Week 1 was one to forget for tight ends as fantasy owners across the board were significantly disappointed. With TE1 candidates like Travis Kelce, Sam LaPorta and Trey McBride having poor games, it raised some red flags. What should be expected for tight ends in fantasy in Week 2 and beyond?
Fantasy Tight End Nightmare: What to Expect Moving Forward
Targets Almost Nonexistent in Week 1
If the tight ends played poorly and dropped passes left and right, this would be an entirely different conversation (and may not even be a conversation at all). It’s the fact that the tight ends were rarely targeted that is the issue.
Mark Andrews’ performance was the first one to raise the red flags, but the matchup was simply the problem there. Chiefs defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo took Andrews out of the game. Spags has always taken Andrews out of the picture in his time in Kansas City.
His best game against Kansas City was in September 2021 where he caught five passes for 57 yards, but it’s safe to say the Chiefs are just not a good look for Andrews.
As for the rest of the bunch… it wasn’t pretty. The table of target shares speaks for itself.
Since we're all looking for answers at TE, thought this would be useful …
Here's every team's Week 1 TE leader in route rate, along with their target share: pic.twitter.com/c4ptQD6q0R
— Jared Smola (@SmolaDS) September 9, 2024
The table extends beyond what you can see. However, the only positive outlook is Trey McBride who saw 29% of the targets for the Arizona Cardinals. While it’s never a good sign to see one whole position group be ineffective, fantasy owners can breathe a sigh of relief knowing it wasn’t just their tight end.
History Doesn’t Repeat Itself…. Or Does It?
Of the Top 12 fantasy tight ends going into the season, only one of them finished with double-digit points even in PPR leagues. That was Kyle Pitts who found himself with 11.6 points primarily because of his touchdown reception.
This same trend happened in Week 1 last year as well, and the numbers prove it.
2023 Week 1 Results (Data Courtesy of FantasyPros)
2024 Week 1 Results (Data Courtesy of FantasyPros)
Hunter Henry in 2023 was just like Isaiah Likely this year. It was a performance that nobody expected and raised a lot of questions in the fantasy world. As we know now, things balanced out in the end.
It’s easy to overreact because just like the NFL, every fantasy week matters. Some may argue fantasy matchups mean more since there’s only 13-14 games in a fantasy regular season. However, patience is truly a virtue especially in the fantasy football world.
Looking to the Future
Don’t hit the panic button yet. For some unknown reason, tight ends are late bloomers once again in fantasy football. Despite this delay in production when owners want instant gratification, there is hope moving forward.
Week 2 in 2023 saw 14 tight ends score double digits in PPR leagues, so the position group took a huge step forward. While frustrating for fantasy purposes, the first regular season game is often an extension of the preseason. Expect offenses to take a big step forward this week.
Sam LaPorta’s slow start was quickly forgotten about last year when he finished as the TE1. This time last year, Trey McBride and Dalton Kincaid were no-names to the overwhelming majority of fantasy players. Expect to see similar progress this year.
With all the talk about poor performances from tight ends, it should add a little extra motivation for them to go out and produce in their Week 2 matchups.
Main Photo Courtesy of Denny Medley – USA Today Sports
