TE Rankings – Week Eight
Joseph Fauria continues to impress and has emerged as a reliable passing game option for Matthew Stafford, who like other top tier QB’s can be a stud maker. Fauria has very little depth chart climbing left to do and appears to be the second option in the red zone passing attack behind Megatron. Fauria has considerably more upside in dynasty leagues and touchdown heavy formats as he has the QB to become the next big thing at the tight end position. Fauria comes in as our 15th ranked tight end for week eight and looks like a poor man’s circa 2012 Kyle Rudolph going forward.
Speaking of Kyle Rudolph we believe his slow week seven to be an aberration with Freeman at QB. Rudolph is one the Vikings best receiving weapons and will quickly become a trusted safety valve for Freeman who has never played with a tight end with this much talent. Rudolph is still a pro bowl calibre player at his position and comes in at number 13 in our week eight rankings. We believe Freeman will get him going sooner than later and will likely never have him ranked lower than 15 on any given week.
Julius Thomas continues to be a must-start in all formats unless of course you also have V Diddy, Gronk or Graham. Thomas is up to eight touchdowns on the season and is on pace for 70 receptions, close to 900 yards and 16 touchdowns. Start Julius as a top five tight end option week to week.
Jordan Reed worked himself into the TE1 conversation in week seven after impressing with nine receptions on nine targets for 134 yards and a touchdown. Reed is still available in 78 percent of Yahoo! leagues and should be a top waiver add this week for those in shallower formats. Reed’s big game came with Fred Davis inactive but he has emerged as the number two option in Washington’s pass game behind only Pierre Garçon and is worth a roll of the dice going forward. This week Reed faces off against the Broncos in a match-up where RGIII will be expected to have an above average amount of pass attempts. Reed is our number 10 ranked tight end for week eight.
