Fantasy Football Week 16 tight end rankings: Travis Kelce ruled out, plus other COVID and injury updates

Tight end rankings look a bit different in Week 16

By Chris Towers

Dec 26, 2021 at 11:50 am ET • 1 min read

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There was some talk last week around Fantasy Football circles about Travis Kelce no longer being the No. 1 tight end, so he went out and put together the sixth-best tight end performance in a single game since 2000, with 41.1 PPR points. Of course, it's not like Mark Andrews, the consensus No. 1 last week, was much worse – he had the 17th-best performance, with 35.6 points. And it's worth pausing here, as the Fantasy playoffs move to the semi-finals, to note just how big of an edge those elite tight ends have still been able to give you this season.

Of the 30-best tight end performances in a single game since 2000, six have happened this season:

No. 5: Mark Andrews in Week 5 – 41.7 PPR points
No. 6: Travis Kelce in Week 15 – 41.1
No. 9: George Kittle in Week 13 – 39.6
No. 17: Mark Andrews in Week 15 – 35.6
No. 30: George Kittle in Week 14 – 34.1

Talk about coming up big at the right time. Overall, this position remains incredibly weak, with just six or maybe seven players I feel good about starting right now, with a clear drop after No. 4, Rob Gronkowski. The elites at the position still remain arguably the biggest consistent edge you can find in Fantasy – though, unfortunately, Kelce's status for Week 16 is very much in doubt after he tested positive for COVID, shrinking the already shallow pool of reliable options at the worst time. The Chiefs hope to have him available Sunday, but right now, it doesn't look likely.

Here are my tight end rankings for Week 16. To see the rankings of Jamey Eisenberg, Dave Richard, and Heath Cummings, make sure you head here.