Fantasy Football Week 2 Rankings: Tight Ends

Week 1 of the NFL season wasn’t exactly Utopian for fantasy football owners who had to deploy tight ends not named Dallas Clark, Antonio Gates, Visantage Shiancoe, or (shockingly) Marcedes Lewis.

Maybe in Week 2 tight ends will better serve fantasy football aficionados. Let’s take a look at our Fantasy Football Week 2 Tight End Rankings.

1. Vernon Davis (San Francisco 49ers) vs. New Orleans

Davis, fresh off of a brand new contract that makes him the highest-paid tight end in the game, had one of the few solid games among 49ers players in the team’s 31-6 flogging at the hands of the Seahawks.

This week, the team is at home on Monday night against the Saints.

New Orleans was very good against opposing tight ends last season, but Visanthe Shiancoe torched them in the opener, and Davis is clearly the most reliable pass-catcher on San Fran’s squad, considering the struggles Michael Crabtree had with route-running and the like in the great northwest.

Davis was targeted 12 times against Seattle, and only Dallas Clark had more total targets among tight ends, with 13, and Alex Smith should once again look his way early and often on Monday.

Point Projection: 13 points

2. Dallas Clark (Indianapolis Colts) vs. NY Giants

Clark led all tight ends with 11 receptions in Week 1, and picked up 80 yards with one score during Indy’s defeat at the hands of the Texans.

Week in and week out, he remains an elite fantasy tight end, and there’s really no reason to downgrade him for the upcoming Manning vs. Manning extravaganza. You should also keep in mind that the Giants were the single-worst team in the league against opposing tight ends last season, giving up an average of 10.1 fantasy points per game to players at that position.

They weren’t burnt by TEs in their win against the Panthers, but Carolina doesn’t feature any special players at the position, and their quarterback, Matt Moore, wouldn’t have been able to get the ball to them even if the team did possess that type of player.

Point Projection: 13 points

3. Antonio Gates (San Diego Chargers) vs. Jacksonville

As expected, Gates put the hurt on the Chiefs, catching five passes for 76 yards and one touchdown in the Chargers’ loss to their AFC West foes.

The former Kent State hoopster is clearly the most important receiving threat on the team with Vincent Jackson gone, and you could see that on the last series of the game on Monday night when K.C. triple-teamed Gates to prevent him from getting the ball.

Then again, therein lies the rub.

Will someone else on the Chargers’ receiving corps step up so teams don’t constantly put two and three guys on Gates? Legedu Naanee had a nice night, but the bulk of his 110 receiving yards came on one play during a blow coverage by the Chiefs.

Gates will need some help, but he’s still such a difficult guy to cover that he should claim a high number of fantasy points regardless.

Point Projection: 12 points

To See Where Your Tight End Ranks in Week 2 Click Here... Week 2 TE Rankings