Week 9 Recap
Last week, we called a Top 5 finish for Travis Kelce, who was ranked outside of the Top 10 by FantasyPros Expert Consensus Rankings. We’ll take our flowers: Kelce finished as the TE3 last week. We then welcomed Kyle Pitts back in the circle of trust and expected another TE11 or better finish. Pitts was the TE30. Oops.
As far as streaming options go, we gave the green light to Greg Dulcich and Eli Raridon. The prospects of the latter were tied to Hunter Henry, who was surprisingly active after missing nearly all of practice last week. Dulcich managed only a couple of points en route to a TE41 finish. Raridon was better, but weighed in as TE18. Not a week to be especially proud of, so we’ve got nowhere to go but up in Week 10!
Week 10 Tight Ends
Expect Tyler Warren to finish inside the Top 5 this week, higher than his FantasyPros ECR of TE9. Warren appears to have put his groin injury behind him. Now that Keenan Allen and Josh Downs have been shipped out of town, the former Penn State phenom should be a target hog for the remainder of the season. The Indianapolis Colts did not trade Jonathan Taylor as many expected, so the team may very well shift to 12 personnel as a base offense. Warren, by far the best pass-catching tight end on the Colts, would be the prime beneficiary.
Even though we’re high on Trevor Lawrence this week, we’re not as bullish on Brenton Strange. Over the past couple of weeks. Strange settled into a rotation with rookies Nate Boerkircher and Tanner Koziol, both of whom ended up with as many or more targets than Strange. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to predict which Jaguars tight end will fall into the end zone with the football in the red zone.
If you’re searching for streaming options, consider Darren Waller or Chig Okonkwo. Waller was the TE1 in Week 9, his second Top 5 finish of the season, and draws another soft matchup. The New Orleans Saints have allowed the seventh-highest total of fantasy points per game to the TE position.
Meanwhile, Okonkwo continues to carve out a role for himself on the Washington Commanders. Known as a speed merchant with a penchant for getting open, Okonkwo’s hands have come around this season. As a result, he has emerged as a trusted target for Jayden Daniels with Terry McLaurin out for the season. The New York Giants have been slightly better than average against opposing tight ends. However, Okonkwo’s snap share has risen over 70 percent for four straight games, and he saw six or more targets in three of those four contests. –Drew DeLuca