When you look at the tight end projections at the bottom of this article you'll find eight tight ends projected between 7.43 and 9.49 PPR Fantasy points. And to be honest, even as someone who does this for a living, it's really tough to distinguish between them.
Certainly there are names that stick out. Dalton Schultz, for one, would get a boost into the top 12 if he can log a full practice. For the most part this group can be described the same way. If they score, they'll be a good start, if they don't they won't. David Njoku could be the exception, one way or another.
It's nothing new to call Njoku a boom-or-bust tight end. He's been one of the most athletically-gifted and statistically-lacking tight ends in the league for the past five seasons. It looked like another bust of a season for him when he caught five passes for 39 yards in his first two games combined. But a 23.9-point outburst in Week 3 against the Steelers reignited everyone's hope, even if Kevin Stefanski said after the game that coverage would continue to dictate Njoku's targets.
It's worth noting that Njoku actually played more snaps (71) in Week 1 when he scored 1.7 points than he did in Week 3 when he scored 23.9. In fact, at 88%, Week 3 was his lowest snap share of the season. To be clear, 88% is an awesome snap share, but it's just not necessarily going to correlate to a steady target share.
All this is to say that Njoku may have a higher ceiling and a lower floor than any other tight end in this range. It's possible he could score a touchdown and not reach double-digit Fantasy points. It's also possible he could be a top-five tight end without a touchdown this week. As long as you're okay with the floor, it may be best to just ride out this roller coaster. I would expect his floor to rise once Deshaun Watson takes over.
Here's everything else you need to know about tight end in Week 4:
Conklin has earned a 16% target share through two weeks, second only to Garrett Wilson on the Jets. Meanwhile, the Jets are throwing the ball 52 times a game. If either one of these numbers holds up with Zach Wilson returning, Conklin is going to be a top 10 tight end.
You can do worse than a touchdown-dependent tight end tied to Aaron Rodgers. But if Tonyan's seven targets from Week 3 are a sign of things to come, he'll be much more than that.
We'll see if Freiermuth's volume returns against a bad Jets defense. Even if it doesn't, Freiermuth has decent touchdown odds in a game that figures to be the Steelers' best offensive output to date.
With Keenan Allen back, I'd expect Everett to get overlooked in tournaments, but Jared Cook had a big role in this offense even when Allen was on the field.
