I'm sorry. Last week I wrote that tight end was going to be deep because Dalton Kincaid and Trey McBride would become must-start tight ends. While I was writing about Kincaid and McBride, an injury to Darren Waller and bye weeks for Sam LaPorta, Evan Engram, and George Kittle have sent us scrambling to the waiver wire once again.
The worst thing is that you can't drop any of those guys we're missing. The lack of options means you probably can't drop Jonnu Smith either, even if that is exactly what I planned on doing after his second consecutive Fantasy dud. Smith now has four catches for 40 yards in his last two games combined, yet he still ranks as a top-15 option for me this week.
I don't take back what I said last week about tight end being deep. I absolutely believe it will be rest of season. But we'll have to get through the next two weeks before it feels that way because Travis Kelce and Dallas Goedert are on bye next week.
My projections come in high on Week 8's breakout tight end McBride who settles in nicely in the TE1 range this week. You can find all of my Week 9 projections by position at Sportsline.
Here's everything else you need to know about tight end in Week 9:
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Week 9 TE Preview
Who's Out
The following players are not being projected to play Week 9 at this time. Here's what it means:
Daniel Bellinger should be the next man up. He is a mid-range TE2 against the Raiders this week.
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Numbers to Know
- 14 -- Trey McBride saw 14 targets in his first game without Zach Ertz. He was the youngest tight end to see that many targets in a game since Jordan Reed in 2013.
- 30.8% -- Nearly a third of Joshua Dobbs' pass attempts have gone to tight ends, the second-highest mark in the league. T.J. Hockenson should be fine once Dobbs takes over.
- 20% -- Dalton Schultz maintained a 20% target share with Tank Dell back, but C.J. Stroud only threw 24 passes. I would expect Schultz to be a fine start this week.
- 25% -- One-fourth of Cleveland's end zone targets have gone to David Njoku. He has reemerged as a top-12 option.
- 1 -- Taysom Hill only saw one target in Juwan Johnson's first game back. He's a much better option in non-PPR leagues.
Matchups that matter
Waiver Wire Targets
If you missed Trey McBride, Logan Thomas is not a bad consolation prize. Thomas is a top-10 tight end for the season and he's a top-10 tight end in Week 9 against New England. With Curtis Samuel dinged up I would expect Thomas to live around a 20% target share and the pie is bigger in Washington than it is anywhere else with Sam Howell averaging a league-high 46 drop backs per game.
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It seems like a lot of people dropped Smith and I get it after his last two weeks. But Drake London missed practice on Wednesday with a groin injury. If London is unable to go this week, then Smith could be second or third in line for targets this week against the Vikings.
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DFS Plays
Schultz maintained his target share in Week 8, the total pass volume just fell off. That won't be the case in Week 9 because the Texans have no reason to believe they can run the ball against Tampa Bay. He's seen 42% of C.J. Stroud's targets to the end zone and has 22 targets in his last three games.
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People may see the matchup against New England and think they should stay away from Thomas because historically they have been very good against tight ends. This year it has been more of a mixed bag with Dalton Kincaid, Michael Mayer, and Jake Ferguson all scoring at least 12 PPR Fantasy points against them in recent weeks. I love getting Thomas' high-volume role at a low cost and a low roster rate.
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Heath's Projections
My full set of Week 9 Fantasy Football projections for every position are now available on SportsLine. 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 9. Projected stats for all starting tight ends are available, so be sure to check out the full set of projections at SportsLine.
