantasy points since Week 5.
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Jake Ferguson
TE DAL Dallas • #87 Age: 25 • Experience: 3 yrs.
The Panthers have given up the most Fantasy points and most touchdowns to opposing tight ends this season. Four different times this season, they’ve given up 29 PPR Fantasy points to the position in a given week. Jake Ferguson wasn’t good in his first game back, but he did earn a 19% target share, which is plenty against this defense.
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Stone Smartt
TE LAC L.A. Chargers • #84 Age: 26 • Experience: 3 yrs.
The Buccaneers have allowed a tight end to score at least 12 PPR Fantasy points in six of their last seven games. The two most recent were Tommy Tremble and Michael Mayer. Even Kyle Pitts had two good games against this defense. There’s even more upside for Smartt if Ladd McConkey misses another game.
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DFS Plays
Sportsline
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Trey McBride
TE ARI Arizona • #85 Age: 25 • Experience: 3 yrs.
There is no George Kittle or Brock Bowers on the main slate, which leaves Trey McBride as the clear top option in the projections. He has 41 targets in his last three games and is a good cash game play, even if he doesn’t score. If he does break that seal, he could post a number that is almost impossible for your opponent to overcome.
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Sportsline
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Stone Smartt
TE LAC L.A. Chargers • #84 Age: 26 • Experience: 3 yrs.
He’s priced like a backup tight end, he has one of the best matchups on the slate, and he’s catching passes from Justin Herbert. What more do you need from a contrarian DFS play?
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Heath’s Projections
My full set of Week 15 Fantasy football projections for every position are now available on SportsLine. You can find them here. Find out which of my favorite plays are projected to score higher than consensus rankings and which don’t live up to their draft hype, at least in Week 15. Projected stats for all starting tight ends are available, so be sure to check out the full set of projections at SportsLine.
