The second half of 2022 has been a disaster for Mark Andrews. In his past seven games he has just 22 catches for 247 yards on 42 targets. He has not scored a touchdown in that stretch. For anyone else, we would have benched or dropped him long ago. But Andrews' upside makes that nearly impossible, especially if Lamar Jackson is able to return.
That's because in the first six weeks of this season, Andrews was as good as he's ever been. He was on pace for 110 catches, 1,289 yards, and 14 touchdowns. There were legitimate reasons to think he'd overtaken Travis Kelce as the best tight end in Fantasy Football.
What went wrong? It's a combination of things. In Week 7 the Ravens had a strange game where they only threw 16 passes. Then Andrews got hurt and only played 10 snaps in Week 8. The most likely explanation is that he wasn't fully healthy when he returned in Week 11, and then Jackson got hurt in Week 13. Because if you only look at the games in which both Jackson and Andrews have played a majority of the snaps, Andrews mostly still looks like the same superstar.
As of Wednesday afternoon we're expecting Jackson back and ranking Andrews as a must-start option accordingly. If that changes, I'll drop Andrews closer to 12th, but there simply aren't enough good streaming options for me to seriously entertain sitting him with my season on the line.
Here's everything else you need to know about tight end in Week 16:
The following players are not being projected to play Week 16 at this time. Here's what it means:
TE Preview
Numbers to Know
110.1 -- Taysom Hill's 110.1 non-PPR Fantasy points make him the No. 2 tight end in that format. He doesn't move the needle as much in full PPR, due to the fact he's only caught seven passes all season.
10 -- Chigoziem Okonkwo has scored at least 10 PPR Fantasy points in three straight games, but he only reached that number once with Treylon Burks on the field.
15.3% -- Dawson Knox has a 15% target share in six games since Josh Allen hurt his elbow. Fewer deep shots means more targets for Knox.
33 -- Dalton Schultz has only topped 33 yards once in his past five games.
Akins has five or six targets in three of his last four games. The Titans have allowed the fifth-most Fantasy points to tight ends this season. Four of the past five tight ends to see five or more targets against them have scored 11 or more PPR Fantasy points.
Tyler Lockett's absence should mean more available target share and the Chiefs' high-powered offense should mean more total pass attempts for Geno Smith. Fant has five games this season with five or more targets, including last week. He's scored double-digit Fantasy points in four of those games.
It's been Kelce or pay-down for months in cash games. He's been that dominant at the position. This week he has the added bonus of facing a Seahawks defense that allows the second-most Fantasy points to the position. He might have 200 yards.
Higbee scored his first touchdown in Week 15 and actually led the Rams in target share in his first game with Baker Mayfield. A strong finish to the season would be nothing new for Higbee, who closed out 2019 as the best tight end in Fantasy and scored 45.5 PPR Fantasy points in his final three games of 2021.
