When you look at the state of the tight end position through the first two weeks of the NFL season, things look pretty bleak. Only seven tight ends have scored 20 PPR points through the first two games, and one of them -- Juwan Johnson -- has just 44 yards. By comparison, 12 averaged double digits in Fantasy points last season, and that was not a particularly good season for tight ends.
But I find myself feeling somewhat optimistic about the position heading into Week 3 -- by which I mean there might be 10 players I feel pretty confident in starting right now. In addition to the obvious -- Travis Kelce, Darren Waller, George Kittle (yes, he's an obvious one) -- T.J. Hockenson has certainly joined that group. And I'm still feeling great about the potential for Kyle Pitts to make a big impact; I'm also not worried about Mark Andrews yet.
So, that's the top six for Week 3, and it was the top six coming into the season in ADP. I'll also add Noah Fant, who might just be the No. 2 option in a much-improved Broncos passing game; Tyler Higbee, who has played every snap for the Rams this season; Rob Gronkowski, who looks rejuvenated and is playing a big role early; and Logan Thomas, who hasn't missed a snap and is still the No. 2 option in the passing game behind Terry McLaurin.
After that … yeah, it gets pretty ugly. But hey, if those 10 live up to my expectations for them in the near term, it would probably make this the best the tight end position has been in years. Now those guys just have to do it. Which is the hardest part.
Here are my rankings for tight end in PPR leagues in Week 2, with my notes on some of the more interesting players from the rankings process:
Week 2 TE Rankings
- Travis Kelce
- Darren Waller
- George Kittle
- T.J. Hockenson
- Mark Andrews
- Noah Fant
- Kyle Pitts
- Rob Gronkowski
- Tyler Higbee
- Logan Thomas
- Jonnu Smith
- Dallas Goedert
- Austin Hooper
- Jared Cook
- Evan Engram
- Hunter Henry
- Robert Tonyan
- Juwan Johnson
- Blake Jarwin
- Dalton Schultz
- David Njoku
- Adam Trautman
- Tyler Conklin
- Zach Ertz
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