It's been a long year for the tight end position. It's been a long year for the Cleveland Browns. David Njoku stands out as a glimmer of positivity for both. And last week, we found out that's true even with Dorian Thompson-Robinson at quarterback.
In Week 16, Njoku caught eight of 10 targets for 66 yards and 14.6 PPR Fantasy points. For the year, he now ranks as TE4, averaging 13.1 PPR Fantasy points per game. In Week 17, Njoku has a mediocre matchup against the Dolphins, but he still projects as a top-five tight end. I would start him over Travis Kelce, Mark Andrews, and Sam LaPorta.
I would also start Njoku over any streamer you might find on the waiver wire. But that doesn't mean there aren't good streaming options available for this week. I make my case for Chigoziem Okonkwo and Dalton Schultz in the waiver wire section below.
Here's everything else you need to know about tight end in Week 17:
Okonkwo has been Mason Rudolph's favorite target over the past two weeks and has 21 targets in those two games. The Jaguars have one of the worst pass defenses in the NFL. That's enough to make Okonkwo a top-12 tight end in this environment.
Schultz's involvement has been hit-or-miss over the last month, but his best two games of the season have come in the last three weeks. The absence of Tank Dell should mean more targets, and the Texans should be pass-heavy because no one runs on Baltimore.
Five of my top nine tight ends this week are not on the main slate. But number two by production and number one by value is there, that's Jonnu Smith. Smith has already set the Dolphins' record for catches by a tight end with 76, but he still has an outside shot at hirs first 1,000-yard season. He has at least 12 PPR Fantasy points in six straight games.
Ertz was awful last week, but he now has a good matchup against a bad pass defense with a lower roster rate and price. That makes him a perfect Week 17 contrarian play.
TE Preview
Heath's Projections
My full set of Week 17 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 17. Projected stats for all starting tight ends are available, so be sure to check out the full set of projections at SportsLine.
This page provides an overview of our use of cookies and similar technologies (from here we will refer to all those as “Cookies”) and how to manage them. For more information please visit our Privacy Policy.
When you visit our properties and use our products and services (“Services”), we use Cookies to analyse and measure our performance, customize content and serve personalized advertisements. We may place our own Cookies (First-party Cookies) or allow our service providers to place Cookies (Third-party Cookies) on your device and collect information such as your device ID, browser type and IP address so they can help us better understand your interaction with our Services. Advertisers and other advertising technology partners may also use their own third-party Cookies to collect information about your visits, deliver advertisements tailored to your interests, keep track of the number of views of a specific advertisement, analyses the effectiveness of advertisements, or provide auditing, research and reporting for advertisers. Such third parties may also match you to an existing interest category (e.g. automobiles) that they’ve developed and provide you with more relevant advertising over time and across different websites.
When you click on save settings below, your preferences will be saved. You can change your settings at any time by using the consent settings module. Note that saving settings is linked to the particular browser and/or device you use to visit our Services. Saving your settings within one particular Service will not affect your choices on other Paramount Services, or if you visit this Service with another device or from a different browser. In addition, it won’t affect any of your activities on third-party services. You have other choices to manage cookies and other tracking technologies on the internet such as using industry choice programs or managing your preferences within your browsers or devices. For more Information refer to our Privacy Policy.
Essential
Always Active
These cookies are essential for the proper functioning of our Services. Essential cookies cannot be switched off in our systems. You can set your device to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the Service will not work.
Analytic & Performance
Always Active
These Cookies allow us to collect information about how visitors use our properties. Some examples include counting visits and traffic sources, so we can measure and improve the performance of our services. If you do not allow these Cookies we will not know when users have visited our properties and will not be able to monitor performance.
Functional
Always Active
These Cookies enable the services to provide enhanced functionality and personalization. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our services. If you do not allow these Cookies then some or all of these services may not function properly.
Marketing and Advertising
Always Active
These Cookies may be set by us or through our services by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant advertising on this and on other properties. If you do not allow these Cookies, you will still see ads, but you will experience less relevant advertising.
Social Media
Always Active
These Cookies are set by a range of social media services that we have added to the services to enable you to share our content with your friends and networks. They are capable of tracking your browser across other sites, building up a profile of your interests to show you relevant content and advertisements on the relevant social networks. If you do not allow these Cookies you may not be able to use or see these sharing tools.
![[object Object] Logo](https://sportshub.cbsistatic.com/i/2020/04/22/e9ceb731-8b3f-4c60-98fe-090ab66a2997/screen-shot-2020-04-22-at-11-04-56-am.png)
