Last week was a great one for standard tight ends, as touchdowns were plentiful. Three tight ends, Theo Johnson, Jake Ferguson, and AJ Barner caught two touchdowns each! And all three were actually tight ends you might have played on your team. Barner was the most surprising, as he hasn’t seen many targets this season, but he did already have two touchdowns on the year. And Week 5 saw his targets bounce up to seven, whereas his previous high this season was three. His prospects, along with Johnson’s are looking up.
Tight ends ended up accounting for 18 touchdowns and this came with four teams on bye and both Brock Bowers and Greg Kittle out with injuries! It was easily the biggest touchdown production from the position this year.
Minnesota Vikings and Houston Texans
TJ Hockenson, Dalton Schultz
Kittle could return this week, but if he doesn’t, it seems likely he’s back by Week 7. His presence is very much needed by the 49ers both as a blocker and receiver. San Francisco could get Ricky Pearsall and Jauan Jennings back this week also. If they get that kind of windfall, it might be tough to predict who gets a good workload for fantasy, but all three would be startable in most leagues.
Bowers’ knee injury finally got the better of him and he had to sit out last week. At this point I’d expect the team to make sure he is at least close to 100% before bringing him back, as Bowers has not looked like his old self since he suffered the injury. If he can go, he’s always a must start at a weak position.
Strange appeared to be on his way to becoming a useful fantasy player, but an injury on Monday night has thrown a wrench in those plans for now. He has been placed on injured reserve with a hip injury, so he will need to miss at least four games. Hunter Long will take over the lead role and has some TE2 appeal.
Lions at Chiefs (52.5)
Bears at Commanders (49.5)
Cowboys at Panthers (49.5)
Bills at Falcons (48.5)
Browns at Steelers (38.5)
Eagles at Giants (40.5)
Titans at Raiders (41.5)
Highest implied individual team totals
Packers (29)
Chiefs (27.5)
Commanders (27)
Colts (27)
Cowboys (26.5)
Lowest implied individual team totals
Bengals (14.5)
Giants (16.5)
Browns (16.5)
Titans (18)
Jets (18.3)
Ravens (18.5)
Bengals at Packers (14.5)
Eagles (-7.5) at Giants
Patriots at Bills (-8.5)
Raiders at Colts (-6.5)
