Fantasy Football Week 8 Tight End Rankings: Can you trust Taysom Hill with Juwan Johnson expected back?

Here's how the TE position shakes out for Week 8

By Chris Towers

Oct 29, 2023 at 10:45 am ET • 2 min read

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With no teams on bye in Week 8, the options at tight end actually don't look so bad. It helps that Darren Waller, Dallas Goedert, and Kyle Pitts have turned around their poor starts to the season. Dalton Kincaid and Taysom Hill seemingly emerging as viable options in recent weeks has helped, too, and we wouldn't mind if Michael Mayer followed suit after showing some signs of figuring things out before Week 7.

Week 8 rankings: QB | WR | RB

Before we get to my Week 8 rankings for tight end, here are my thoughts on one big question I got from my Twitter followers this week:

Should Taysom Hill be considered a viable TE starter?
— rilebot (@rilebot42261) October 23, 2023

I was stubbornly against ranking Taysom Hill as a top 12 tight end last season, even during that stretch from Weeks 4 through 7 when he had six touchdowns in four games and made me look kind of silly for it. He would go on to score just four touchdowns over the final 10 games to vindicate that stance, and you might think I'd be similarly stubborn about not taking him seriously as a Fantasy option this time around.

But the circumstances are really quite different this time around. Last season, Hill caught just nine passes all season, relying almost entirely on his usage as a de facto Wildcat quarterback for his scoring. However, he has 11 catches in the past two games alone and is being used more or less like a traditional tight end. He ran routes on 70% of dropbacks in Week 7 after jumping up to 60% in Week 6, a sign that this usage is for real. Add in that he still has that running-game role and the touchdown potential that comes with it (five carries and a score last week) and it's pretty easy to see how he could remain a must-start Fantasy tight end moving forward.

The problem is, the Saints have Juwan Johnson coming back from his calf injury, possibly in time for Week 8, and that's just a big wrench in the system. It doesn't necessarily mean Hill is doomed to return to his prior role, but it does generate uncertainty, and that's not what you want when setting your lineup. I've been legitimately impressed by Hill's skills as a pass-catcher the past two weeks, and maybe the Saints share that enthusiasm and will keep him in his expanded role. However, if Johnson returns this week, it's best to view Hill as just a touchdown-or-bust option and hope the role is still there.

Here are my rankings for Week 8 at the tight end position: