Fantasy Football Week 13 TE preview: Who to start, sit, stream and DFS

I have 17 tight ends projected for at least nine PPR Fantasy points this week. It’s fantastic. Five of them are must-haves: Trey McBride, Travis Kelce, Brock Bowers, George Kittle and Tyler Warren. In our consensus tight end rankings, all three of our rankings have all five tight ends ranked in the top five. After that, well, you could almost flip a coin.

Well, there is some agreement between Jamey and Dave. They both have Juwan Johnson at TE6 and Brenton Strange at TE7. Since Tuesday afternoon, I have Johnson at 11 o’clock and Strange at TE13. Let’s talk about why.

Johnson is TE13 per game for the season averaging 10.79 PPR FPPG. That’s up to 13 points per game in four games with Tyler Shough. A big part of the reason Johnson is producing better with Shough is because he has scored two of his three touchdowns in those four games. This week, the Saints have an implied total of 18.5, so it’s difficult to give any player a significant touchdown projection. The only thing Johnson has in his favor is that the Dolphins have given up the sixth-most Fantasy points per game. As the week goes on, I could see Johnson moving into the top 10 for me, probably not as high as six.

Strange had a very encouraging return from injury last week with five catches for 93 yards. This week, he faces a Titans defense that has given up the eighth-fewest Fantasy points to opposing tight ends. One thing that concerns me is that Strange has hit five or fewer targets in three of his five healthy games. And I’m not sure that will change with Jacksonville leaning into the run like they have since the bye. This is especially concerning if the Titans offense doesn’t keep this game competitive.

To be clear, I’m not against Johnson or Strange leaving. I would start them with Dallas Goedert, Mark Andrews, Zach Ertz and many others. But there are really only five must-play tight ends this week, and they’re not part of that group.

Here’s everything you need to know about the Week 13 tight end:

Week 13 TE Preview

• 33.3% — Harold Fannin had a season-high 33.3% target share First tenure for Shedeur Sanders. The team’s passing volume will be higher this week, and I’m still starting Fannin.
• 22 – The Bengals are giving up 22 Fantasy points per game to tight ends, by far the most. This could be another Mark Andrews week…or a sneaky Isaiah Likely week.
• 28% — In the two games started by Kirk Cousins, Kyle Pitts has a 28% target share. I’ll start it again while Drake London is away.
• 10.4 – Oronde Gadsden has scored 10.4 PPR Fantasy points in his last two games combined. This will be a big week to see if he can become a go-to tight end again.
• 40 – Cade Otton has totaled 40 yards or less in three of his last four games. If Teddy Bridgewater is the QB, you should probably sit Otton.
• 26.6 – Dallas Goedert is averaging 26.6 yards per game in his last five games. Frame.

My complete set for week 13 Fantasy football projections for every position are now available at SportsLine. You can find them here. Find out which of my favorite games are expected to score higher than the consensus rankings and which aren’t living up to their hype, at least through Week 13. Projected stats for all starting tight ends are available, so be sure to check out the full set of projections at SportsLine.