Getty Jonnu Smith #81 of the Tennessee Titans catches a touchdown over Brandon Carr #39 of the Baltimore Ravens in the first quarter of the AFC Divisional Playoff game.
Welcome to Fantasy Football Start ‘Em, Sit ‘Em Tight Ends edition for Week 3 of the NFL season. This edition features a Titans pass-catcher emerging as a must-start play. Plus, a player fresh off a two-touchdown performance is met with more question marks than pluses heading into this week’s game.
* Reminder: Start ‘Em, Sit ‘Em is intended to present you with the non-obvious choices for your fantasy lineup. We dig deep into player matchups, scoring trends, and other factors to best help you with your fantasy decisions. Superstars such as Travis Kelce will not be found in this column. If you’re looking for players of such caliber check out our weekly fantasy football tight end rankings.
Start-Sit [QBs | RBs | WRs | TEs | DEF | Ks]
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TE: Start ‘Em
Start of the Week: Tyler Higbee at BUF
Three touchdowns in one game will get fantasy owners’ attention. After a down Week 1, Higbee exploded for 28-plus points this past Sunday. Matching his touchdown output may be asking too much, however matching his fantasy scoring output is certainly not out of the question. Buffalo allowed 27.0 points to Mike Gesicki last week and has surrendered six-plus receptions to the position in back-to-back weeks.
Jonnu Smith at MIN
Smith is in the midst of a breakout campaign, ranking top-11 at his position in receptions (11th), receiving yards (8th) and touchdowns (1st). With A.J. Brown’s Week 3 playing status still up in the air, expect Smith to remain very much relevant in the Titans’ underappreciated passing attack. Colts tight end Mo Alie-Cox entered Week 2 matchup with the Vikings owning a single-game career-high of 34 receiving yards. He left Week’s 2’s matchup vs. the Vikings with 111-receiving yards and 16.1 fantasy points.
Mike Gesicki at JAC
We’ve already slightly touched on Gesicki’s brilliant Week 2 play above. The Miami pass-catcher saw 11 targets come his way, hauling in eight passes, one touchdown, and 130 receiving yards (a Dolphins TE record). Gesicki has a strong chance of continuing his stellar play on Thursday night vs. a Jaguars defense who allows the third-most points to opposing TEs this season, including 84 yards and two touchdowns to Jonnu Smith last week.
Sleepers: Drew Sample at PHI
A second-round pick one season ago, Sample finished his rookie campaign with just five receptions. The Bengals tight end surpassed that output in one game, hauling in seven reception vs. the Browns last week. With C.J Uzomah out for the season, Sample is set to man a heavy workload moving forward. The Eagles have allowed the fourth-most points to TEs this season, with no opposing starter ranking outside the top-seven scorers at the position.
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TE: Sit ‘Em
Sit of the Week: Chris Herndon at IND
Herndon was supposed to break out this season. With just 9.2 fantasy points thus far, Jets fans and fantasy owners are still waiting. Unfortunately, they’ll likely be doing the same after this week’s matchup vs. the Colts. In total, Indianapolis has allowed 1.30 fantasy points to tight ends this season, obviously the fewest amount in football.
Dalton Schultz at SEA
Let’s face it, Schultz’s ability to man double-digit targets in the Cowboys offense is unattainable. There are simply too many mouths to feed. Not to mention Dak Prescott’s 47 pass attempts in last week’s fluke of a game marked his fifth-highest total in a single game over his 69-game career (including postseason). Schultz’s opponents this week, the Seahawks, have not allowed an opposing tight end this season to record more than five targets, three receptions, 38 yards and 6.80 fantasy points.
Buyers Beware: Jordan Reed at NYG
Reed exploded in Week 2, with two receiving touchdowns on eight targets. Yet, while his play has likely warranted himself a larger role in the 49ers offense moving forward, expect his target share and redzone usage to take a massive hit this week with George Kittle expected to return to the lineup. On top of that, Reed may have Nick Mullens throwing him the ball this week, as Jimmy Garoppolo’s playing status remains up in the air. No matter who’s under center in San Francisco, Reed still faces off against a Giants defense that has surrendered a grand total of two receptions for 36 receiving yards and zero touchdowns to tight ends in 2020.