Fantasy Football Tight End Rankings: Week 1 (2023)

Week 1 of the 2023 NFL season is here, and we’ve got your fantasy football tight end rankings covered. Which matchups should you target, and which should you avoid? With some injury concerns at the top of the tight end rankings for Week 1, finding some viable streaming options may be more important than ever. Let’s take a look at a few deep sleeper options before we head to the Week 1 tight end rankings.

Streaming Week 1 TE options

If you have Kansas City Chiefs TE Travis Kelce (questionable, knee), San Francisco 49ers TE George Kittle (questionable, adductor), or Baltimore Ravens TE Mark Andrews (missed practice Tuesday), you might be sweating a little more than you’d like to in Week 1. Here are a few deep fantasy football tight end targets who could help fill some of the void if those players sit:

Logan Thomas, WAS: Thomas, who was dealing with a calf injury of his own during preseason, went undrafted due to his shaky health and being attached to a second-year QB in Sam Howell. But there’s quietly a lot of upside for a top-12 finish at the position this week, as Terry McLaurin is questionable to play and the Commanders get a juicy matchup with the tanking Cardinals, who allowed the most touchdowns and second-most fantasy points per game to the tight end position last season. At 6-foot-6, Thomas is a red zone weapon (and a former quarterback!) who could be deployed in some Travis Kelce-ish ways around the goalline for offensive coordinator Eric Bienemy.

Noah Gray, KC: If Kelce sits out Thursday night’s matchup with a bone bruise, Gray could enter Week 1’s highest projected scoring slate and make some noise. Kansas City’s target hierarchy is anyone’s guess at this point, and Gray showed some juice behind Kelce last year (28 receptions, 299 yards, 1 touchdown). So much of Kansas City’s offense schematically runs through Kelce, so Gray could be the benefit of a gameplan that’s already been solidified with the late-week pop-up injury to Kelce. Don’t break the bank, but Gray is a solid fill-in streaming option.

Favorite FanDuel DFS Plays

Gerald Everett, LAC (FD $5500): Everett is just the 10th highest-priced tight end on the main slate at FanDuel, despite playing in what very well could be the biggest shootout of Week 1 as the Dolphins take on the Chargers. Miami allowed the third most points per game to fantasy tight ends last year, and Everett is coming off career-highs in receptions, yards, and touchdowns last season for the Chargers as the overall fantasy football TE13 in 2022 PPR leagues. This game has the highest projected point total on the main slate, and new offensive coordinator Kellen Moore likes to utilize his tight ends, as we saw with Dalton Schultz in Dallas over the past few years. Everett is a great stacking option with Justin Herbert in this explosive Week 1 matchup.

Logan Thomas, WAS (FD $4900): While I’d rather pay a little more for Everett, Thomas is a cheap touchdown bet if you want to punt the tight end position and load up elsewhere. With most players choosing to stack the tight end position with their quarterback, Thomas should have a tiny ownership percentage and give you the kind of unique lineup needed to take down a big GPP tournament.

For the Week 1 fantasy football TE rankings, we’ll make the following injury assumptions: Travis Kelce sits out, while George Kittle, Mark Andrews, and T.J. Hockenson all play.

Week 1 Tight End Rankings

1. Mark Andrews, BAL (vs HOU)

2. T.J. Hockenson, MIN (vs TB)

3. Dallas Goedert, PHI (@ NE)

4. Darren Waller, NYG (vs DAL)

5. George Kittle, SF (@ PIT)

6. Gerald Everett, LAC (vs MIA)

7. Pat Freirmuth, PIT (vs SF)

8. Kyle Pitts, ATL (vs CAR)

9. Cole Kmet, CHI (vs GB)

10. Evan Engram, JAX (@ IND)

11. David Njoku, CLE (vs CIN)

12. Juwan Johnson, NO (vs TEN)

13. Tyler Higbee, LAR (@ SEA)

14. Dalton Kincaid, BUF (@ NYJ)

15. Dalton Schultz, HOU (@ BAL)

Mark Andrews is the clear TE1 favorite moving forward if Travis Kelce misses multiple games…T.J. Hockenson had a crazy pace in 10 games with the Vikings last year (8.6 targets and 6 catches per game), and could take some of Adam Thielen’s red zone looks as well…Lots of mouths to feed in Philly, but New England typically likes to take away a top receiving target and make other guys win, and Goedert has the juice to do just that…Darren Waller could feast on quick design passes to neutralize some of Dallas’s terrifying pass rush…Lots of fantasy football legends in SF, but George Kittle is a Brock Purdy red-zone favorite…We’ve talked about Gerald Everett enough now…Pat Freirmuth is due for some positive touchdown regression…Arthur Smith belongs in fantasy football jail for what he’s done to Kyle Pitts, but hope springs eternal…Cole Kmet may not get the volume, but Justin Fields’ development means only good things for him…Evan Engram might not get the targets we need in what should be a blowout…Until Deshaun Watson shows us something, all Cleveland pass catchers not named Amari Cooper should be used cautiously…Taysom Hill being designated as a QB might pump the brakes on him taking snaps from Johnson, who is a major sleeper candidate at the position…No Cooper Kupp means more targets for Tyler Higbee, but he did virtually nothing with them in most games last year…The two Daltons sounds like a bad CBS sitcom, but they close out our fantasy football tight end Week 1 rankings here…you should typically avoid rookie tight ends early on, but Kincaid is essentially a slot receiver masquerading at the position…Schultz could be a safety blanket early on for CJ Stroud, but there isn’t a ton of touchdown upside here.