Fantasy Football Week 5 Tight End Preview: Projections, numbers to know, and more

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The tight end position looks very much like the haves and the have-nots, at least when you look at projections. If you have Trey McBride, Jake Ferguson, Brock Bowers, or Tyler Warren, you can forget about the tight position for as long as your tight end stays healthy. It may seem strange to see Bowers listed with the other three, but I remain hopeful that he is healing and going to be great as soon as he is 100%. Last year, after four weeks, he had 20 catches for 216 yards and zero touchdowns on 24 targets. This year, he has 19 catches for 225 yards and zero touchdowns on 27 targets. I know the last few weeks have been frustrating, but there is no way I am sitting him unless I have one of the other three names listed above.

You may also be wondering why Hunter Henry, Tucker Kraft, Dalton Kincaid, and Juwan Johnson didn’t make the list of haves. They are all averaging more than 12 PPR FPPG. For Henry, it is the fact that he has 15 catches, which is tied with Travis Kelce and Mark Andrews for 13th at the position. Kincaid is even lower than that at 13, and just played a season-low 37% of the team’s offensive snaps. Kraft has one game out of four with more than five targets. I am not telling you to sit these guys this week, quite the opposite, but I also do not expect them to maintain their scoring with this usage.

Johnson is the exception. His usage has been elite in three of four games this season. It is a little bit more concerning when a 28-year-old breakout has a three-target game, but I am not going away from him yet. I am a little concerned that with Taysom Hill and Foster Moreau both returning to practice, his elite usage could be coming to an end. But I don’t project those guys back for Week 5, so it is still wheels up for Johnson for at least one more week.

Here’s everything else you need to know about tight end in Week 5:

Week 5 TE Preview

• 16 — Darren Waller only played 16 offensive snaps in his debut. He scored 17 Fantasy points.
• 22.9% — 22.9% of Bryce Young’s passes have gone to tight ends this year. With Ja’Tavion Sanders likely out, expect Tommy Tremble to see the majority of those.
• 4.75 — The Bills are giving up 4.75 PPR FPPG to tight ends this year. Hunter Henry is up next.
• 4.5 — T.J. Hockneson is averaging 4.5 targets per game and has yet to break 50 receiving yards in a game this season.
• 3 — Dallas Goedert has three receiving touchdowns in three games. Last year, he had two in 10 games. The year before, he had three in 14 games. He has never had more than five in a season.
• 182 — Brenton Strange leads the Jaguars with 182 receiving yards.
• 2 — Tyler Warren had two carries inside the five-yard line for the Colts in Week 4. If that becomes the norm, he may be TE1 overall.

Projections powered by

Sportsline

Projections powered by

Sportsline

My full set of Week 5 Fantasy football projections for every position are now available on SportsLine. You can find them here. Find out which of my favorite plays are projected to score higher than consensus rankings and which don’t live up to their draft hype, at least in Week 5. Projected stats for all starting tight ends are available, so be sure to check out the full set of projections at SportsLine.