Fantasy Football Week 6 Rankings: Top 20 Tight Ends

Let’s keep our Week 6 rankings rolling with a look at the Top 20 tight ends for the coming week:

1. Jason Witten—Dallas Cowboys—at New England
2. Jimmy Graham—New Orleans Saints—at Tampa Bay
3. Jermichael Finley—Green Bay Packers—vs. St. Louis
4. Tony Gonzalez—Atlanta Falcons—vs. Carolina
5. Owen Daniels—Houston Texans—at Baltimore
6. Aaron Hernandez—New England Patriots—vs. Dallas
7. Brandon Pettigrew—Detroit Lions—vs. San Francisco
8. Vernon Davis—San Francisco 49ers—at Detroit
9. Dustin Keller—New York Jets—vs. Miami
10. Rob Gronkowski—New England Patriots—vs. Dallas
11. Jermaine Gresham—Cincinnati Bengals—vs. Indianapolis
12. Greg Olsen—Carolina Panthers—at Atlanta
13. Kellen Winslow—Tampa Bay Buccaneers—vs. New Orleans
14. Fred Davis—Washington Redskins—vs. Philadelphia
15. Benjamin Watson – Cleveland Browns—at Oakland
16. Ed Dickson—Baltimore Ravens—vs. Houston
17. Dallas Clark—Indianapolis Colts—at Cincinnati
18. Heath Miller—Pittsburgh Steelers—vs. Jacksonville
19. Visanthe Shiancoe—Minnesota Vikings—at Chicago
20. Jake Ballard—New York Giants—vs. Buffalo

Thoughts:

• Jimmy Graham or Jason Witten?  Jason Witten or Jimmy Graham?  At this point they are clearly the top two options for fantasy owners.  Witten gets the edge this week, going up against the porous Patriots passing defense in what will almost certainly be a shootout.  However, would anyone be upset with using either one?
• With Julio Jones already ruled out for Week 6 Tony Gonzalez should continue to be a go to option for the Falcons.  As it is he is tied for second among tight ends in receptions (27), to go along with 289 yards and four TD.  He’s third overall in targets among tight ends (41), and has been targeted 17 times over the past two weeks.  He’s one of the better options in all formats.
• The Patriots showed how much faith they had in Aaron Hernandez, targeting him nine times in his first game back from injury.  While he’s the better option over Rob Gronkowski right now, both should easily be considered usable options in most weeks.
• Without Andre Johnson the Texans targeted Owen Daniels 11 times, with him picking up seven receptions for 89 yards.  Over the past two weeks he has had 12 receptions for 158 yards and one TD.  They are going to need him against the Ravens, so consider him one of the best options for the coming week.
• Dustin Keller is actually eighth among tight ends in yards with 268.  While the team is looking to gear towards more of a running attack (hence his two targets in Week 5), the Dolphins have been abysmal against the pass (307.0 passing yards/game).  He’s a risk, given what the team has said of late, but he should remain usable.
• Greg Olsen has a touchdown in three straight games.  What’s not to like about that?  He hasn’t been posting huge yardage totals, but if a tight end is going to be able to consistently find the end zone he is going to have value (see Marcedes Lewis from a year ago).  Consider him a low-end option for the coming week.
• The Cleveland Browns don’t have many options on the outside, but they are taking on a Raiders defense that has allowed 299.6 passing yards/game as well as 10 TD.  Benjamin Watson seems like an appealing option, doesn’t he?

Make sure to check out the rest of Rotoprofessor’s Week 6 information:

• Top 25 Quarterbacks
• Top 40 Running Backs
• Top 50 Tight Ends
• Waiver Worthy
• Target Trends