Start Tyler Higbee, David Njoku or Dallas Goedert | Fantasy Tight Ends Week 1 Faceoff
Outside of a select few players, tight end remains a position that puts fantasy owners through the most stress in trying to determine the right player to play. The FantasySP “Who Should I Start?” fantasy tool reflects that as week 1 gets underway, with a couple tight end discussions among the trending discussions.
Both discussions involve Los Angeles Rams’ Tyler Higbee. In one discussion, he’s pitted against Philadelphia Eagles’ Dallas Goedert, while the other is between Higbee and Cleveland Browns’ David Njoku.
It’s highly unlikely you have all three players on your team, but we’ll assume you are trying to choose between two of these guys and knock both debates out at the same time.
Tough start decision? We have you covered. Find out in depth stats, red zone opportunities, projections, breaking news, and crowdsourcing real fantasy owners faced with the same start/sit decision. Check out our Who Should I Start tool.
Why You Should Start Dallas Goedert
Goedert and the Eagles hope to start their quest back to the Super Bowl off on the right foot when they travel to face the New England Patriots in a Sunday afternoon game. Goedert was a big part of the Eagles’ offensive success in 2022, finishing third on the team in receiving yards (702), receptions (55) and targets (69), while tying for third in touchdown receptions (3).
He was a pretty consistent target for quarterback Jalen Hurts. In the 12 games he played in, Goedert was targeted at least three times in every game, and his lowest catch total was two. He finished with 50+ receiving yards in seven contests. He was held under 30 yards just three times, but bailed fantasy owners out with touchdowns in two of those games.
The Patriots’ defense was one of the better ones in the league in slowing opposing tight ends, allowing 686 receiving yards, inside the top 10 in the NFL. However, New England struggled to keep them out of the end zone, with the 11 touchdowns to opposing TE being tied for the second-most in the league.
With pretty much the same offensive weapons back from last season, Goedert’s usage should remain at about where the last couple seasons stood.
Why You Should Start David Njoku
The Browns open the season up with a tough matchup against the Cincinnati Bengals in Cleveland in the first slate of Sunday games. Like Goedert, Njoku returns to a Browns’ offense that looks pretty much as it did a season ago.
Njoku finished third on the team in catches (58), yards (628) and targets (80), while scoring the second-most touchdowns (4). In 14 games played, Njoku had five or more targets in 11 contests, finishing with less than three catches just four times. The tight end wasn’t as consistent in the yardage department as Goedert, with six games over 50 yards, but under 30 yards on six occasions.
Njoku was a pretty good fantasy asset when the Browns and Bengals squared off in 2022. Njoku caught all seven of his targets for 71 yards in the first matchup, before grabbing three of his six targets for 28 yards in game two.
Overall last season, the Bengals surrendered 924 receiving yards to tight ends, among the 10 worst teams in the NFL. Cincy allowed just three touchdowns to tight ends, tied for fifth best in the league.
Why You Should Start Tyler Higbee
Higbee and the Rams head to Seattle to take on the Seahawks in week 1. Higbee was the team’s most consistent receiving threat in 2022, tallying 72 receptions on 108 targets for 620 yards and three scores. His target total led the team, although that came with wide receiver Cooper Kupp missing half the season.
Speaking of Kupp, he has already been ruled out for week 1.
That certainly opens up the chance for Higbee to get some more looks and contribute more than he might otherwise.
Higbee was targeted five or more times in all but five contests last season. He had four or more catches in 10 games. While he was otherwise a pretty safe start for fantasy purposes, he totaled just six catches and 47 yards across two games against the Seahawks. He was targeted 12 times between the games.
With Kupp needing to be replaced and some other new skill positions on the team, Higbee might be quarterback Matthew Stafford’s most trusted target for the upcoming week.
The Seahawks allowed the second-most yards (1,115) and tied for the seventh-most touchdowns allowed (8) to opposing tight ends, making Higbee more appealing too.
Final Start Decision Between Dallas Goedert, David Njoku and Tyler Higbee
According to our Start/Sit tool, fantasy owners that own both Goedert and Higbee are starting Goedert about 78% of the time, while taking Higbee over Goedert about 11% of the time. About 6% of owners are starting both guys.
Owners that roster Njoku and Higbee are taking Njoku 56% of the time and Higbee 26% of the time. About 8% of owners are starting both guys.
Fantasy owners that roster Goedert and Njoku are starting Goedert 61% of the time and Njoku only 5% of the time. However, 17% of owners that roster both tight ends are starting them both.
Goedert or Njoku are the Recommended Starts
I am a fan of what most fantasy owners are deciding to do. I like Goedert over both Njoku or Higbee, and then Njoku over Higbee.
Goedert is on my shortlist of tight ends this week that are must starts, given his history of success in Philly along with going up against a Pats’ defense that tended to struggle against the position last year. I think he’s got a chance to lead all tight ends in scoring in week 1.
If I rostered Njoku or Higbee along with Goedert, I’d think hard about starting either guy. Both are tight ends I could see outperforming their point projections for the opening week.
