Week 8 TE Rankings: Dalton Kincaid, Oronde Gadsden and More
Matthew Freedman reveals his top tight end plays and rankings for fantasy football, highlighting Dalton Kincaid, Oronde Gadsden and more.
It's Week 8.
Apple cider. Pumpkins. Fallen leaves.
An NFL-high six teams on bye.
As Thomas Paine once wrote almost 250 years ago: "These are the times that try fantasy football managers' souls."
Let's get into the Week 8 WR edition of Freedman's Favorites, where I highlight guys I'm upgrading because of …
- Favorable betting factors and situational spots
- Advantageous defensive matchups (perhaps aided by injury)
- Increased usage expectations (again, maybe aided by injury)
For process notes regarding this series, my Week 8 fantasy rankings, and my weekly projections, see the end of this piece. Also, check out the rest of my favorite Week 8 fantasy football plays.
Access our full rankings and projections with a FREE FantasyLife+ subscription when you download and install Comet, an awesome AI-powered web browser via Perplexity. Get Comet AND FantasyLife+ for free. Win. Win. Win.
Week 8 Tight End Rankings
Dalton Kincaid to Return to Field and Form in Week 8
Wet blanket that I am, I say let's start with the negative: Dalton Kincaid (oblique) is dealing with an injury, and he doesn't have more than 6 targets in any game this year.
That said, why focus on the negative?
Kincaid got in a limited practice every day before being a questionable inactive in Week 6, and then he got a bye in Week 7. I optimistically expect the injury to be a nonissue this week.
As for Kincaid's usage, it would be great for him to get more targets, but he has been highly efficient with his opportunities this year (12.0 yards per target, 12.5% TD rate).
On the one hand, regression might seem inevitable. On the other hand, Kincaid is the No. 2 TE in air yards (24%), and the No. 5 TE in end zone targets (30%, per our Fantasy Life Utilization Report). Even if he regresses, he's still getting the underlying usage to sustain high-level production.
So I'm overall bullish on Kincaid—and then there's his matchup this week against the Panthers, who are No. 32 in defensive pass DVOA against TEs (46.9%, per FTN).
I expect him to return to the field and to form this week out of the bye.
Oronde Gadsden Has All-Time Potential
In case you somehow forgot, Day 3 rookie Oronde Gadsden went off this past week with 7-164-1 receiving on 9 targets, scoring 25.9 points for the best fantasy performance of any TE this year.
Was this performance random?
I don't think so. He has nearly a full-time role, and the week prior he had 8 targets. He has been building to this breakout.
Since Week 3—his first NFL game—he's the No. 12 TE in Utilization Score (70), and his usage has increasingly scaled up from there.
- Weeks 4-7: 73 Utilization Score (No. 9)
- Weeks 5-7: 84 Utilization Score (No. 4)
- Weeks 6-7: 95 Utilization Score (No. 2)
Over the past two weeks, he has a modest 78% route rate—but he's No. 2 in air yards (22%). He's a legit pass catcher.
I think the question is this: Exactly how good is he now, and how good could he be in the future?
Since 2000, no rookie TE has ever had more receiving yards in a single game than the 164 Gadsden got on Sunday.
Only three others have ever had 140+ yards.
- Kyle Pitts: 163
- Brock Bowers: 140
- Sam LaPorta: 140
That's a pretty good list. One might say an elite list.
A couple more have had 120+ yards.
- Jordan Reed: 134
- T.J. Hockenson: 131
What about 110+ yards?
- Antonio Gates: 117
- Jeremy Shockey: 116
- Noah Fant: 115
Not a perfect list, but 67% of it is made up of a Hall of Famer and first-team All-Pro. Not bad.
What about 100+ yards?
- Dustin Keller: 107
- John Carlson: 105
- Will Dissly: 105
- Doug Jolley: 104
- Isaiah Likely: 103
- Rob Gronkowski: 102
- Aaron Hernandez: 101
- Dallas Clark: 100
- George Kittle: 100
There are some guys in this subgroup who have done relatively little in their careers … and then there are some of the best TEs the league has seen over the past quarter century.
And at the very top of the entire list … Gadsden.
He has a modest matchup this week against the Vikings—but there's only so low I can rank a guy who has shown he has a true shot to be an all-time great and who also has the usage to support top-tier production.
In a rookie class with a number of great TEs, Gadsden has a chance to be the greatest of them all—and I wouldn't have thought that two weeks ago.
Even in Guillotine Leagues, I view the rookie as a locked-in starter.
The Hot Route
Mason Taylor (Jets) at Bengals: Last week Taylor was No. 2 on the team with 5 targets, and I expect him to remain involved if No. 1 WR Garrett Wilson (knee) remains out, and he could get an additional boost if the team switches to QB Tyrod Taylor, who as an underdog is an elite 23-12-3 ATS (24.5% ROI, per Action Network). The Bengals are No. 1 in most fantasy points allowed to TEs (18.8).
Cade Otton (Buccaneers) at Saints: Over the past two weeks—without WR Chris Godwin (fibula)—Otton has snap rates of 100% and 98%. With this playing time, he has 12-116-0 receiving on 15 targets. With WR Mike Evans (collarbone) out and Godwin seemingly unlikely to suit up, Otton could have similar production and usage this week.
Colston Loveland (Bears) at Ravens: No. 1 TE Cole Kmet (back) exited last week early with an injury, and the Ravens are No. 28 in defensive pass DVOA against TEs (18.1%). Loveland is a speculative waiver option. If he's to break out, this would be a good spot for it.
Notes For My Week 8 TE Rankings
Byes: This week, the Lions, Raiders, Rams, Cardinals, Seahawks, and Jaguars are on bye.
Injuries: Since I write Freedman's Favorites on Tuesday, I have incomplete injury information. After I submit this article, any updated thoughts I have regarding injuries will manifest in my rankings and projections. For our quick fantasy thoughts every day, subscribe to the Fantasy Life newsletter.
Schedule: This season, I have the following rankings and projections schedule.
- Tue AM: Publish rankings and projections
- Thu AM: Refresh rankings and projections
- Thu PM: Make necessary TNF rankings changes
- Sat PM: Update rankings and projections
- Sun AM: Revise rankings
- Sun PM: Finalize rankings based on news prior to 1 pm ET kickoff
Accuracy: I'm a six-time top-20 ranker in accuracy and a long-time profitable player prop better.
Scoring: All fantasy points are half-PPR scoring unless otherwise stated.
Cohesion: My positional breakdowns are published separately, but I think of them as comprising one whole, so check out the rest of my favorite Week 8 fantasy football plays (via my Fantasy Life author page).
Abbreviations: Here are some abbreviations I might have used in the piece.
- Fantasy Points per Game (FPPG)
- Against the Spread (ATS)
- Over/Under (O/U)
- Team Total (TT)
- Moneyline (ML)
- Return on Investment (ROI)
- Adjusted Yards per Attempt (AY/A)
- Expected Points Added (EPA)
- Success Rate (SR)
- Completion Percentage Over Expected (CPOE)
- Defense-Adjusted Value Over Average (DVOA)
- AirYAC (Air Yards + Yards After Catch)
- Weighted Opportunity Rating (WOPR)
- Average Depth of Target (aDOT)
- Short Down and Distance (SDD)
- Long Down and Distance (LDD)
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