With Week 1 of the NFL season now behind us, it’s time for fantasy football managers to set their lineups and dive into each position for Week 2. At a position with a tendency to lack weekly upside, here are our TE tiers for Week 2, along with streamers for fantasy football.
Week 2 TE Tiers
While individual rankings will always be valuable for weekly decisions, using a tier-based approach at TE can help find similar production ranges.
Tier 1
Travis Kelce | Kansas City Chiefs @ BAL
Darren Waller | Las Vegas Raiders @ PIT
George Kittle | San Francisco 49ers @ PHI
Tier 2
T.J. Hockenson | Detroit Lions @ GB
Mark Andrews | Baltimore Ravens vs. KC
Rob Gronkowski | Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. ATL
Tier 3
Logan Thomas | Washington Football Team vs. NYG
Noah Fant | Denver Broncos @ JAC
Robert Tonyan | Green Bay Packers vs. DET
Kyle Pitts | Atlanta Falcons @ TB
Tier 4
Dallas Goedert | Philadelphia Eagles vs. SF
Jonnu Smith | New England Patriots @ NYJ
Tyler Higbee | Los Angeles Rams @ IND
Austin Hooper | Cleveland Browns vs. HOU
Mike Gesicki | Miami Dolphins vs. BUF
Tier 5
Cole Kmet | Chicago Bears vs. CIN
Gerald Everett | Seattle Seahawks vs. TEN
Jared Cook | Los Angeles Chargers vs. DAL
Tyler Conklin | Minnesota Vikings @ ARI
Tier 6
Blake Jarwin | Dallas Cowboys @ LAC
Hunter Henry | New England Patriots @ NYJ
Anthony Firkser | Tennessee Titans @ SEA
Zach Ertz | Philadelphia Eagles vs. SF
Tier 7
Eric Ebron | Pittsburgh Steelers vs. LV
Dawson Knox | Buffalo Bills @ MIA
Kyle Rudolph | New York Giants @ WAS
Tyler Kroft | New York Jets vs. NE
Hayden Hurst | Atlanta Falcons @ TB
Tier 8
Juwan Johnson | New Orleans Saints @ CAR
Dalton Schultz | Dallas Cowboys @ LAC
Dan Arnold | Carolina Panthers vs. NO
Jordan Akins | Houston Texans @ CLE
Mo Alie-Cox | Indianapolis Colts vs. LAR
Tier 9
C.J. Uzomah | Cincinnati Bengals @ CHI
David Njoku | Cleveland Browns vs. HOU
Adam Trautman | New Orleans Saints @ CAR
Pat Freiermuth | Pittsburgh Steelers vs. LV
Albert Okwuegbunam | Denver Broncos @ JAC
James O’Shaughnessy | Jacksonville Jaguars vs. DEN
Tier 10
Jack Doyle | Indianapolis Colts vs. LAR
Pharaoh Brown | Houston Texans @ CLE
Jimmy Graham | Chicago Bears vs. CIN
Donald Parham Jr. | Los Angeles Chargers vs. DAL
Evan Engram | New York Giants @ WAS
Tier 11
Kylen Granson | Indianapolis Colts vs. LAR
Drew Sample | Cincinnati Bengals @ CHI
Will Dissly | Seattle Seahawks vs. TEN
Chris Herndon IV | Minnesota Vikings @ ARI
O.J. Howard | Tampa Bay Buccaneers vs. ATL
Ian Thomas | Carolina Panthers vs. NO
TE streamers for Week 2
Rather than focusing on the top-tier fantasy football players, we are looking at the TEs who might be going under the radar for Week 2. For this, we are using FleaFlicker and their availability percentage with a cut-off at 60%, meaning these TEs should be available in most fantasy football leagues in Week 2.
Cole Kmet, Chicago Bears
At some point, you are either going to get sick and tired of me hyping up Cole Kmet or join me on this ride. Neither one of us is slowing down anytime soon. Kmet was one of my favorite sleepers coming into the season, and based on Week 1, he is knocking on the door of weekly relevancy.
Kmet recorded 7 targets in the Bears’ loss to the Rams, hauling in 5 receptions for 42 yards while playing on 74% of the offensive snaps. This is a massive number as Jimmy Graham was on the field for just 14 plays. This is a continuation of a trend that started last season where Kmet saw 85%-plus of the snaps over the final four weeks of the season.
In Week 2, he gets a much more favorable matchup against the Cincinnati Bengals, who ranked 26th in fantasy points allowed per game to tight ends at 14.4. Kmet needs to be rostered before his impending blowup and is a worthy streamer at the TE position in Week 2.
Jared Cook, Los Angeles Chargers
Jared Cook is the personification of the saying “age ain’t nothing but a number.” Despite leaving the New Orleans Saints for the Los Angeles Chargers, many felt this move to Sunny L.A. was more of him easing into retirement rather than producing weekly for fantasy.
For all the hype Donald Parham was receiving this offseason, Cook threw the walker to the side and turned in a vintage performance which might be a sign of things to come.
Cook finished third on the team with 8 targets, recording 5 receptions for 56 yards on Sunday. He finished as the No. 12 TE in fantasy with 10.6 PPR points.
He was not just an inline TE either, lining up in the slot on 19 snaps (fourth-most amongst TEs), on pace with Hunter Henry’s average last season despite having a new offensive coordinator. Oh yeah — that same OC, Joe Lombardi, also comes from the Saints. Safe to say, he likely knows what Cook brings to the table.
In Week 2, the Chargers take on the Dallas Cowboys, who were just lit up by Rob Gronkowski and allowed the highest fantasy total to tight ends in Week 1 at 29 points. While I’m not expecting Gronk-type numbers out of Cook, he has low-end TE1 upside as a streamer in Week 2 and should find the end zone.
Gerald Everett, Seattle Seahawks
While he will never be the offense’s focal point, Gerald Everett has Russell Wilson throwing him the ball. That has to count for something, right?
I’ve been relatively vocal about my belief in Everett this offseason as I felt the move to Seattle put him in a spot where he can succeed as the primary option rather than splitting reps with Tyler Higbee. In Week 1, we saw that pay dividends.
Although his volume was nothing to write home about (2 targets), he caught both passes for 20 yards and found the end zone — enough to rank him as the TE15 in PPR with 10 points.
Of course, we would like to see more involvement, but playing on 72% of the offensive snaps is a sign of better days to come for Everett. In deeper leagues, Everett could be a solid TE streaming option. The Seahawks take on the Tennessee Titans in Week 2, who ranked 20th in points allowed to the position (12.9).