Week 15 Fantasy Football Tight End Start/Sit: Kyle Pitts, Sam LaPorta, Jonnu Smith and More

Every week counts the same in fantasy football. Until you get to the playoffs. If you’re in one of the majority of leagues that starts the fantasy playoffs this week, you are starting with a clean slate. The regular season just determines seeding; the tournament now at hand doesn’t rely on your team’s performance over the past 14 weeks.

With fantasy glory on the line, let’s look at three tight ends to start and three to sit in Week 15 of the NFL season. I used 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

Tyler Conklin, New York Jets @ Jacksonville Jaguars

Jacksonville has allowed the most yards per pass attempt and seventh-most fantasy points per game to tight ends. They might have the worst pass defense in the league, as essentially every quarterback has had success against them (aside from Will Levis, which is a whole different story).

The Jets are in cruise control toward a top-five draft pick. The Aaron Rodgers experiment didn’t work, and the best thing they can do is move on at the end of the season and start a new era. That leaves Conklin as a low-level fantasy player: he’s averaging about three receptions and 24.4 yards per game.

The matchup is in his favor if you need a fill-in at tight end, though. He has combined for seven catches and 65 yards the past two weeks, and while that’s far from explosive, it’ll get you a few points in a fantasy playoff game as you pray for a touchdown.

Chig Okonkwo, Tennessee Titans vs. Cincinnati Bengals

I just mentioned Okonkwo’s quarterback, Levis, struggling; that might be an understatement. Levis is one of the worst quarterbacks to trust in fantasy football (which a lot of us did last week when they played the Jags). Inevitably, Okonkwo is paying the price for his quarterback’s lack of acumen, having caught just 30 passes for 297 yards this year.

The Bengals offer another great matchup, which is why I’m going back to the Tennessee well. Cincinnati has allowed the 12th-most yards per pass attempt and second-most fantasy points per game to tight ends. Only Carolina has allowed more TE touchdowns.

Okonkwo has a basement-level floor, a risky proposition at the most important time of the fantasy year. Don’t start him over anyone of note, but he at least has the right matchup if you’re completely desperate.

Kyle Pitts, Atlanta Falcons @ Las Vegas Raiders

Pitts is on pace to finish with almost the same number of receptions and yards as last season. Based on how we saw Pitts as a disappointment in 2023, it might be even worse this year after Kirk Cousins came to town. Not much in Atlanta has met the standard, leaving them as a middling group at best, Pitts included.

The Raiders are right around average in yards per pass attempt allowed, but they have given up the third-most fantasy points per game to tight ends. There was hope for Vegas to at least be somewhat competitive, especially on defense, but the good vibes from the end of 2023 are now a year old and have been replaced by continued losing.

It’s tough to trust Pitts after he has let us down so often over the past three years, but he has the matchup in his favor here for a decent performance. This is a rare week in which the former top-five pick can be expected to put up some numbers.

Sit

Pat Freiermuth, Pittsburgh Steelers @ Philadelphia Eagles

The battle of Pennsylvania! The Steelers head east to play their in-state rival in a battle of two teams currently in playoff position; this could be a Super Bowl matchup. It’s not going to be easy for Pittsburgh or their tight end, as the Eagles have allowed the least yards per pass attempt and ninth-fewest fantasy points per game to tight ends.

Freiermuth is on pace to come in a little short of his career highs in receptions, yards, and touchdowns. He has performed close to the same with both Justin Fields and Russell Wilson at quarterback. Freiermuth is coming off a three-game hot stretch in which he has averaged more than four catches and 58 yards per game while scoring twice.

This is a rough matchup for Freiermuth, though, and he has a super low floor. There’s almost certainly a better option out there for the fantasy playoffs.

Sam LaPorta, Detroit Lions vs. Buffalo Bills

LaPorta came into the season with an argument as the top tight end in fantasy, but he has fallen off after a magnificent rookie year. After averaging more than five catches and 52 yards per game last season, LaPorta is at three and 37 in 2024. His five touchdowns are nice, but it’s far behind his 10 from last season (the most among tight ends).

The matchup is one of the biggest issues here, as the Bills have allowed the eighth-least yards per pass attempt and sixth-least fantasy points per game to tight ends. Last week was rough for the Buffalo defense: Matthew Stafford threw for 320 yards on 10.7 per attempt as the Rams scored 44 points.

That was a true outlier, though, and LA tight ends did nothing (one catch for 11 yards). LaPorta is likely to struggle to find space, especially in a season in which he hasn’t produced at a high level consistently.

Jonnu Smith, Miami Dolphins @ Houston Texans

After a slow first month, Smith has been TE3 in both standard and PPR scoring from Weeks 5-14. He has already set his career highs in targets, receptions, and receiving yards and has scored five touchdowns (his career high is eight). It’s been a career year for a guy who has played like a must-start fantasy TE.

The matchup is tough in Week 15, though, as the Texans have allowed the fifth-least yards per pass attempt and fourth-least fantasy points per game to tight ends. Houston’s offense has struggled to live up to their 2023 level, but the defense has carried them to the top of the division and (likely) another playoff appearance.

Smith is a tough player to bench given his play over the past few months, but it’s worth considering given the matchup. Being it’s the first round of the playoffs, some owners will play Smith because they are rolling with their stars; that’s a reasonable strategy.