Week 12 Fantasy Football Tight End Start/Sit: Dallas Goedert, Dalton Schultz, Ja'Tavion Sanders and More
Three tight ends to start and three to sit in Week 12 of the NFL season.
It’s tight end time: It can often be the most frustrating position of the fantasy week, but it feels great when you pick the right guy and get 80 yards and/or a touchdown. It’s all about matchups at this position.
The guys listed as Starts below aren’t there because they are the best players. In contrast, they are often unreliable fantasy players who are in the right situation to succeed. Some of the Sit players will be better than Start guys, but the matchups dictate who has the highest fantasy ceiling.
Let’s look at three tight ends to start and three to sit in Week 12 of the fantasy football season. I used defensive stats from NFL.com and our FantasySP defensive fantasy rankings to help determine the best and worst matchups. I will reference those numbers often.
Start
Will Dissly, Los Angeles Chargers vs. Baltimore Ravens
Dissly is a low-level fantasy player, only a viable option with the best matchups. Last week was one of those instances against the Bengals, and Dissly took advantage by turning four catches into 80 yards and a touchdown.
The matchup is even better this week: Baltimore has allowed the fifth-most yards per pass attempt and the ninth-most fantasy points per game to tight ends. Everyone involved in the passing game has been a good fantasy option against the Ravens.
He’s just a streamer, but you could do a lot worse than Dissly this week.
Dallas Goedert, Philadelphia Eagles @ Los Angeles Rams
The Rams have allowed the third-most yards per pass attempt and seventh-most fantasy points per game to tight ends. LA faced the Patriots last week and let Hunter Henry catch six passes for 63 yards, more than 20% of Drake Maye’s passing yards.
Goedert has more name recognition than fantasy value at this point. He is part of the large group that plays well some weeks and looks anonymous other times, leaving the matchup as the biggest determining factor.
In seven games, Goedert has hit 40 yards just three times. His big games were against New Orleans, Tampa Bay, and Washington, who are all average or worse in both yards per pass attempt allowed and fantasy points per game given up to tight ends.
Goedert has the right matchup in this one and could have another nice game. He’s firmly on the streaming radar as a mid-level guy.
Ja'Tavion Sanders, Carolina Panthers vs. Kansas City Chiefs
For much of the season, Kansas City was the worst fantasy team against tight ends. They’ve now played well enough to move up to…third worst. The Chiefs have a good defense overall, but tight end is their weak point.
Sanders has two straight great matchups, as he follows this game with a Week 13 contest against Tampa Bay; the Buccaneers have allowed the fourth-most fantasy points per game to TEs. Sanders has been up and down in his rookie season, and he’s a worthy streamer against these two squads.
Don’t expect Sanders to win your week, but he is a suitable streamer with top-10 upside the next two weeks.
Sit
Tucker Kraft, Green Bay Packers vs. San Francisco 49ers
It’s a testament to how good the 49ers have been the past few years that it seems like the wheels have completely fallen off at 5-5. That’s not actually the case, of course, as every team in the NFC West is within one game of each other, but it’s been a departure from their previous dominance.
The defense is playing well, allowing the sixth-least yards per pass attempt and the sixth-fewest fantasy points per game to tight ends. It’s likely that San Francisco will make the playoffs, but they’ve already racked up five losses, as many as they had last year and more than they had in 2022 (four).
Kraft had a few good games and created fantasy buzz, but he hasn’t been able to sustain that performance. Kraft’s toughest opponents (Philadelphia, Tennessee, Detroit, and Chicago) have all held him under 40 yards.
This is a case of a middling player against a tough defense; Kraft is better served on your bench.
Colby Parkinson, Los Angeles Rams vs. Philadelphia Eagles
Parkinson sits in the same group as Kraft, those players who can produce in the right situation but often fail to excel. Parkinson is having by far his best season, just one reception and 89 yards short of his career highs with seven games left to play.
That still leaves Parkinson averaging just 2.4 catches and 23.3 yards per game, numbers that make him a low-level fantasy guy. He’s had two decent games (four catches for 47 yards and seven catches for 52 yards) and scored a touchdown last week. Parkinson has a defined ceiling.
The Eagles have excelled against the passing game and tight ends specifically, allowing the least pass yards per game and the fourth-fewest fantasy points per game to tight ends. Parkinson is a “blah” fantasy player with one of the toughest matchups imaginable.
Dalton Schultz, Houston Texans vs. Tennessee Titans
Schultz is averaging about three catches and 30 yards per game. Houston’s defense has flourished while the offense has often been below average, leaving many of the team’s fantasy players to disappoint (injuries have also played a part). It’s hard to trust Schultz in any game.
Double those concerns (or triple…or more) against the Titans, who have given up the fourth-fewest yards per pass attempt and the seventh-least fantasy points per game to tight ends. Tennessee mirrors Houston in that they are much better on defense, though the Texans outclass the Titans.
Schultz is a low-floor play against Tennessee. There might be 30 tight ends with a better fantasy outlook than the Houston TE this week.
