Oh goodness. It's the playoffs, ya'll! And if you made it this far, you probably did so in spite of your tight end. But I'm not here to dwell on the tumult, on the up and down and up again season that we had to endure in the tight end landscape. Not this week. Not in playoff weeks. No, I'm going to roll up my sleeves, dig into the grime, and find you all some gems to slide into your lineup. Even if it kills me.

Target Monsters

When the Doyle's away, Eric Ebron will play. With his main competition for snaps out of the way, Ebron notched a season-high 16 targets. That's the most any tight end has been targeted in a single game this season (tied with Zach Ertz). Doyle is out for the remainder of the season, and knowing how much Andrew Luck adores throwing to tight ends, Ebron is a TE1 the rest of the way.

Say what you will about the dumpster fire happening in Green Bay, but it's been a real boon for Jimmy Graham. The de facto outlet for Aaron Rodgers' wayward passes saw a season-high in targets (11) and receptions (8), though he posted just 50 yards on the day. Graham hasn't scored a touchdown since Week 9 -- and I don't expect him to this week against a tough Atlanta red-zone defense -- but his volume makes him a safer play than most options at the position.

Let me be clear: I don't like the idea of Rhett Ellison being "a thing." But if the guy is going to continue seeing so many targets in Evan Engram's absence, I have to at least contend that he's an interesting dart throw this week. Ellison turned 7 targets into 4 receptions for 42 yards, and is the TE10 over the last two weeks. I don't feel good about it, but New York's backup tight end is an option to consider this week against Washington.

*Note: We've included Jaylen Samuels in the tight end rankings, as Yahoo leagues still have that designation applied to him. He may not be able to be used as a tight end in your league.



Jacob Trowbridge Travis Kelce, KC, vs. BAL 1 Zach Ertz, PHI, at DAL 2 Eric Ebron, IND, at HOU 3 George Kittle, SF, vs. DEN 4 Jaylen Samuels, PIT, at OAK 5 Jared Cook, OAK, vs. PIT 6 Rob Gronkowski, NE, at MIA 7 David Njoku, CLE, vs. CAR 8 Vance McDonald, PIT, at OAK 9 Austin Hooper, ATL, at GB 10 Jimmy Graham, GB, vs. ATL 11 Cameron Brate, TB, vs. NO 12 C.J. Uzomah, CIN, at LAC 13 Jordan Reed, WAS, vs. NYG 14 Evan Engram, NYG, at WAS 15 Kyle Rudolph, MIN, at SEA 16 Jonnu Smith, TEN, vs. JAC 17 Trey Burton, CHI, vs. LAR 18 Ian Thomas, CAR, at CLE 19 Chris Herndon IV, NYJ, at BUF 20 Gerald Everett, LAR, at CHI 21 Dan Arnold, NO, at TB 22 Antonio Gates, LAC, vs. CIN 23 Jordan Thomas, HOU, vs. IND 24 Matt LaCosse, DEN, at SF 25 Mark Andrews, BAL, at KC 26 Nick Vannett, SEA, vs. MIN 27 Rhett Ellison, NYG, at WAS 28 Benjamin Watson, NO, at TB 29 Ricky Seals-Jones, ARI, vs. DET 30 Vernon Davis, WAS, vs. NYG 31 Tyler Higbee, LAR, at CHI 32 Jesse James, PIT, at OAK 33 Hayden Hurst, BAL, at KC 34 Dallas Goedert, PHI, at DAL 35 Mike Gesicki, MIA, vs. NE 36 Levine Toilolo, DET, at ARI 37 James O'Shaughnessy, JAC, at TEN 38 Charles Clay, BUF, vs. NYJ 39 Adam Shaheen, CHI, vs. LAR 40 Ed Dickson, SEA, vs. MIN 41 Demetrius Harris, KC, vs. BAL 42 Erik Swoope, IND, at HOU 43

Created with WP Rankings Plugin.