Tight ends, as we’ve mentioned before, are similar to the quarterback position in that there are a lot of pretty good ones. These Week 2 TE rankings will prove that out, too, as you’ll likely see some good ones fall into the 20s one week after the opener.
The way tight ends are different than quarterbacks, though, is the fact that while there are many pretty good quarterbacks, there’s a definite group of 12-14 that are the best.
With Fantasy tight ends, there are five great ones, and then 10-15 pretty good ones that can all mix in and out of the top 10 from week to week.
For instance, let’s look at this past week to see how far the depth really goes in a given week.
Week 1 Tight Ends
In one of my standard 12-team leagues, with 15 roster spots and no flex, there were six Fantasy free-agent tight ends that either scored a touchdown or posted 50 or more receiving yards. Overall, there were 18 Fantasy tight ends that posted either of those numbers (1 TD or 50 rec. yds).
With that said, there were 11 tight ends drafted that didn’t post either number.
The lesson learned here is – there are plenty of good tight ends in the league, you just have to find the ones that will post the good numbers in more weeks than the others.
And that’s where we come back to the Fantasy points allowed to tight ends last season – and last week.
For this, we’ll use the “Defenses vs. Pos” stats from CBSSports.com. Basically, this tool tells you the average points per position a defense gives up.
Defenses vs. Tight Ends in 2013
The five toughest defenses against tight ends last year include:
- Colts: 5.33 Fantasy pts allowed to TEs per game
- Lions: 5.38
- Rams: 5.38
- Seahawks: 5.89
- Bills: 6.00
The five softest defenses against tight ends last year include:
- Cardinals: 13.25 Fantasy pts allowed to TEs per game
- Vikings: 9.62
- Jaguars: 9.38
- Cowboys: 9.00
- Texans: 8.50
Defenses vs. Tight Ends in Week 1 of 2014
The five softest defenses against tight ends last week include:
- Colts: 28 Fantasy pts allowed to TEs last week (Julius Thomas)
- Cowboys: 16 (Vernon Davis)
- Buccaneers: 14 (Greg Olsen)
- Jaguars: 13 (Zach Ertz)
- Bills: 13 (Martellus Bennett)
It’s interesting that the Colts were the toughest against tight ends last year – but then again, it’s the Denver offense.
These Week 1 TE rankings are also helpful for SKYLLZONE’s Fan vs. Machine instant snake drafts on SKYLLZONE.com. Check out our articles over there at blog.SKYLLZONE.com, as we help you in this awesome Daily Fantasy Football game.
You can download the free draft app on iTunes, or you can just draft off your computer. You’ll draft against nine computers who all enter the drafts with different strategies.
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Week 2 TE Rankings
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These tight end rankings are based on standard non-PPR Fantasy leagues with six points per touchdown.
Are there some tight ends you think we have too high or too low in our Week 1 TE Rankings? We want to help our readers, so your comments on these tight end rankings can give them an added perspective and we definitely welcome that!