We were nervous last week. We were nervous that, with ZERO bye weeks and 28 games on Sunday, our hot streak would come to an end. 

We’ve hit the top main slate tight end in 7 of 8 weeks with the lone exception being the Tucker Kraft breakout game. Week 9 was a tall order with so many high-end tight ends playing.

 

 

 

Well, guess what? Not only did we hit the top TE. We hit the top TWO tight ends on the main slate. And they were our two Mid-Tier picks, with Cade Otton and Kyle Pitts.

NFL DFS Week 9 TE Coach For FanDuel & DraftKings Fantasy

It wasn’t a perfect week as some of our other options didn’t live up to their billing but, in terms of giving ourselves a shot at greatness and a million dollars, we certainly had the two names you needed. 

But enough dwelling on last week. It’s on to the NFL DFS Week 9 TE Coach. 

 

 

 

NFL DFS TE Top Tier Picks For Week 9

Brock Bowers, TE Las Vegas Raiders DraftKings: $6,000 | FanDuel: $7,700

FanDuel has made the adjustment. They have boosted the price for Bowers to over $700 more than the next tight end. So, over there, we are going with Engram or guys from the mid-tier. DraftKings, however, is not pricing Bowers like the special player he is. 

Bowers started the year playing under 70% of the snaps int he first three weeks. Last week he played 91%. They have acknowledged this guy is a star. He leads all tight ends in targets, receptions, yards, and YAC. He should be priced the way Travis Kelce was often priced when he would lead in every category. 

George Kittle has been tremendous, especially in FanDuel scoring, but he is on bye. Travis Kelce is off the main slate playing on Monday. Trey McBride and David Njoku are viable options, but they do not have the matchup that Bowers has. And they aren’t much cheaper on DraftKings. If we are paying up, we’re paying up for Bowers. 

Evan Engram, TE Jacksonville Jaguars - DraftKings: $5,300 | FanDuel: $6,400

Last year, in games where Christian Kirk played, Evan Engram averaged 7.5 targets per game. Which is good. Great, in fact. But, in games without Christian Kirk, he averaged 10.2 targets per game. Which is insane.

Folks will point out that Brian Thomas Jr is there but, in the games without Kirk last year, Calvin Ridley ALSO averaged over 10 targets a game. How many targets are we expecting BTJ to get? Parker Washington is nothing new, he was there last year as well.

DraftKings will show the Eagles as one of the best teams vs. the tight end but, over their past four games, David Njoku caught 5 passes against them, Cade Otton caught 6 passes, and, this past week, Mike Gesicki caught 7. Evan Engram should be just fine, and he’s fairly reasonably priced on both platforms.

 

 

 

NFL DFS TE Mid-Tier Picks For NFL Week 9

Kyle Pitts, TE Atlanta Falcons - DraftKings: $4,900 | FanDuel: $6,000

We’re going to continue to take advantage of this one, now in our NFL DFS Week 9 TE Coach, until they fix it. Over the last four weeks, the top five tight ends in fantasy football have been George Kittle, Brock Bowers, Kyle Pitts, Cade Otton, and Trey McBride. 

Pitts and Otton were underpriced in this range last week as well, but Otton plays on Monday. If they don’t juice his price next week, we won’t be scared to use him again.

Pitts has now had 88, 70, 65, and 91 yards over the last four games. Forget the two touchdowns last week - for a tight end, those alone are elite numbers. He’s also entered a rare group this season as he has three plays of 40+ yards already. Over the last five seasons, that has only happened four times.

Given his playstyle and the target pecking order, he might be a better play on FanDuel. But, at his price, he’s certainly viable on both. We care about weekly upside when it comes to DFS and there’s no reason that some of these guys should be priced thousands of dollars higher than Kyle Pitts. 

Sam LaPorta, TE Detroit Lions, DraftKings: $4,800 | FanDuel: $6,300

If we had told you that the TE1 in ADP would be a mid-priced DFS play under $5,000 on DraftKings by Week 9, you would have thought we were crazy. But the slow start for LaPorta has dragged his pricing down and made him fairly affordable.  

Dan Campbell told us that a hamstring string in August was partially to blame for the slow start. Then he sprained his ankle in September, adding to the woes. On top of that, Jameson Williams emerged as a target threat and the Lions were a much more balanced team in general. 

But let’s think about where we are now. Sam LaPorta is healthy. Jameson Williams is suspended. Green Bay should keep this game competitive. And they have not been as good against the tight end this year since DeVondre Campbell left for SF. 

Pitts is cheaper than LaPorta on FanDuel, but LaPorta is cheaper than Pitts on DraftKings so there’s a way to make lineups with both at this price point. 

 

 

 

NFL DFS TE Value Picks For NFL Week 9

Hunter Henry TE New England Patriots - DraftKings: $3,900 | FanDuel: $5,500

We would love it if Drake Maye could get cleared from concussion protocol and play this week. Per Phil Perry, he’s into stage 3 of 5 as of today meaning it is entirely possible that he gets cleared to play.  That would certainly give a boost to Henry.

But we’ve also seen Henry have a 12-target game with Jacoby Brissett. Over the last three weeks he had 5 targets and a touchdown vs. Houston, 9 targets vs. Jacksonville, and 6 against a tough Jets defense. He actually leads the Patriots in routes run and targets this season.

Raw fantasy points will say Tennessee is a tough matchup for tight ends but DVOA over at FTN Fantasy, which attempts to even things out for competition level, suggests Tennessee is more middle of the pack. 

Henry is one of the few tight ends in this range that offers the upside of both high target volume and redzone prowess so he’s not a bad bet on either platform. He has a main slate TE1 overall week on his resume already this season. 

Brenton Strange, TE Jacksonville Jaguars - DraftKings: $2,700 | FanDuel: $5,100

The Jacksonville Jaguars just lost Christian Kirk for the season with a collarbone injury. And both Brian Thomas and Gabe Davis are banged up. That could see the Jaguars using more two tight end sets in the short term and Doug Pederson is obviously no stranger to that. 

Just look at his offenses with Philadelphia that featured Zach Ertz in the slot and Dallas Goedert inline. Strange at this price point would just need to see a few targets or a random touchdown to be well worth the value. That could easily happen in his current role - he caught 5 passes for 59 last week. 

But, if Evan Engram were to go down, now all of a sudden Strange is thrust into a full-time role. One that we are paying up for dearly with Engram in the elite tier. Brenton Strange is fairly reasonably priced on both platforms. But he’s only $200 more than the bare minimum on DraftKings making him an especially intriguing play over there. 

BONUS DART THROW: Brenton Strange, TE Jacksonville Jaguars - DraftKings: $2,700 | FanDuel: $5,100

 

 

NFL DFS TE Fades For Week 9

Dallas Goedert/T.J. Hockenson

Exciting times - the tight ends are back! And many fantasy gamers will be anxious to use them in lineups (Hockenson can only be used on FanDuel as he’s the late slate). And we’re not scared to use guys coming back from injury if there is some sort of extraordinary appeal. But what exactly is the appeal here?

Folks are chasing what Dallas Goedert was able to accomplish when the Eagles wide receivers were hurt. Now THEY are the healthy ones and Goedert is the one working his way back. Same for T.J. Hockenson. This isn’t a Kirk Cousins offense with a rookie Jordan Addison anymore. 

It’s his very first action back after a very serious knee injury in a Sam Bradford offense that has Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, and Aaron Jones. We aren’t getting any sort of discount on these guys and there’s no special circumstances that would offer unique upside. 

Cole Kmet, TE Chicago Bears - DraftKings: $4,400 | FanDuel: $5,200

Cole Kmet had one game with 11 targets when Keenan Allen was out. In the over six games, he has averaged 3.2 targets. Every year Kmet will play a bad defense and have a two-touchdown game which did happen against the Jacksonville Jaguars. 

Folks are chasing that high when in reality Cole Kmet is battling with D’Andre Swift to be the fourth target on this team. Our NFL DFS Week 9 TE Coach says no thank you. 

 

 

 

NFL DFS Week 9 TE Projections