The most interesting storylines in our Week 12 fantasy TE rankings might involve players who could miss action this week. We know fantasy football owners will be without Travis Kelce and Hunter Henry due to Week 12 byes. We'll also be on George Kittle watch all week to see if he makes it back from his knee injury or lets Ross Dwelley keep balling out for San Francisco. Evan Engram, too, has a foot injury that could keep him out. If you're keeping score at home, that's four of the top-five or six TEs that might miss action this week (Oh yeah, and Austin Hooper is still out, too).
At a position that hasn't been regarded as deep all season, it will feel especially shallow in Week 12. All the better reason to invest heavily in Jacob Hollister on your waiver wire coming off his Week 11 bye after he had three scores in the two weeks prior to go with consistent targets.
WEEK 12 NON-PPR RANKINGS:
Quarterback | Running back | Wide receiver | D/ST | Kicker
We'd love to be able to recommend one of Hooper's replacements in Atlanta, either Jaeden Graham or Luke Stocker. With the Cardinals on bye this week, the Falcons' opponent, Tampa Bay, is the best defense to attack for fantasy TE purposes. But Graham and Stocker combined for three targets in Week 11 and just don't look featured enough to really want to use either of them. If you're really desperate, Graham seems the more talented receiver of the duo.
WEEK 12 DFS LINEUPS:
FD cash | FD GPP | DK cash | DK GPP | Y! cash | Y! GPP
You can potentially take advantage of Ryan Griffin's recent production and relatively low ownership heading into a matchup with Oakland. The same is true for Tyler Eifert as the Bengals take on the Steelers. Sticking with the veterans theme, Pats' TE Benjamin Watson also has a fantasy-friendly matchup against the Cowboys in Week 12.
WEEK 12 PPR RANKINGS: Running back | Wide receiver | Tight end
In addition to Henry and Kelce, fantasy owners will notably be without Irv Smith Jr. and Kyle Rudolph due to bye.
MORE WEEK 12:
Waiver pickups | FAAB planner | Stock watch | Snap counts | Fantasy playoff SOS
Note: These rankings will be updated throughout the week, so check back for the latest.
MORE WEEK 12 DFS: Values | Stacks | Lineup Builder
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Week 12 Fantasy TE Rankings
These rankings are for standard, non-PPR leagues.
| Rank | Player |
| 1 | George Kittle, SF vs. GB. Kittle's knee injury will need to be monitored throughout the week. He's an auto-start if he plays, but if he's out, Ross Dwelley should start in fantasy leagues. Dwelley caught two touchdowns in Week 11, and Green Bay allows the fourth-most fantasy points to tight ends. |
| 2 | Darren Waller, OAK @ NYJ |
| 3 | Mark Andrews, BAL @ LAR |
| 4 | Zach Ertz, PHI vs. SEA |
| 5 | Gerald Everett, LAR vs. BAL. Everett disappointed with just one target in Week 11 despite the absences of Brandin Cooks and Robert Woods. Overall, though, Everett's workload has been too strong to consider sitting him in Week 12. |
| 6 | Jared Cook, NO vs. CAR. A week after 10 targets, Cook saw just two passes his way in Week 11. Fortunately, he caught both, one of which went for a touchdown. Cook seems to have found a big enough role in this offense to continue counting on him going forward. |
| 7 | Greg Olsen, CAR @ NO |
| 8 | Ryan Griffin, NYJ vs. OAK. In three of the past four weeks, Griffin has been targeted at least four times. That culminated in five catches for 109 yards and a score in Week 11. With Oakland's third-worst defense against TEs coming to town, you can count on Griffin to put up solid numbers once again. |
| 9 | Jacob Hollister, SEA @ PHI. In the four weeks before Seattle's bye, Hollister saw 24 targets. In the two games before the bye, Hollister caught three touchdowns. Expect another six-plus targets and a solid chance of finding the end zone. |
| 10 | Darren Fells, HOU vs. IND |
| 11 | Tyler Eifert, CIN vs. PIT. Pittsburgh allows the sixth-most fantasy points to tight ends, and Ryan Finley definitely doesn't look confident throwing downfield, so Eifert should be in his sights plenty Sunday. |
| 12 | Benjamin Watson, NE vs. DAL. The Cowboys allow the fifth-most fantasy points to tight ends, and Watson has seen nine targets combined across the past two games. With Phillip Dorsett hurting, Watson should see a similar workload again. |
| 13 | Eric Ebron, IND @ HOU. Ebron normally feels pretty touchdown-dependent, but if Jack Doyle misses another week, Ebron's floor is a bit higher. |
| 14 | Vance McDonald, PIT @ CIN |
| 15 | T.J. Hockenson, DET @ WAS |
| 16 | Jonnu Smith, TEN vs. JAX |
| 17 | Jason Witten, DAL @ NE |
| 18 | Jimmy Graham, GB @ SF |
| 19 | Mike Gesicki, MIA @ CLE |
| 20 | Noah Fant, DEN @ BUF. Fant's 11 targets in Week 11 represent a career high -- it's just too bad he has to face one of the league's best defenses at stopping the tight end in Week 12 or he'd be higher in our rankings. |
| 21 | Cameron Brate, TB @ ATL. After O.J. Howard pretty much handed New Orleans an interception, it was all Cameron Brate for the Buccaneers on Sunday. He finished with 10 catches on 14 targets and, if indications are his role will stay big, could be looking at a solid output against a bad Falcons' pass defense. |
| 22 | Dallas Goedert, PHI vs. SEA. Goedert continues to find ways to produce and be usable even with Zach Ertz healthy, and that should remain the case going forward, especially if Alshon Jeffery misses more time. |
| 23 | O.J. Howard, TB @ ATL |
| 24 | Dawson Knox, BUF vs. DEN |
| 25 | Jeremy Sprinkle, WAS vs. DET |
| 26 | Demetrius Harris, CLE vs. MIA. If David Njoku (wrist) is healthy in time for this game, he'll be just outside the top 10. |
| 27 | Jaeden Graham, ATL vs. TB. We'd really like to recommend one of these Atlanta tight ends against the Bucs' second-worst fantasy TE defense, but there's nothing to suggest either will see more than a couple targets. |
| 28 | Luke Stocker, ATL vs. TB |
| 29 | Jack Doyle, IND @ HOU |