Week 10 of the NFL and Fantasy Football season is finally here and this year has been flying by. Fantasy managers are scrambling to secure their lineup ahead another wild week of upsets and close finishes. Turning attention towards the tight end position, we've seen a number of weekly developments in the rankings and new players rising to the occasion.
The biggest development of Week 9 came when last year's top NFL tight end Raiders' Brock Bowers returned from injury and caught three touchdown passes, including one in overtime. He clearly hasn't been 100% healthy all season but after returning in a big way, we can expect Bowers atop the standings for the rest of the season.
In terms of injury news, Packers' elite tight end Tucker Kraft will be done for the season with a torn ACL. Chicago Bears' tight end Cole Kmet (concussion) was also ruled out of his Week 9 matchup against the Bengals, opening the door for rookie Coleston Loveland to finally find the end zone.
With the position constantly changing, we'll take a look at the best tight end starts of Week 10 and which players you can opt to leave on your bench this week.
Week 10 Fantasy Tight Ends – Start ‘Em
This Week's Top-5 TE Starts:
- Trey McBride (ARI) – @SEA
- Brock Bowers (LV) – @DEN
- Tyler Warren (IND) – vs. ATL
- George Kittle (SF) – vs. LAR
- Sam LaPorta (DET) – @WAS
Oronde Gadsden II (LAC) – vs. PIT
Rookie tight end Oronde Gadsden II has officially burst onto the fantasy scene as one of the top tight ends in football, mostly recently catching all five of his targets for 68 yards against the Titans. He's now posted four-straight weeks of double-digit fantasy scoring totals, ranking him tenth among all tight ends in total fantasy scoring. More impressively, Gadsden has been able to do all this in just seven starts this season, immediately flourishing in the passing game and Justin Herbert.
The Pittsburgh Steelers are allowing the second-most (11.50) average fantasy points to tight ends among all NFL teams. While the Steelers defense looked great in shutting down the Indianapolis Colts, it'll be tough to do so in two-straight weeks against a Chargers' offense posting 64 points over their last two wins. Look for Oronde Gadsden II to have another active day.
Harold Fannin Jr. (CLE) – @NYJ
The New York Jets just dealt DB Sauce Gardner to the Colts and DT Quinnen Williams to the Cowboys, so their defense is going to look quite different coming into Week 10. The team is clearly in rebuild mode and although their defense wasn't terrible up to this point of the season, they're shipping their best players in hopes of rebuilding through the draft in the coming years.
This offers a great weekly matchup for rookie TE Harold Fannin Jr. who has effectively taken over the TE1 role in Cleveland over veteran teammate David Njoku. While the Browns see an added week of rest following their bye, Fannin Jr. will look to build upon his highest-scoring fantasy game (18.4 pts) in Week 8. The New York Jets' defense is a mess right now and the Browns may have a chance to win this game outright.
Week 10 Fantasy Tight Ends – Sit ‘Em
Dalton Schultz (HOU) – vs. JAX
With quarterback CJ Stroud still in concussion protocol and ‘questionable' ahead of Week 10, the Houston Texans may have to start backup David Mills under center for the second-straight game. Mills saw a tough 17-30 day on his completions for just 137 yards, but it's worth noting 77 of those yards went to Dalton Schultz in an overall solid day from a fantasy perspective.
Schultz could very well have another decent game against the Jaguars' secondary in Week 10, but the questions at quarterback put his status in question. The Jaguars offer a TE-friendly matchup, but we could see another low-scoring effort where both offenses struggle to get going.
Kyle Pitts Sr. (ATL) – @IND
The Indianapolis Colts just bulked their secondary by signing New York Jets' Sauce Gardner, seemingly going all-in on their chances at the Super Bowl this season. Their defense should be much tougher to scheme against with a true lockdown corner like Gardner covering the opponents' best receiver. Pitts hasn't been able to find the end zone since Week 4 and his chances to do so in Week 10 just got a tad slimmer.
While he remains a solid option if you've been dedicated to rolling with him up to this point of the season, it'll be interesting to see if the Atlanta Falcons can sustain offensive drives against this powerhouse of a Colts team. Pitts has also failed to surpass 75 yards in a single game this season, something he had already done twice through Week 10 of last year.
