Last week we had a bunch of injuries and we had SIX teams on bye. Now, there’s not much we can do about the injuries but at least this week we have NO teams on bye. Full slate, a lot of opportunities. So let’s dig in here and figure out where we can gain an edge!

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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

NFL DFS Week 8 TE Top-Tier Picks

Travis Kelce, Kansas City Chiefs

Kelce is a good start in any given week but this week he’s the chalkiest chalk. To put things in perspective, the Broncos defense let up 70 points in a game. In that game, Durham Smythe got hurt and only had one catch so it actually didn’t move the needle much for their D vs. TE. And they are STILL the worst defense vs. the tight end, allowing 16 PPR points per game. Kelce is about 17% of your budget on DK and Yahoo, he’s 15% on FanDuel. We always pay up on FanDuel because they don’t give us discounts there. 

George Kittle, San Francisco 49ers

We haven’t been using George Kittle much this year and that’s because things have been fairly thin over there. In four games, Kittle has six or fewer PPR points. In the Cowboys game, he scored three touchdowns on three receptions which was an anomaly. In the other two games though, when Brandon Aiyuk was out vs. the Giants and Deebo Samuel was out vs. the Vikings, he had good games. This week we expect no Deebo Samuel against a Bengals defense that lost both of their starting safeties in free agency, Vonn Bell and Jessie Bates. So it’s a Kittle week. He’s 10-11% of your budget on all three platforms but we are leaning into him on Yahoo and FanDuel as he’s better in half PPR than full.

NFL DFS Week 8 TE Mid-Tier Picks

Dallas Goedert, Philadelphia Eagles

We’ve posted a few good plays for Yahoo/FanDuel so here’s one for DraftKings which is full PPR. Last year Dallas Goedert led all tight ends in screen passes. Over the first five games this year, he only had four total which is obviously less than one a game. Over the last two games though he’s had six totals. Screens are back on the menu for Goedert and, with the aggressive pass rush for the Commanders, I imagine they pull that trick a couple of times again this week. The Commanders are a bottom-three team vs the tight end so far this year in general. Goedert is better in full PPR than other formats yet he’s cheapest on DraftKings, the full PPR format. So have to do a lineup there.

Logan Thomas, Washington Commanders

Logan Thomas has had a couple of down weeks by his standards but he did bounce back with six targets last week. The Eagles defense so far this year has been funnelling things over the middle where they have been weak which is why they went out and traded for safety Kevin Byard. Byard needs to learn the playbook though and might not be fully up to speed which could lead to Logan Thomas making some plays over the middle once here. At this price, we’re willing to roll him out in a game where the Commanders will have to throw. He’s 9% of your budget on FanDuel so not a good deal but on DK (6.8%) and Yahoo (7.5%) he’s a good deal.

NFL DFS Week 8 TE Value-Tier Picks

Trey McBride, Arizona Cardinals

This is the chalkiest play ever but you have to get him in there in some spots because the price is off. He’s priced the way he would be if Zach Ertz were playing but Zach Ertz is on IR. We don’t get a discount on FanDuel (what else is new) but he’s $2,800 (minimum is $2,500) on DraftKings and he’s the bare minimum $10 on Yahoo. So you have to make at least one McBride lineup.

Connor Heyward, Pittsburgh Steelers

This is the sneakier play and you actually get a slight discount on DraftKings vs. McBride at $2,600 (both are $10 on Yahoo and we don’t pay down on FanDuel). Pat Freiermuth almost immediately reinjured his hamstring so the Steelers basically turned around last week and said “alright Heyward, you are Muth now”. The Steelers dropped back 29 times and Heyward ran 28 routes (he also didn’t pass block one time). That kind of usage really can’t be found in this price range so let’s take advantage of it while we can.

NFL DFS Week 8 TE Fades

Darren Waller, New York Giants

This might seem crazy because we typically love Waller. But he’s been limited in practice with a hamstring injury. The Jets also are technically 31st vs. the tight end but I really don’t think they are that bad against the PRIMARY tight end. They’ve actually held starting tight ends in check to some degree. But secondary tight ends Pharoah Brown, Luke Schoonmaker, and Noah Gray all scored random TDs against them. In fact, Travis Kelce had his worst game of the season vs. the Jets defense.

Taysom Hill, New Orleans Saints

I actually briefly moved Taysom Hill up in the rankings because he was actually playing tight end. He was running routes, getting targets AND he still had the possibility of a wildcat rushing TD. But folks might not realize that Juwan Johnson is back and he’s an actual tight end so Hill probably goes to the backburner. Throw in the fact that Hill has been wearing a red noncontact jersey all week with a chest injury and it’s just not a play we are making.

 

Be sure to check out the rest of the NFL DFS Coaches and DFS Watch List throughout the week!

| NFL DFS Watch List | DFS Playbook | QB Coach | RB Coach | WR Coach | TE Coach | D/ST Coach |