Fantasy Football Week 7 Tight End Preview: Streaming options, numbers to know, and more

It was a long, cold September, but in October the tight end position showed signs of life. We had 13 tight ends score double-digit Fantasy points in Week 6, a week after 16 accomplished the feat. Over the two weeks there are now 14 tight ends with a per-game average of at least 10 PPR Fantasy points. Yes, it's a small position but as bad as it's been we'll take whatever we can get.

In analyzing those 14 it's easy to view George Kittle, Brock Bowers, Evan Engram, Travis Kelce, Trey McBride, Kyle Pitts, Mark Andrews, and Sam LaPorta as legitimate. I'm not sure that's entirely correct considering LaPorta had just one catch in his lone October game, but it's easy. That's because those are the tight ends we had expectations for. What about the rest?

Cole Kmet and Tucker Kraft are the most believable of the rest. We've seen Kmet be a top-12 tight end before and he had one great game in September also. I'm not dropping Kmet on his bye week and if someone else does I'm considering adding him. Kraft is in one of the best pass offenses in football right now and the Packers just lost Dontayvion Wicks. I'm mostly buying him too. 

That leaves us with Colby Parkinson (I'm in if Cooper Kupp is out), Grant Calcaterra (maybe if Dallas Goedert is out), Jonnu Smith (nope), and Isaiah Likely. Likely was a bust in Week 6 but he had two more end zone targets, so I'm okay starting him if you simply can't find a better option. The jury is still out on whether Mark Andrews counts as a better option.

Regardless of how you feel about all these names, it's nice to have that many to talk about. I didn't even mention Jake Ferguson, who I'm holding through his bye, or Dalton Kincaid, who may be droppable with the addition of Amari Cooper. 

As always, you can check out the full set of projections at SportsLine for every position.

Here's everything else you need to know about tight end in Week 7:

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Week 7 TE Preview

The following players are not being projected to play Week 7 at this time. Here's what it means:

Dallas Goedert TE PHI Philadelphia • #88 Age: 29 • Experience: 7 yrs. Grant Calcaterra is a fine stream after a big Week 6.

• 1 -- LaPorta's one catch in Week 6 came on his only target, which isn't exactly encouraging even if it was a 52-yard touchdown.
• 7 -- Cole Kmet and Dallas Goedert lead all tight ends with seven explosive plays (16 yards or more).
• 6 -- Colby Parkinson has six red zone targets. George Kittle is the only tight end with more.
• 2.23 -- Brock Bowers' 2.23 yards per route run ranks second amongst tight ends with at least 20 routes this season.
• 27.4% -- Evan Engram's 27.4% target per route run rate ranks second amongst tight ends with at least 20 routes run this season.

Hunter Henry TE NE New England • #85 Age: 29 • Experience: 9 yrs. Weekly Breakdown MATCHUP @ JAC JAC -5.5 O/U 42.5 OPP VS TE 19th PROJ PTS 8.8 TE RNK 12th YTD Stats REC 19 TAR 30 REYDS 221 TD 1 FPTS/G 7.9

Dalton Kincaid TE BUF Buffalo • #86 Age: 25 • Experience: 2 yrs. Weekly Breakdown MATCHUP vs TEN BUF -8.5 O/U 41.5 OPP VS TE 1st PROJ PTS 10.3 TE RNK 7th YTD Stats REC 21 TAR 31 REYDS 217 TD 1 FPTS/G 8.1

David Njoku TE CLE Cleveland • #85 Age: 28 • Experience: 8 yrs. Weekly Breakdown MATCHUP vs CIN CIN -6.5 O/U 42.5 OPP VS TE 23rd PROJ PTS 10.6 TE RNK 11th YTD Stats REC 10 TAR 15 REYDS 89 TD 0 FPTS/G 6.3

Sam LaPorta TE DET Detroit • #87 Age: 23 • Experience: 2 yrs. Weekly Breakdown MATCHUP @ MIN MIN -2.5 O/U 49.5 OPP VS TE 26th PROJ PTS 9.4 TE RNK 9th YTD Stats REC 13 TAR 15 REYDS 199 TD 1 FPTS/G 7.8

Colby Parkinson TE LAR L.A. Rams • #86 Age: 25 • Experience: 5 yrs. Weekly Breakdown MATCHUP vs LV LAR -6.5 O/U 43.5 OPP VS TE 10th PROJ PTS 8.5 TE RNK 14th YTD Stats REC 19 TAR 32 REYDS 165 TD 0 FPTS/G 7.1

Week 7 Streamers (TE Preview)

Colby Parkinson TE LAR L.A. Rams • #86 Age: 25 • Experience: 5 yrs. Weekly Breakdown MATCHUP vs LV LAR -6.5 O/U 43.5 OPP VS TE 10th TE RNK 14th ROSTERED 20% YTD Stats REC 19 TAR 32 REYDS 165 TD 0 FPTS/G 7.1 Parkinson projects as a top-eight tight end this week if Cooper Kupp and we'll likely still be in the top 12 if Kupp plays. That's because the projections value volume and Parkinson has seen 20 targets in his last two games and actually leads the Rams with an 18.6% target share for the season. His lack of touchdowns has been bad luck as he's had a feature role in the red zone as well.

Dalton Schultz TE HOU Houston • #86 Age: 28 • Experience: 7 yrs. Weekly Breakdown MATCHUP @ GB GB -3 O/U 47.5 OPP VS TE 31st TE RNK 17th ROSTERED 52% YTD Stats REC 18 TAR 30 REYDS 143 TD 0 FPTS/G 5.4 It didn't translate to Fantasy points but Schultz saw eight targets in his first game without Nico Collins. Last year he was much more reliable when one of the Texans wide receivers were missing. As with Parkinson, I'm banking on the target volume and ignoring the awful efficiency.

Top DFS Play

Projections powered by Sportsline

Brock Bowers TE LV Las Vegas • #89 Age: 21 • Experience: Rookie Weekly Breakdown MATCHUP @ LAR LAR -6.5 O/U 43.5 OPP VS TE 30th PROJ PTS 11.4 TE RNK 3rd YTD Stats REC 37 TAR 46 REYDS 384 TD 1 FPTS/G 13.8 I'm fine with any of George Kittle, Travis Kelce, or Brock Bowers in cash game lineups this week, but if Jakobi Meyers remains out I lean towards Bowers who is the cheapest of the three. He has 17 catches on 22 targets for 168 yards in his last two games and has become the clear focal part of the passing game regardless of who is playing quarterback.

Contrarian DFS Play

Projections powered by Sportsline

Sam LaPorta TE DET Detroit • #87 Age: 23 • Experience: 2 yrs. Weekly Breakdown MATCHUP @ MIN MIN -2.5 O/U 49.5 OPP VS TE 26th PROJ PTS 9.4 TE RNK 9th YTD Stats REC 13 TAR 15 REYDS 199 TD 1 FPTS/G 7.8 While I am very nervous about LaPorta's target volume and wouldn't consider him in cash games, the Vikings have seen the second-most targets to tight ends and this game could absolutely turn into a shootout. There's no reason to believe LaPorta has lost anything from last year and there's every reason to believe that there could be a big LaPorta week coming any week now.

My full set of Week 7 Fantasy football projections for every position are now available on SportsLine. You can find them here. Find out which of my favorite plays are projected to score higher than consensus rankings and which don't live up to their draft hype, at least in Week 6. Projected stats for all starting tight ends are available, so be sure to check out the full set of projections at SportsLine.