There were people who told you to ignore the rookie tight end narrative and draft Dalton Kincaid in the single-digit rounds. Through Week 6, it looks like they were half right.
Sam LaPorta has already established himself as a top six tight end, earning a 21% target share in one of the top offenses in football. Luke Musgrave isn't there yet, but he has 15 targets in his past two healthy games and he's my favorite streaming option in Week 7. Michael Mayer joined the party in Week 6 and is close to a must-add this week, even if it is tough to trust him as a starter. Imagine how good this class would look if Kincaid was doing anything?
The point? I am just about ready to ignore the rookie tight end narrative with this class as a whole. I mean, I'm already there with LaPorta, and Week 7 could convince me with both Musgrave and Mayer. They are a huge help at a position that has seen too many presumed starters fall flat on their faces. There may be multiple rookies we're starting over George Kittle if he has another one-target outing in Week 7.
Here's everything else you need to know about tight end in Week 7:
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The following players are not being projected to play Week 7 at this time. Here's what it means:
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Numbers to Know
7 -- Evan Engram has at least seven targets in five straight games; he's a must-start even in a terrible matchup.
2.01 -- Trey McBride has averaged 2.01 yards per route run this season to 1.02 for Zach Ertz. McBride just played a season-high 58% of the snaps; hopefully that starts a trend.
10 -- Jake Ferguson leads all tight ends with 10 red-zone targets. I would like to hold him on his bye.
15 -- Kyle Pitts scored 15 PPR points in back-to-back weeks for the first time since Week 7 of 2021.
47 -- Jonnu Smith is averaging a career-high 47 receiving yards per game.
Musgrave saw seven targets in his Week 5 return, and understandably was dropped last week because he was on his bye week. But he has a great matchup against a Falcons defense that has funneled targets to tight ends this season. It's quite possible since Musgrave has already had his bye that once you pick him up you're no longer streaming tight ends.
It feels really weird saying that both Kyle Pitts and Jonnu Smith are startable, but such is life in an Arthur Smith offense. Smith ranks 12th among all tight ends in target share this season and has the third-highest yards per route run among the top 12. He's a featured part of the offense and he's earning the targets he's receiving.
If Mayer becomes a starting tight end rest of season, we will view Week 6 as his breakout party. He set season highs in targets (6), receptions (5), yards (75) and played 81% of the snaps. There is no reason to think Josh McDaniels will go back to Austin Hooper, but I also understand if you would like to see more than one good game before you start him.
You can see Kelce rounding into form each and every week. His 124 yards last week were a season-high, and now he's coming off a 10-day break, at home, against a mediocre Chargers defense. He's locked in as my cash game TE.
Historically, the Bills haven't been near as tough on tight ends when they don't have Matt Milano. Henry only has one catch in his past two games, but he's still a full-time player and I don't think sequencing is actually all that telling with low-end tight ends. He still has the same upside he had in Weeks 1 and 2, but no one is going to want to roster him
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Heath's Projections
My full set of Week 7 Fantasy Football projections for every position are now available on SportsLine. 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 7. Projected stats for all starting tight ends are available, so be sure to check out the full set of projections over at SportsLine.
