We have already explored the best and worst matchups for quarterbacks, wide receivers and running backs in the fantasy football playoffs. Now we turn to the tight ends with the best and worst schedules from weeks fourteen through sixteen. Like the previous articles, the ranking next to the team will represent the average rank of the teams at allowing fantasy points per game, so the higher, the better. You will find below the top five matchups for tight ends for the rest of the season.
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San Diego (Antonio Gates/Hunter Henry)
at Carolina, versus Oakland, at Cleveland (average rank: 5.33)
One of the best tight ends of the last decade goes out this season with the best three matchups in the fantasy playoffs, and it may be the perfect torch passing for Hunter Henry. Henry is the future, and Gates the past, but both co-exist in San Diego. They get two top-three matchups and #12 (Oakland). If you’re rolling matchups, a Henry-Davis-Henry stack may not be the worst play to end the season.
Chicago (Logan Paulsen)
at Detroit, versus Green Bay, versus Washington (average rank: 7.33)
What a waste. There’s nothing to see here, as Matt Barkley and Logan Paulsen aren’t close to being on the same page, and Paulsen isn’t anything close to being a fantasy option. He has three catches for 15 yards on the season. If Zach Miller hadn’t broken his foot, he would be a great streamer, but c’est la vie.
Buffalo (Charles Clay)
versus Pittsburgh, versus Cleveland, versus Miami (average rank: 8.67)
Clay is questionable against the Steelers, which is the only bad matchup from weeks fourteen through sixteen. If he misses that game, he gets just Cleveland and Miami, which gives him an average matchup ranking of five, which would be tops on the list. Even with the good matchup, he doesn’t get enough volume and yardage in Rex Ryan’s ball control offense. Despite the matchups, he’s a desperation play. He’s crossed the seven-point threshold once this year; though he’s gotten five catches in five games this year, so there’s a bit of PPR appeal there.
Dallas (Jason Witten)
at Giants, versus Tampa Bay, versus Detroit (average rank: 10)
Down here we have the two old men in Witten and Olsen, rounding out the five best matchups. Before getting three targets and a big ol’ goose egg in the last two games, Olsen had gotten at least seven targets in four-of-five games, and averaged that same amount in that stretch. He had his best game of the season against the Browns, which means that Prescott is able to feast on those matchups. He gets #10 and #2 in weeks fourteen and sixteen. Tampa Bay is #18, a neutral play at best.
Carolina (Greg Olsen)
versus San Diego, at Washington, versus Atlanta (average rank: 11.33)
The second of the old men is Olsen, who has scuffled hard down the stretch this year, with one touchdown in his last eight games. He also hasn’t gone over 52 yards since week eight. However, his friendly schedule is mostly a mirage. He has two neutral matchups in San Diego (#15) and Washington (#14). Atlanta and their #5 defense in the finals may be the only time you’re comfortable playing Olsen, and even then, you might not be all that comfortable.