Tight end non-PPR rankings for Week 4 fantasy football

Friday update: Remember to take all your Steelers-Titans tight ends and move them to the bench, as their game has been moved to Week 7. Eric Ebron and Jonnu Smith were both startable this week, so replacements might need to be found.

George Kittle has practiced in full and should be a full go against the Eagles. With multiple injuries and a historically good connection between Nick Mullens and Kittle, don’t hesitate to start him.

Jared Cook is looking iffy to play the Lions with a groin injury. If he can’t go, Adam Trautman should take his place. And if Michael Thomas can’t play, Trautman has some streaming appeal.

Dallas Goedert is on I.R., which will give Zach Ertz plenty of looks this week, especially with injuries to Jalen Reagor and DeSean Jackson.

I’ve moved Kittle and Ertz up, but for the most part this group hasn’t changed too much.

Week 4 injury report

Teams returned to practice on Wednesday, and we have an idea of some of the players to keep an eye on as the final injury reports arrive later this week. Below are the tight ends who showed up in some capacity.

Full participants: Darren Waller (knee), Dawson Knox (concussion)
Limited participants: Will Dissly (Achilles)
Did not practice: Jared Cook (groin), George Kittle (knee)

Titans-Steelers postponed

The NFL announced that Titans-Steelers will not take place in Week 4 as another Titans player and non-player tested positive for Covid-19 on Wednesday. The game will be played later in the season on an unspecified date. For tight ends, this means Jonnu Smith and Eric Ebron will not be available.

Week 3 was an odd one for tight ends, but most weeks are to be honest. Our Top 4 fantasy scorers were the reanimated corpse of Jimmy Graham, Tyler Kroft for some reason, Eric Ebron and Robert Tonyan, king of the Wisconsin deep woods.

So far Travis Kelce has been the only consistent tight end, while Noah Fant, Jonnu Smith, Tyler Higbee and Darren Waller are the Top 5 fantasy tight ends on the season. That likely won’t stay the same, as tight end targets are the best way to project consistency and Kelce is the only player who is averaging seven targets per game so far.

Covid-19 News

We’re still getting information on the Tennessee Titans Covid-19 breakout, but at the moment it looks like the NFL is going to do all they can to get both the Titans-Steelers and Vikings-Texans to play this week. If they do, the Titans and to some extent, the Vikings, won’t have been able to practice as much as their opponent’s have. But, we are still waiting for definitive news on the status of these matchups, which means there is also a chance they move the games to a later date.

Injury news

Dallas Goedert has been put on I.R. with a fracture in his ankle. He could return after the three week stint, but until then, Zach Ertz and Greg Ward should see a bunch of targets.

Jordan Reed will be out around 6-8 weeks with a knee injury, but it looks like George Kittle has a good chance to return this week against the Eagles.

Streaming TEs

Eric Ebron, Steelers (game postponed)

Ebron caught 5-of-7 targets for 52 yards and a touchdown against the Texans last week and is a big target for Roethlisberger in the red zone. If these two can keep a connection going, Ebron could move into must-start status sooner than later.

Adam Trautman, Saints

If Jared Cook can’t play this week, Trautman should get the bulk of the tight end snaps. He’s not going to be worth playing ahead of your regular starting tight end, but in 2TE leagues, he’s someone I’d want on my team now.