Concerns about T.J. Hockenson's rest of season value are mostly gone now that Joshua Dobbs is not only a member of the Vikings but cemented his place as their starting quarterback with a stunning Week 9 performance. Dobbs has been relentless targeting tight ends every time he's earned a starting job.
This started last year when 29% of Dobbs' passes with the Titans went to a tight end. This season, it continued with Zach Ertz, who saw 10 targets in Week 1 and averaged 6.1 targets for the first seven games of the season. When Ertz went down, Dobbs promptly targeted Trey McBride 14 times in Week 8. Last week, in Dobbs' first game with the Vikings, Hockenson tied his season-high with 12 targets. All told, Dobbs has thrown 33.6% of his passes to tight ends this year, the second-highest mark in the league.
That's three different teams across nearly 11 games, where Dobbs peppered the tight end with targets. We should expect that to continue the rest of the season. Which means that if the Hockenson manager in your league is concerned about the quarterback downgrade, this might be a chance to acquire an elite tight end at a discount. I would try to do it before this week though, because Hockenson projects as my No. 1 tight end for Week 10.
0 -- The Titans have not allowed an opposing tight end to score a touchdown this season. That puts a damper on Cade Otton's streaming appeal.
1.50 -- Kyle Pitts' yards per route run are all the way down to 1.50. That ranks 12th amongst tight ends with at least 40 targets.
22.6% -- Evan Engram's 22.6% target share ranks second only to T.J. Hockenson. Even in a bad matchup, he's a start.
15.2 -- Cole Kmet has scored 15.2 or more PPR Fantasy points in four of his last six games. He combined for 2.9 in the other two games. Don't try to guess his good games, just start him.
16.4 -- Dalton Kincaid is averaging 16.4 PPR FPPG since Week 7. It has been a great year for rookie tight ends.
34.5% -- Dalton Schultz's 34.5% red zone target rate leads the Texans and all tight ends.
Thomas is coming off a disappointing game against New England, but he's easily the top streamer available in more than 35% of leagues. HIs 275 routes run ranks fourth at the position despite the fact he left Week 2 early and missed Week 3 entirely.
In a week where we don't have Travis Kelce, Dallas Goedert or Darren Waller and Dalton Kincaid is off the main slate, McBride is priced as the No. 14 tight end. He projects as my No. 2 tight end, just a point and a half behind T.J. Hockenson. I expect him to be the clear No. 2 option behind Marquise Brown and I expect Kyler Murray to be better than any other QB the Cardinals have started this season.
I expect people to shy away from Engram against the 49ers, and I get it. But Doug Pederson's tight end history is not matchup dependent. Engram is a great contrarian play that could be a GPP winner if he scores his first touchdown of the 2023 season this week.
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Heath's Projections
My full set of Week 10 Fantasy Footballprojections for every position are now available on SportsLine. Find out which of my favorite plays are projected to score higher than consensus rankings and which don't live up to their draft hype, at least in Week 10. Projected stats for all starting quarterbacks are available, so be sure to check out the full set of projections at SportsLine.
