Just when the tight end position was starting to look more robust, we lost one of the consensus top six.
Hunter Henry suffered a tibia plateau fracture during Week 1 and will be out for the foreseeable future. It's a devastating injury for the young tight end, who already missed one season with a torn ACL. Ben Gretch wrote up his full thoughts on the injury and I've put my favorite Henry replacements in the updated waiver wire section below.
The Chargers have said they aren't putting Henry on Injured Reserve but it will be hard to justify holding him on your roster unless you have an IR slot on your Fantasy team.
One other quick note: Darren Waller, Mark Andrews, and Austin Hooper are all available in between 20 and 40 percent of leagues. That's not enough to include in them in the waiver section but they should be the first names you look for when you go to replace Henry.
Week 2 TE Preview
Who's Out
The following players are not being projected to play Week 2 at this time. Here's what it means:
Virgil Green will replace henry in the starting lineup, but he's not someone you want to trust in Fantasy. I'd just expect more targets for Austin Ekeler and Keenan Allen.
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Numbers to Know
- 14 -- Evan Engram's Week 1 target total, the most at the position.
- 35% -- Mark Andrews target share of passes Lamar Jackson threw in Week 1. There were some weird things with preseason usage, but Andrews looked every bit the breakout we were promised.
- 17.2 -- T.J. Hockenson's air yards per target in Week 1. No player, tight end or otherwise, who was targeted at least nine times or more had a higher average.
- 5.6 -- yards of average separation for Mike Gesicki, the highest for any player in Week 1.
- 0 -- Number of catches for Vance McDonald before garbage time. I'd like to give McDonald one more week, but I'd understand cutting him.
- 2 -- Touchdowns called back for both George Kittle and Cameron Brate.
Matchups that matter
We don't know too much about tight end defense this early in the year, but the Cardinals just allowed T.J. Hockenson to do whatever he wanted all over the field in Week 1, so I'm going to go ahead and assume this is a very good matchup for Mark Andrews.
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Waiver Wire Targets
I was as shocked as anyone that Olsen received nine targets from Cam Newton on Sunday, but it sure looks like he's going back to his security blanket. Olsen didn't have much success on those targets, but his Week 2 opponent (Tampa Bay) has a much worse defense. Just watch for reports on Olsen's back.
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Davis delivered again on Sunday, like he almost always does when Jordan Reed is out. His Week 2 matchup is the same Giants defense that was carved up by Engram in Week 1. Davis isn't a longterm answer but he's a fine Week 2 solution.
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Chris Herndon still has three weeks left on his suspension, but once he returns I expect him to be a borderline top-12 tight end. If you're streaming tight ends, he'll be your midseason option.
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DFS Plays
Hopefully those called-back scores will keep Kittle's ownership in check. He's my No. 1 tight end this week regardless of price, and he just happens to be 10% cheaper than Travis Kelce. The 49ers are struggling to find receivers they trust, which led to a 37% target share for Kittle in Week 1.
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Engram already dominated targets in Week 1, so what do you think he's going to do if there's no Sterling Shepard? He's been an absolute beast without Odell Beckham and that will continue in Week 2. Double-digit targets should be the expectation.
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I guess I'll stick with Davis as long as Reed remains out, because his price didn't go up as much as the other Week 1 surprises. Engram had a field day against the Cowboys in Week 1 and now David gets his shot. He's scored at least 9.5 PPR points in 10 of 12 games with at least four targets since the start of 2017.
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Heath's Projections
Non-PPR Rank | PPR Rank | TE | NON-PPR | PPR |
1 | 1 | George Kittle | 12.04 | 18.12 |
2 | 2 | Travis Kelce | 11.94 | 18.03 |
3 | 3 | Evan Engram | 11.05 | 17.32 |
4 | 4 | Zach Ertz | 9.50 | 15.13 |
5 | 5 | Darren Waller | 8.17 | 13.33 |
6 | 6 | Delanie Walker | 8.08 | 12.31 |
10 | 7 | Austin Hooper | 7.21 | 12.01 |
7 | 8 | Greg Olsen | 7.68 | 12.01 |
8 | 9 | Mark Andrews | 7.47 | 11.14 |
9 | 10 | O.J. Howard | 7.36 | 10.66 |
11 | 11 | TJ Hockenson | 6.75 | 10.54 |
12 | 12 | David NJoku | 6.53 | 9.82 |
