Fantasy Football: Week 9 TE Rankings
Rich Barnes-USA TODAY Sports
Kevin Hanson joins SI for the 2019 season. His fantasy rankings have placed him in the Top 20 in each of the past two seasons among all the industry experts tracked by FantasyPros.com, and he has been in the Top 25 in six of the past eight years.
Check out more of Kevin’s rankings: QB, RB, WR, DST, flex and kicker.
TE Start of the Week: Dallas Goedert, Philadelphia Eagles (vs. CHI)
I considered writing about Jonnu Smith, who I wrote about in my Early Fantasy Football Waiver Wire for Week 9. Smith is still owned in just 31% of Yahoo! leagues (as of Wednesday night) and a viable streamer as a top-10 option this week.
Only one spot lower in my rankings this week, Dallas Goedert has an even lower ownership (24%) and is another viable streaming option. Goedert would become an every-week starter if Zach Ertz were to miss time, but Goedert has been nearly as involved in the passing attack as Ertz over the past three weeks.
In fact, he has been even more productive than Ertz.
Over the past three games, the second-year tight end has 12 catches for 139 yards and two touchdowns on 17 targets. Among tight ends, Goedert is seventh or better in all four categories over that stretch. In addition, he’s a top-eight fantasy tight end in any format from Weeks 6 to 8 while Ertz is outside the top 20 fantasy tight ends over that same period.
The Bears have allowed the fourth-fewest fantasy points to opposing wide receivers, but they have been a little more generous—15-most fantasy points—to opposing tight ends. Perhaps the game plan will feature an uptick in volume, but either way, Goedert is worth starting in 12-team leagues in Week 9.
TE Sit of the Week: Kyle Rudolph, Minnesota Vikings (at KC)
A couple of weeks ago when Adam Thielen was sidelined, Rudolph had a 5/58/1 performance on six targets. That was by far his best performance of the season, even though he now has three catches in three consecutive games.
That said, he’s been targeted more than three times only twice—four in Week 2 and six in Week 7—and he’s averaging just 2.5 targets per game this season. Through the season’s halfway point, Rudolph is on pace for less than 300 yards.
Like many of the tight ends outside the top eight or so, Rudolph is only a TD-dependent option. As noted above, Smith and Goedert would make for much better streaming options than Rudolph this week.
Week 9 fantasy football tight end rankings (half-PPR scoring):
TE1: George Kittle, SF @ ARI
TE2: Travis Kelce, KC vs MIN
TE3: Darren Waller, OAK vs DET
TE4: Hunter Henry, LAC vs GB
TE5: Evan Engram, NYG vs DAL
TE6: Mark Andrews, BAL vs NE
TE7: Zach Ertz, PHI vs CHI
TE8: Greg Olsen, CAR vs TEN
TE9: T.J. Hockenson, DET @ OAK
TE10: Jonnu Smith, TEN @ CAR
TE11: Dallas Goedert, PHI vs CHI
TE12: Jimmy Graham, GB @ LAC
TE13: Eric Ebron, IND @ PIT
TE14: Jason Witten, DAL @ NYG
TE15: Darren Fells, HOU @ JAC
TE16: Cameron Brate, TB @ SEA
TE17: Noah Fant, DEN vs CLE
TE18: Jack Doyle, IND @ PIT
TE19: Vance McDonald, PIT vs IND
TE20: Kyle Rudolph, MIN @ KC
TE21: Jordan Akins, HOU @ JAC
TE22: Irv Smith Jr., MIN @ KC
TE23: Mike Gesicki, MIA vs NYJ
TE24: Benjamin Watson, NE @ BAL
TE25: Foster Moreau, OAK vs DET
TE26: Ryan Griffin, NYJ @ MIA
TE27: Jacob Hollister, SEA vs TB
TE28: Trey Burton, CHI @ PHI
TE29: Dawson Knox, BUF vs WAS
TE30: Ricky Seals-Jones, CLE @ DEN
TE31: Jeremy Sprinkle, WAS @ BUF
TE32: Josh Oliver, JAC vs HOU
TE33: Hayden Hurst, BAL vs NE
TE34: Luke Willson, SEA vs TB
TE35: Tyler Kroft, BUF vs WAS
Week 9 fantasy football tight end rankings (non-PPR scoring):
TE1: George Kittle, SF @ ARI
TE2: Travis Kelce, KC vs MIN
TE3: Darren Waller, OAK vs DET
TE4: Hunter Henry, LAC vs GB
TE5: Mark Andrews, BAL vs NE
TE6: Evan Engram, NYG vs DAL
TE7: Zach Ertz, PHI vs CHI
TE8: Greg Olsen, CAR vs TEN
TE9: Jonnu Smith, TEN @ CAR
TE10: T.J. Hockenson, DET @ OAK
TE11: Dallas Goedert, PHI vs CHI
TE12: Eric Ebron, IND @ PIT
TE13: Darren Fells, HOU @ JAC
TE14: Jimmy Graham, GB @ LAC
TE15: Cameron Brate, TB @ SEA
TE16: Jason Witten, DAL @ NYG
TE17: Noah Fant, DEN vs CLE
TE18: Vance McDonald, PIT vs IND
TE19: Jacob Hollister, SEA vs TB
TE20: Jack Doyle, IND @ PIT
TE21: Jordan Akins, HOU @ JAC
TE22: Kyle Rudolph, MIN @ KC
TE23: Irv Smith Jr., MIN @ KC
TE24: Benjamin Watson, NE @ BAL
TE25: Mike Gesicki, MIA vs NYJ
TE26: Foster Moreau, OAK vs DET
TE27: Ryan Griffin, NYJ @ MIA
TE28: Trey Burton, CHI @ PHI
TE29: Dawson Knox, BUF vs WAS
TE30: Jeremy Sprinkle, WAS @ BUF
TE31: Ricky Seals-Jones, CLE @ DEN
TE32: Hayden Hurst, BAL vs NE
TE33: Josh Oliver, JAC vs HOU
TE34: Tyler Kroft, BUF vs WAS
TE35: Chris Herndon IV, NYJ @ MIA
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