Fantasy Football 2024: Find tight end streamers and sleepers with this Projected Strength of Schedule study

You haven't played Fantasy Football until you've made a lineup decision between two mediocre tight ends.

Who will get more targets? Which one has the better chance to score? Will one be in a higher-scoring game than the other?

Meanwhile the guys you're debating average like six points per game and are about as reliable as New Jersey transit.

Don't you think it would be cool to know which tight ends will have favorable schedules in advance of the season? I know you won't care about the schedules for Sam LaPorta or Travis Kelce, nor should you. But the low-end guys? The fringe guys? The streamers? Uh, yeah, you should care IF you end up having to draft one of them.

I've long believed that matchups matter. In an effort to predict which matchups will be favorable versus unfavorable, I created a concept called the Projected Strength of Schedule. Using film analysis, study of scheme and coaching and of course an understanding of who's playing, I came up with a grade for every NFL team as it relates to their pass defense against tight ends.

At minimum, it will give you a potential tiebreaker when debating between two players in your drafts. At most, it's a warning sign to avoid certain players across the league.

If you're reading this, you're on the page that breaks down the PSoS for tight ends. You'll find out about the players who have easy projected schedules, difficult projected schedules, and everyone in between. If you're interested in the methodology behind these numbers, you should read this.

For now, here's a look at how each offense's tight ends rank in terms of PSoS, with 1 being the easiest and 32 being the toughest. There's a table for the whole season, the first four weeks of the season (who might get off to a hot start?!) and Weeks 15 through 17 (Fantasy playoffs).

Full PSoS rankings by position: QB | RB | WR | TE 

You should also benefit from the in-season version of the Projected Strength of Schedule rankings, exclusively on SportsLine. Each week I update the database and reveal which players have favorable or unfavorable matchups down the line. It's a cheat code for trades. Sign up now (or whenever) and use the promo code DAVE for a special deal on your first month, plus you can cancel anytime. 

I'll highlight some players after these ranks so please remember to scroll all the way through.

Season-long PSoS for TEs

Weeks 1-4 PSoS for TEs

Weeks 15-17 PSoS for TEs

Tight end notes

• Stud tight ends with favorable early schedules: Sam LaPorta, Dalton Kincaid, David Njoku

• Stud tight ends with tough early schedules: Travis Kelce, Evan Engram, Kyle Pitts

• More on Pitts: I'm going to be one of the last people to jump back on the Pitts bandwagon after three mostly disappointing seasons, and his early-season slate doesn't help him (Steelers, Eagles, Chiefs, Saints). However, he still landed the fourth-best projected schedule among tight ends and the second-best projected schedule in Weeks 15 through 17. If he shows some explosiveness in those first few games without putting up huge numbers, I might consider trading for him at a discount.
• Pat Freiermuth: One of Fantasy's trending sleepers has another favorable perk: His overall schedule projects inside the top-12. Really, the best part will come starting in Week 5 with only a handful of bumps until Week 14. You might bristle at drafting him because his season could start slowly and end with tough matchups, but if he's a frequent target in Pittsburgh then you'll happily deal with the matchups.
• Zach Ertz (or Ben Sinnott): Washington landed a top-five projected schedule for its tight ends and top-three for the first four weeks of the season. If Ertz hangs on to starter's reps, he could serve as an early-season option.
• Hayden Hurst: Consider yourself lucky if you've never rostered Hurst. He's let down Fantasy managers before, but if we're only trusting him in early-season matchups against the Raiders and Panthers, he's probably worth a shot. In fact, you could draft Hurst and Ertz and use them both to get through the first four weeks of the season.
• Other TE with favorable Week 1 matchups: Luke Musgrave (vs PHI), Noah Fant (vs DEN), Cade Otton (vs WAS)