Week 12 Rankings (2020): Top 20 Tight Ends

Tight end continues to be a frustrating position for fantasy owners, though at least the bye weeks are behind us. Even with a full slate of options there always appears to be significant disappointments and surprises each week. Who are the players we can trust? Who should be ignored? Let’s take a look:

1. Travis Kelce – Kansas City Chiefs – at Tampa Bay
2. Darren Waller – Las Vegas Raiders – at Atlanta
3. Evan Engram – New York Giants – at Cincinnati
4. Hunter Henry – Los Angeles Chargers – at Buffalo
5. Noah Fant – Denver Broncos – vs. New Orleans
6. T.J. Hockenson – Detroit Lions – vs. Houston
7. Mark Andrews – Baltimore Ravens – at Pittsburgh
8. Dallas Goeddert – Philadelphia Eagles – vs. Seattle
9. Eric Ebron – Pittsburgh Steelers – vs. Baltimore
10. Austin Hooper – Cleveland Browns – at Jacksonville
11. Rob Gronkowski – Tampa Bay Buccaneers – vs. Kansas City
12. Dalton Schultz – Dallas Cowboys – vs. Washington
13. Robert Tonyan – Green Bay Packers – vs. Chicago
14. Hayden Hurst – Atlanta Falcons – vs. Las Vegas
15. Jonnu Smith – Tennessee Titans – at Indianapolis
16. Mike Gesicki – Miami Dolphins – at New York Jets
17. Logan Thomas – Washington Football – at Dallas
18. Jared Cook – New Orleans – at Denver
19. Jimmy Graham – Chicago Bears – at Green Bay
20. Jordan Reed – San Francisco 49ers – at Los Angeles Rams

Thoughts:

• The Baltimore Ravens are coming off a week where they allowed 9 catches, 62 yards and 1 TD to Tennessee’s tight ends and overall they are in the bottom half of the league in points allowed per week to TE. That puts Eric Ebron squarely on fantasy maps as a TE1, but with so much competition for opportunities it’s hard to push him too far up the rankings.
• Just when you are ready to give up on Hunter Henry he responds with back-to-back games with a TD. He hasn’t been piling up the yards (he has gone seven straight games under 50 yards), but he’s been getting opportunities (20 targets in past three games) and draws a Buffalo defense that’s allowed the fifth most points per week to opposing TE. He’s clearly not a player to ignore.
• Austin Hooper didn’t get many opportunities in Week 10, his first game back (2 targets), but his role grew in Week 11 (5 targets). In his three games prior to going down he averaged 5 catches on 7.66 targets per week and with a few games back would it be shocking that he saw his role grow once again? Taking on a Jacksonville defense that’s allowed the seventh most points per week to opposing TE (including 8 TD), he becomes a surprising TE1 for the coming week.
• Overall the Seattle defense has been good against opposing tight ends, but over the past four weeks they’re in the bottom half of the league (176 yards and 3 TD). That opens the door for Dallas Goeddert, who has been targeted 6 times in each of the past two games (9 catches for 110 yards and 1 TD). The upside is high, so fire him up as a TE1 in all formats.
• Over the past four weeks Anthony Firkser (17) has been targeted more than Jonnu Smith (16), but Smith is the one who’s found the end zone (2 TD). That keeps him as the better option, though the upside isn’t as high as it could be.

Sources – NFL.com, ESPN

Make sure to check out all of our Week 12 rankings: