Fantasy Football Week 6 Rankings: Top 20 Tight Ends

Dallas Clark has been a fixture atop our tight end rankings all year long, but in Week 6 that is no longer the case.  Couple that with the emergence of Aaron Hernandez, Dustin Keller and Tony Moeaki as Top 10 options and it certainly is an interesting week.  Let’s take a look at how things currently look:

1. Antonio Gates – San Diego Chargers – at St. Louis
2. Zach Miller – Oakland Raiders – at San Francisco
3. Dallas Clark – Indianapolis Colts – at Washington
4. Vernon Davis – San Francisco 49ers – vs. Oakland
5. Tony Gonzalez – Atlanta Falcons – at Philadelphia
6. Chris Cooley – Washington Redskins – vs. Indianapolis
7. Aaron Hernandez – New England Patriots – vs. Baltimore
8. Dustin Keller – New York Jets – at Denver
9. Tony Moeaki – Kansas City Chiefs – at Houston
10. Jason Witten – Dallas Cowboys – at Minnesota
11. Brent Celek – Philadelphia Eagles – vs. Atlanta
12. Kellen Winslow – Tampa Bay Buccaneers – vs. New Orleans
13. Heath Miller – Pittsburgh Steelers – vs. Cleveland
14. Greg Olsen – Chicago Bears – vs. Seattle
15. Visanthe Shiancoe – Minnesota Vikings – vs. Dallas
16. Marcedes Lewis – Jacksonville Jaguars – vs. Tennessee
17. Brandon Pettigrew – Detroit Lions – at New York Giants
18. Owen Daniels – Houston Texans – vs. Kansas City
19. Kevin Boss – New York Giants – vs. Detroit
20. Todd Heap – Baltimore Ravens – at New England

Thoughts:

• With Randy Moss no longer in New England, his targets are likely to be spread across the offense.  Wes Welker isn’t likely to see many more chances.  Julian Edelman and Brandon Tate should see more action, but so should emerging tight end Aaron Hernandez.  He’s had at least five catches in each of his last three games, and while he has yet to score a TD, he could become the big red zone target without Moss on the outside.  He’s a Top 10 option this week and could become a fixture there for the rest of the season.
• Dallas Clark has a great matchup, but the Colts are running into a numbers game.  With Reggie Wayne, Pierre Garcon and Austin Collie all contributing in Week 5, Clark saw just six targets (three receptions for 20 yards).  We all know he’s better than that, but are there going to be enough balls to go around?  He’s a TE1, but he’s certainly not atop the list this week.
• With as bad as the Texans passing defense has been (329.6 passing yards per game), and how poorly the Chiefs wide receiving corps has looked (no wide receiver has more than nine catches), you have to think Tony Moeaki is in line for a big game.  He leads the team in receptions (16), yards (173 yards) and touchdowns (2).
• Vernon Davis may finally be waking up.  After putting up 58 yards total in Weeks 3 & 4, he had five receptions for 104 yards and a touchdown against the Eagles in Week 5.  He’s actually scored in back-to-back games and should be one of the top targets against a tough Raiders passing defense.
• With one touchdown and at least 60 yards in each of his last three games, it’s hard to argue that Zach Miller has emerged as the passing option in the passing game for the Raiders.  With Jason Campbell looking like he’s going to start again, those types of numbers could easily continue, at the least.
• It doesn’t seem to matter who the quarterback is, Brent Celek continues to struggle.  Yes, he’s scored in each of the past two games, but the reception and yard totals are far from what owners would have hoped for.
• Greg Olsen may have been ranked high if Jay Cutler wasn’t returning, thanks to the matchup against the Seahawks (302.0 passing yards per game).  Cutler is likely going to take his shots to his receivers, limiting Olsen’s potential value.  Given his performance to date (15 receptions for 179 yards), he’s a low-end TE1/high-end TE2.
• Owen Daniels has finally shown some signs of life.  He’s putting himself back on fantasy radars at this point.

What are your thoughts on these rankings?  Who’s too high?  Who’s too low?

Make sure to check out the rest of our Week 6 Rankings:

• Top 25 Quarterbacks
• Top 40 Running Backs
• Top 60 Wide Receivers
• Top 15 Kickers (coming soon)
• Top 15 Defenses (coming soon)
• Waiver Worthy
• Start ‘Em or Sit ‘Em
• Sunday Sleepers

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