Fantasy Football Week 9 Tight End Preview: Projections, numbers to know, and more

The tight ends did not disappoint on National Tight End Day. Tucker Kraft led the way with 33.3 Fantasy points, and Travis Kelce turned back the clock with 21.9 himself. Four rookies scored double digits in full PPR, and of course, the founder, George Kittle, had his best game of the season. Unfortunately, an early look at the Week 9 projections does not imply that the momentum will carry over to Week 9.

Part of the problem is that a third of the guys who did well in Week 8 are on bye in Week 9. We are hopeful Brock Bowers returns to make up for some of that, but the real pain point is around TE10, particularly with two tight ends who are facing each other: Kelce and Dalton Kincaid.

While the Chiefs and Bills are projected for a shootout, with an over/under of 52.5, it is hard to project much production for the tight ends. Kincaid faces a Chiefs defense that has only allowed one tight end (Sam LaPorta) to score more than 10 PPR Fantasy points. Kelce faces a Bills defense that hasn’t allowed any tight ends to reach that mark. The bigger problem is that if you wanted to pick up a tight end off the waiver wire, there isn’t one available who I project to score more points. But it should go without saying that if you recently picked up Oronde Gadsden, he is a start over both.

Here’s everything else you need to know about tight end in Week 9:

Week 9 TE Preview

• 3.85 — The Atlanta Falcons are only giving up 3.85 PPR FPPG to tight ends this year. Dawson Knox has the only tight end touchdown against them. Hunter Henry is not a good option this week.
• 309 — Oronde Gadsden leads all tight ends with 309 receiving yards over the last three weeks. He is a must-start option.
• 11.2 — Tucker Kraft is now averaging 11.2 yards after catch per reception. Outlandish.
• 4 — George Kittle’s four catches last week tied his season high in three games. If he doesn’t break out against the Giants, I will get a little concerned about his lack of volume.
• 29.6% — Brock Bowers had a 29.6% target share in the first three quarters of the season, before his knee injury. If he is 100% coming out of the bye, he could still be a league winner.
• 18.8% — Juwan Johnson was targeted on 18.8% of Tyler Shough’s throws. Johnson could re-emerge as a low-end starter if Shough keeps that up in his first start.
• 21.25 — The Bengals have given up a league-high 21.25 Fantasy points per game to opposing tight ends. Maybe this is the Colston Loveland breakout spot?

My full set of Week 9 Fantasy football projections for every position is now available on SportsLine. You can find them here. 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 9. Projected stats for all starting tight ends are available, so be sure to check out the full set of projections at SportsLine.