It’s here folks. Besides maybe Week 1, Week 18 is the most interesting DFS slate of the year. 

On one hand, you have teams resting starters. On the other, you have players chasing Week 18 Incentives and Milestones.

 

 

 

NFL DFS Week 18 TE Coach For FanDuel & DraftKings Fantasy

That creates a whole lot of interesting narratives and discounts for us to utilize (as well as a bunch of players that we need to fade). 

Let’s dig into the info at hand and see what we can come up with for our NFL DFS Week 18 TE plays!

 

 

 

NFL DFS TE Top Tier Picks For Week 18

Brock Bowers, TE Las Vegas Raiders - DraftKings: $4,200 | FanDuel: $5,500

The Raiders and Cardinals don’t have much left to play for as teams. And Trey McBride was finally able to get the monkey off his back with a touchdown last week. So, he’s not really chasing much. Brock Bowers, however, will be looking over his shoulder as he attempts to protect a pretty prestigious record.

Bowers currently has the all-time rookie record for receptions in a season with 108. And that’s not just for tight ends, it’s for ANY PLAYER. But Malik Nabers is breathing down his neck with 104 receptions under his belt. 

The interesting thing here is that Nabers plays at 1 PM ET and Bowers plays at 4:25 PM so Bowers will know how many catches he needs to have. The higher that number goes, the more interesting Bowers becomes as a DFS play. 

Jonnu Smith, TE Miami Dolphins - DraftKings: $5,700 | FanDuel: $6,800

It hasn’t always been perfect. But Jonnu Smith has found ways to get it down week in and week out. He’s now scored a minimum of 12 PPR points in seven straight contests. Over that span he’s also had three games with 11 targets which is rare upside for a tight end. He’s been a top tier option, now question.

Lucky for us, the Dolphins are not one of the top tier teams that can afford to rest guys, like Travis Kelce. They are in a must-win situation against the New York Jets to keep their playoff dreams alive. 

With Kelce not playing and George Kittle showing up on the injury report with ankle and hamstring injuries before a meaningless game, the top tier options are basically Brock Bowers, Trey McBride, and Jonnu Smith. 

 

 

 

NFL DFS TE Mid-Tier Picks For NFL Week 18

Kyle Pitts, TE Atlanta Falcons - DraftKings: $4,300 | FanDuel: $5,800

Kyle Pitts is still an incredibly risky play. But this isn’t your season-long fantasy football championship. This is where you're SUPPOSED to take those risks. Well, in GPPs at least. And this isn’t a bad spot to take one.

The Falcons are in a must win game this week. And they face the Carolina Panthers, one of the worst teams against the tight end. Kyle Pitts is at least athletic enough to rip off big chunk plays from time to time. He has three plays of 40+ yards this year. And one of those, a 52-yard scamper, came in the first game against these Panthers. 

It’s a new quarterback now in Michael Penix Jr who was able to connect with Pitts on a crucial touchdown last week so why not give it a shot in some big tournaments? There is so much negative sentiment surrounding this guy that folks will be fading him. 

Zach Ertz, TE Washington Commanders - DraftKings: $4,300 | FanDuel: $5,800

We were going to use Chig Okonkwo here - and maybe he’s still a guy you can sprinkle in given his target share lately. But we have two concerns with him. One is the abdominal injury he picked up mid-week. 

The other is that the Texans might pull their starters early. With the Titans already promising to rotate Mason Rudolph and Will Levis, we could see other guys rotate like Okonkwo with Josh Whyle.

Zach Ertz has no such concerns. In fact, Ertz has three major incentives he could hit here. As we broke down in our article on Week 18 NFL Contract Incentives, he gets $250,000 each if he has 9 catches, 90 yards, or two touchdowns. Last week he had 6 catches for 72 and 2 touchdowns so that’s not exactly crazy. Especially against the Cowboys.

 

 

 

NFL DFS TE Value Picks For NFL Week 18

Jeremy Ruckert, TE New York Jets, DraftKings: $3,600 | FanDuel: $5,400

***Tyler Conklin is pushing to play as he needs one reception for a $250K incentive. He could get his reception and exit early but Ruckert is risky if he plays. Payne Durham is another option in this price range.*** 

There are a lot of interesting options in pay-down land with all the wonky scenarios. Some teams are resting starters. Others have no reason to play guys that are nicked up. 

With Tyler Conklin now missing every practice through Thursday with a calf issue, it’s starting to look fairly unlikely that he will suit up. The backup options are Jeremy Ruckert and Kenny Yeboah. And though we do think Yeboah has an interesting athletic profile, we’ve already seen a game without Conklin in Week 15. 

In that game Ruckert ran 25 routes to 14 for Yeboah and Yeboah wasn’t targeted while Ruckert had 3. Ruckert has actually quietly caught 17 balls on the season even in a backup capacity so it will be interesting to see what it looks like in a starting capacity. 

Zach Davidson, TE Buffalo Bills - DraftKings: $2,500 | FanDuel: $4,000

Zach Davidson is certainly an interesting character. He played Division II in college and actually was first-team All-MIAA at TWO different positions - both tight end and punter (he was a DII All American at TE as well). 

He came into the league as a raw talent but at 6’6” 245 he does not lack athleticism. Both Dawson Knox and Dalton Kincaid are considered “starters”. That leaves Quinten Morris, who is more of a blocking tight end, and Davidson. 

In the final preseason game this year against Carolina Davidson played with the backups and let the team with 27 routes run and caught all four of his targets. Maybe he can get some looks here in a scheme that is built with multiple tight ends in mind?

 

 

 

NFL DFS TE Fades For Week 18

There are honestly more fades than not this week with the injuries and team resting starters. Here is a list of players we’re not using:

 

 

 

NFL DFS Week 18 TE Projections