Tight End Rankings For Week 2 Fantasy Football: Jake Tonges And More Of Freedman's Favorites
Week 1. It happened.
What we saw on Thursday, Friday, Sunday and Monday from the players, the play callers, the offenses, the defenses: Is it representative of what we'll see in the future? Or was it a fluke?
Time (and hopefully this piece) will tell.
We're onto the Week 2 TE edition of Freedman's Favorites.
In this piece I highlight some TEs I expect to perform better than they usually do. Basically, these are guys I'm upgrading this week.
What causes me to upgrade a guy?
Usually some combination of these factors.
- Favorable betting factors and situational spots
- Advantageous defensive matchup (perhaps aided by injury)
- Increased usage expectation (again, maybe aided by injury)
Some notes:
Defensive matchups: Since the season is just one week old, I'll still rely primarily on prior defensive data.
Rankings, Projections & Newsletter: I think of this piece as a companion to my weekly rankings and my weekly projections, which is where any updated opinions will manifest after article submission. For our quick fantasy thoughts every day, subscribe to the Fantasy Life newsletter.
Access: To see our full rankings and projections, use the promo code FREEDMAN for 20% off the FantasyLife+ package.
Schedule: This season, I have the following rankings and projections schedule.
- Tue AM: Publish rankings and projections
- Thu AM: Refresh rankings and projections
- Thu PM: Make necessary TNF rankings changes
- Sat PM: Update rankings and projections
- Sun AM: Revise rankings
- Sun PM: Finalize rankings based on news prior to 1 pm ET kickoff
Accuracy: I'm a six-time top-20 ranker in accuracy and a long-time profitable player prop better.
Scoring: All fantasy points are half-PPR scoring unless otherwise stated.
Cohesion: My positional breakdowns are published separately, but I think of them as comprising one whole, so check out the rest of my favorite Week 2 fantasy football plays (via my Fantasy Life author page).
Abbreviations: See the end of the piece for abbreviations I might use.
Week 2 Tight End Rankings
See below for my top-12 TEs for Week 2 as things stand at the time of publishing. Read on for my favorite TEs for the week and others I am upgrading. Find my full Week 2 fantasy football rankings here.
Freedman’s Favorite Week 2 TEs
Dallas Goedert (Eagles) at Chiefs
NOTE: Goedert suffered a knee sprain and is uncertain for Week 2. Monitor the situation.
Dallas Goedert missed seven games last year with injury, but in the playoffs he was the No. 2 pass catcher on the Eagles with an 88% snap rate, 88% route rate, 20% target rate, and 24% target share (per our Utilization Report).
He successfully leveraged that usage into 17-215-1 receiving and 2-13-0 rushing in four games—and then in Week 1, he picked up where he left off with a team-high seven targets, which was good for 7-44-0 receiving and position-best marks with a 36% share of air yards and 78% WOPR.
"WOPR" stands for "weighted opportunity rating," and it measures the overall quality of a player's aerial role in his offense by considering his share of targets and air yards.
Last year the Chiefs were No. 5 in most fantasy points allowed to TEs (11.2), and this offseason they lost SS Justin Reid in free agency.
In Week 1 they allowed just three targets to TEs … but with those targets Tyler Conklin and Will Dissly had 68 yards and three receptions.
The Chiefs are vulnerable to the position.
Jake Tonges (49ers) at Saints
If you didn't lick your lips and rub your hands together when you read the name "Jake Tonges," then you're not as sick as you think you are.
Despite being in the league since 2022, Tonges caught his first NFL pass this past week, when he stepped up as an in-game injury fill-in for No. 1 TE George Kittle (hamstring), who's already been ruled out for this week.
In Kittle's stead, Tonges had 3-15-1 receiving on three targets, and he hauled in the game winner with a Randy Moss-like "my ball" effort.
I expect him to play as the team's No. 1 TE this week without Kittle—and he might actually see sustained work because of how injured the team is at WR.
- WR Brandon Aiyuk (knee, PUP): Out
- WR Jauan Jennings (shoulder): Questionable
- WR Jordan Watkins (ankle): Missed Week 1
- WR Jacob Cowing (hamstring, IR): Out
With a full game of playing time, Tonges has a legit shot at 5+ targets, and at the TE position, that ain't nothing.
Additionally, the Saints this week could be without FS Julian Blackmon (shoulder) and No. 3 S Jordan Howden, which means that for some of his snaps Tonges will likely be matched up with rookie S Jonas Sanker.
And I swear, that's a real name. I definitely didn't just make that name up.
The Saints last year were No. 30 in defensive pass DVOA against TEs (20.0%, per FTN).
Blurred is the line between genius and insanity.
The Hot Route
Tucker Kraft (Packers) vs. Commanders: While his Week 1 boxscore isn't sexy (19 yards, one TD on four targets, one carry), Kraft led the Packers with a 78% route rate and has the potential in any given game to be the team's No. 1 pass catcher. The Commanders last year were No. 28 in defensive dropback EPA (0.125), and with HC Matt LaFleur, the Packers at home are 34-20 ATS (20.8% ROI, per Action Network).
Michael Mayer (Raiders) vs. Chargers: No. 1 TE Brock Bowers (knee) exited Week 1 with an injury, and Mayer capitalized on his enhanced opportunity with 4-38-0 receiving on four targets. Mayer is a priority waiver add, and if Bowers is out this week, then Mayer will have TE1 upside.
Chig Okonkwo (Titans) vs. Rams: Among Titans pass catchers, Okonkwo was No. 2 this past week with a near-elite 87% snap rate, which he transformed into an 82% route rate. While his 3-19-0 receiving performance doesn't pop (with just four targets), his underlying usage promises better days. The Rams last year were No. 3 in most fantasy points allowed to TEs (11.8). The Titans-Rams over is a five-star bet this week (per our Fantasy Life Game Model).
Abbreviations
- Fantasy Points per Game (FPPG)
- Against the Spread (ATS)
- Over/Under (O/U)
- Team Total (TT)
- Moneyline (ML)
- Return on Investment (ROI)
- Adjusted Yards per Attempt (AY/A)
- Expected Points Added (EPA)
- Success Rate (SR)
- Completion Percentage Over Expected (CPOE)
- Defense-Adjusted Value Over Average (DVOA)
- AirYAC (Air Yards + Yards After Catch)
- Weighted Opportunity Rating (WOPR)
- Average Depth of Target (aDOT)
- Short Down and Distance (SDD)
- Long Down and Distance (LDD)
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