NFL Player News

Smith had two receptions for eight yards, including a one-yard touchdown, on three targets in Sunday's win at the Chargers.

Minnesota didn't need to do much in the passing game in the second half with a large lead, which may have limited Smith's targets, but he did add his second touchdown catch of the season. He's had three or more targets in eight consecutive games despite the low yardage total Sunday and still was a factor in the passing game with Adam Thielen returning from a hamstring injury. Smith could see increased targets next week if Minnesota's passing game is needed more against Green Bay.

Sternberger played 14 snaps but was not targeted in Sunday's victory over the Bears.

Sternberger has now appeared in five games since being activated from injured reserve, but he is still looking for his first career reception. Perhaps the most encouraging aspect of Sternberger's Week 15 participation is the fact he played the third-most snaps among the team's tight ends for the first time in a game where there were four active players at the position.

Tonyan was targeted twice and caught one pass for five yards in Sunday's victory over the Bears.

Tonyan scored his first touchdown of the season Week 14, but he could not build on that Week 15. His youth in relation to veteran tight ends Jimmy Graham and Marcedes Lewis gives him some intrigue, but he figures to remain a reserve the rest of the way and also will have to compete for snaps with fellow youngster Jace Sternberger, who totaled 14 plays Sunday to Tonyan's nine.

Lewis led Packers tight ends with 32 snaps and caught one pass for six yards in Sunday's victory over the Bears.

Lewis and Jimmy Graham were both credited with a start Week 15, and the former ended up playing more snaps than the latter and any other Packers tight end for the second week in a row. While Lewis is spending more time on the field, the increase in plays has not led to any notable change in his output: he totaled two receptions for 11 yards over the last two weeks. Graham remains the top pass-catching option among Green Bay's tight ends.

Thomas failed to catch any of his four targets during Sunday's 38-17 loss to the Buccaneers.

Thomas shared starting honors with Jesse James and actually wound up as the position leader in offensive snaps by a slim margin. However, Thomas wasn't able to bring down any of the passes that were sent his way, and he consequently laid his sixth goose egg in 15 games. Despite the increase in playing time he's experiencing in T.J. Hockenson's (ankle) absence, it's not reasonable to expect a whole lot from the tight end as long as he's catching passes from a backup-caliber quarterback in David Blough.

James caught three of five targets for 31 yards during Sunday's 38-17 loss to Tampa Bay.

Both James and Logan Thomas opened the game in the starting lineup and both players commanded roughly two thirds of the available offensive snaps. While James was somehow the only one who made a dent in the stat sheet, Thomas was targeted four times and still has the higher upside of the two. However, it will continue to be difficult to have optimism for either as long as Matthew Stafford (back) remains out of commission.

Kroft caught his only target for a 14-yard touchdown during Sunday's win over Pittsburgh.

Kroft certainly picks his spots for Bills fans, as his last two touchdowns came with the Bengals in 2017 in an upset win at Baltimore that allowed the Bills to sneak into the playoffs. Sunday against the Steelers, his TD provided the winning points in a win that pushed the 2019 Bills into the postseason. That's about the extent of it for Kroft. While he may be a nice red-zone threat now that he finally seems healthy, he's caught more than one pass or seen more than 50 percent of the offensive snap share in just one game this season. Even with Sunday's big catch, Kroft only saw 29 percent of the Week 15 action compared to Dawson Knox's 48 percent.

Smith hauled in all three of his targets for 38 yards during Sunday's 36-20 win over the Dolphins.

Smith once again served as New York's top tight end with Evan Engram (foot) and Rhett Ellison (concussion) both sidelined. As long as the Giants' top options are unable to go, Smith will continue to handle the bulk of pass catching work while Scott Simonson works in as a blocking specialist.

Graham was targeted four times and had one reception for zero yards in Sunday's victory over the Bears.

Graham has battled all of wrist, groin and calf injuries the last several weeks, and that has resulted in him playing well below 50 percent of the offensive snaps since the Packers' Week 11 bye. As a result, he was targeted only 12 times and tallied just six receptions for 72 yards -- with most of that coming Week 14 -- over the last four games. He'll be tough to trust in important Week 16 fantasy matchups facing a Vikings defense that shut him out entirely Week 2 and has ceded just one touchdown to opposing tight ends all season.

Knox caught his only target for 11 yards during Sunday's win over the Steelers.

Veteran Tyler Kroft had the big tight end catch, a go-ahead touchdown that in essence vaulted the Bills into the playoffs, while Knox's role was modest all evening. Knox was on the field for 48 percent of the offensive snaps (his lowest since Week 8) to Kroft's 29 percent, but the Bills and their up-and-down offense continue to spread it around too much for the rookie to offer any kind of consistent production.