NFL DFS Week 18 TE Coach: Top DraftKings & FanDuel Picks
The craziest week for NFL DFS with the most opportunity is Week 1. The pricing comes out incredibly early and there is so much uncertainty that it’s chaos. The next craziest week? That would be NFL Week 18. There are teams resting starters. There are teams that will be scoreboard-watching that COULD rest starters. On the flip side, there are teams in MUST WIN situations treating this like a playoff game. AND, on top of all that, there are players that could chase contract incentives, milestones, and records. All that adds up to arguably the most fun NFL DFS slate of the year! And it comes the week after your typical leagues are most likely over! Let's take a look at the top tight ends, values, and fades for both Saturday and Sunday's NFL DFS lineups.
Be sure to check out the rest of the NFL DFS Coaches and DFS Watch List throughout the week!
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As a reminder, here is how we separate the groups here. We do it this way so that you have an option no matter how much (or how little) money you have available to spend on tight end.
Top Tier: the safest and most expensive guys available if you want to pay up
Mid Tier: affordable players that offer the best bang for your buck
Value Tier: the bargain bin players that are risky by nature but can have the huge upside in terms of value created
Fades: The guys we feel are the worst value proposition that you should actively avoid
SATURDAY TWO-GAME SLATE
Top Tier
Dalton Schultz, Houston Texans
This is the Saturday pay-up pick for us for sure. Not only has he been an integral part of the offense but this is also a must-win game for the Texans. If they win they are not only in but, with a little help, could still win the division. On top of that, Dalton Schultz has multiple highly obtainable contract incentives as we laid out here. The short and sweet is that he gets an extra $250K if he has six catches and ANOTHER $250K if he has 107 yards. That could easily happen in the normal course of a game but, if he gets close to either, I could see them helping him out. He’s $4,200 on DraftKings so a manageable price.
Value Tier
Charlie Kolar, Baltimore Ravens
Folks will be going with Pat Freiermuth or trying to guess a Colts tight end but we like going with the minimum-priced third-string tight end for the Ravens. Or, more accurately, the second string tight end ever since Mark Andrews went down. The Ravens already said they are resting their starters so Lamar Jackson and Isiah Likely will give way to Tyler Huntley and Charlie Kolar. Honestly, the Ravens have three tight ends that could start for multiple NFL teams and it’s not crazy to suggest that, if Kolar were on the Colts, he might be operating ahead of guys like Kylen Granson or Will Mallory. And, as we mentioned, we are talking bare minimum price.
SUNDAY MAIN SLATE
Top Tier
Trey McBride, Arizona Cardinals
Guys like Travis Kelce, David Njoku, and George KIttle are sitting this week out which limits our options at the top. Folks are worried about eliminated teams taking it easy but the Cardinals have been eliminated and they did not take it easy last week when they beat the Eagles. Go watch James Conner’s post-game interview and see if he is taking it easy. Trey McBride has been a focal point of this offense with the highest target share of any tight end over the last couple of months so he is locked in. We are definitely using him on FanDuel where he is actually cheaper than our next option, Evan Engram, but he’s affordable on all three platforms. We just have to hope they don’t give rookie Elijah Higgins an extended look this game. He did quietly play 28 snaps last week so the WR-turned-TE could be a deep dart throw himself if you wanted to dabble. But we think they lean on McBride, per usual.
Evan Engram, Jacksonville Jaguars
Even if Christian Kirk does play, we don’t expect him to jump off the IR, practice a couple of times, and play the whole game. Evan Engram has been as dialed in as any tight end this year and not only leads the team in receptions with 104 but leads all tight ends. This is a must-win game for the Jags so there’s no chance of resting guys or taking it easy here. Engram is cheaper than Trey McBride on DraftKings (10.8% of your budget vs. 12%) and on Yahoo (10.5% vs. 11.5%) though we already mentioned we are using McBride on FanDuel.
Mid Tier
Jake Ferguson, Dallas Cowboys
We rarely use Jake Ferguson but this week he feels solidly priced. His output as of late has been mediocre with three games in a row of around 35-45 yards but he’s averaged 7.6 targets a game making him a safe cash game option. If the Cowboys get a big lead they might rest starters but first, you need to get a big lead to do that. And considering the NFC East division is at stake here, the Cowboys aren’t resting anyone until that game is well in hand. He’s between 9-10% of your budget on all three platforms which puts him on the radar no matter where you plan to play.
Juwan Johnson, New Orleans Saints
The Green Bay situation still needs to sort itself out and, if Luke Musgrave plays (and possibly some of the WRs) we will be off both Musgrave and Kraft. The production for Juwan Johnson as of late isn’t a fluke according to Derek Carr himself. In case you don’t feel like watching that 20-minute press conference, Carr essentially says that Juwan hadn’t been fully healthy and it took a while for them to get on the same page. But now they are. JJ was playing 40% of the snaps as recently as a couple of weeks ago but he’s played over 70% in back-to-back weeks and scored three games in a row now. In a must-win matchup for the Saints, we like the idea of Juwan being heavily involved again. He’s 9% of your budget on FanDuel so we aren’t using him there but we do like him on DraftKings and Yahoo where he’s around 7%.
Value Tier
Robert Tonyan, Chicago Bears
The Chicago Bears are eliminated from playoff contention. Sure it’s fun to play spoiler but not at the expense of your player’s health. Cole Kmet has been dealing with a knee issue that saw him play only 13 snaps last week. It makes zero sense to roll him out there for a big workload on a bum knee in a game where it actually benefits your franchise to lose. Last week with Kmet banged up Tonyan played 39 snaps, ran 32 routes (out of a possible 40), and caught three of four targets for 40 yards. We like to pay up for tight ends on FanDuel but on DraftKings, he’s $2,800 (the bare minimum is $2,500) and on Yahoo, he’s $10 which IS the bare minimum.
Lucas Krull, Denver Broncos
Yes, we are doing it again. It is fun to get cute starting backup tight ends in Week 18 and we’ll certainly be doing our share of that. But flying right under everyone’s know is a tight end who has actually led his position group in route run for three weeks in a row now. And he has a soft matchup against the Raiders defense. FanDuel is no fun as always but $2,700 on DraftKings and the bare minimum $10 on Yahoo is just right for The Warrior Kings.
BONUS DART THROW
Izaiah Gathings. Kansas City Chiefs
You’ve probably never heard of this guy. And that is a good thing - he’ll be our secret. The Kansas City Chiefs had him in camp over the summer in July/August but ended up releasing him. Two weeks ago they signed him back to the practice squad. The Chiefs are resting their starter Travis Kelce but Noah Gray has also played more than half the snaps this season so he’ll get a rest too. Izaiah Gathings is a converted WR and he’s built more like one at 6’4”, 222. If they call Gathings up then it will be Blake Bell and him as the tight end options. Guess which one will be doing the blocking and which one will be running the routes? If they don’t call up Gathings from the practice squad, maybe throw a dart at Blake Bell but that is less fun.
Fades
Sam LaPorta, Detroit Lions
It’s easy to fade guys who are flat-out benched like Kelce and Kittle. LaPorta is one we worry about. He needs one catch to set the single-season rookie tight end reception record which I think he gets. But the single-season yardage record would be an insane game at 216 yards. I don’t think they even risk injury going for 140 yards. I think the Lions start their starters because Dan Campbell is that kind of guy and then they work in the backups in a game that won’t affect their seeding. Thanks for all the money earlier this year Sam but we are out here.
Dallas Goedert, Philadelphia Eagles
The Eagles will be scoreboard-watching. If the Cowboys win, their game does not matter. And Nick Sirianni has implied that the starters could be pulled if that’s the case. It’s just not the game I really want to play with my lineups considering Goedert hasn’t been a world-beater anyway.
Player News
Titans coach Brian Callahan said “I think we can do a better job managing that load so they both play a little more evenly” when asked about Tony Pollard and Tyjae Spears.
Even when Spears was healthy last year, Callahan used him as more of a third-down back. Through two years, Spears has played on 253 running plays (blocking 63 times) and 626 passing plays (blocking 119 times) per PFF. Callahan also seems to always preface this with something along the lines of “in a perfect world,” as he did in both this quote and in one we blurbed earlier in May. It’s not completely out of the range of outcomes that Tony Pollard loses major snaps and carries this year — losing a few carries should be the expectation given how many games last year he played as essentially the only back Callahan trusted to run the ball. But we’re not completely sold on the idea of Spears as a 1B just yet. Spears is going to have to show more in camp or Callahan is going to have to actually give him a real snap share as a runner with Pollard active before this becomes more than offseason talk.
ESPN’s DJ Bien-Aime believes Christian Kirk “looked like a potential safety blanket” for C.J. Stroud in OTAs and minicamp.
That’s the smell of a PPR scam in development. Kirk, who has been called the “slot demon” by Texans defenders in the early offseason camp, looks like a clear No. 2 behind Nico Collins in the Texans pecking order coming into the season. It remains to be seen if Jayden Higgins or Jaylin Noel can make a real push for targets early in the season, and Kirk’s experience figures to make him at least a big part of the early-season plan for the Texans.
ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reports the Bengals and Trey Hendrickson have “resumed talks” in recent weeks.
Hendrickson “wants more long-term security” from the Bengals per Fowler, who also notes that Hendrickson is “dug in” and “prepared to miss time.” It’s good news for Bengals fans that the sides are at least talking again, but it sure sounds like the Bengals are going to have to give Hendrickson more than their recent offers have been to get him into training camp.
The Athletic’s Colton Pouncy believes a Jameson Williams trade “could be on the horizon in 2026" if the sides can’t agree on an extension.
This subplot had a brief little surge ahead of the draft that led nowhere, but the Lions did trade up to take Isaac TeSlaa in the third round of the draft. While the team has publicly prioritized extensions for Aidan Hutchinson and Kerby Joseph, GM Brad Holmes has been more muted while talking about Williams. Williams is entering the fourth year of his rookie contract ahead of his fifth-year option. The actions here are speaking loudly to the idea of dealing Williams after getting one more productive year out of him. It should be said, none of this speculation impacts Williams’ fantasy value this season, and coaches have raved about him all offseason in John Morton’s more downfield-focused attack. But the Lions have not appeared to prioritize a Williams extension and this could shape up to be the last dance for him in Detroit.
The Athletic’s Mike DeFabo believes Cordarrelle Patterson “could find himself on the outside looking in” for a roster spot in 2025.
“The Steelers’ backfield is full with rookie Kaleb Johnson and offseason signing Kenneth Gainwell joining Jaylen Warren. It remains to be seen if OC Arthur Smith will lobby for the hybrid RB/WR to remain on the roster as a Swiss Army knife,” DeFabo continues. Patterson only had 32 carries for 135 yards last year, but it would be a little surprising for the Steelers to cut bait with one of the greatest kickoff returners in NFL history. Entering his age-34 season, Patterson will need to keep impressing in camp to retain his spot on the roster.
The Athletic’s Zac Jackson believes that Jerome Ford is “the starter for now” and will “still play and probably start early in the season.”
“How many opportunities — and how soon they come — will probably be decided by how Judkins plays and progresses this summer,” writes Jackson in discerning that rookie back Quinshon Judkins is the player to watch for the Browns in training camp. It shouldn’t surprise anybody given his offseason paycut that Ford is on borrowed time, but this report is at least a little optimistic about him holding some fantasy value in 2025. If Ford can start for a month or so then hang on as the team’s main third-down back, he’ll have some runouts where he’s a worthwhile RB3 this year.