The NFL’s scheduling is great, in that we get games throughout Sunday, and can therefore ignore life for basically the entire day. It is less great, in that sometimes we have injury concerns in one of those late-so-we-can-watch-all-day games, and our choices are replace the hurt guy and hope the replacement does well, or keep the hurt guy and risk an o-fer.
Fantasy football rankings, Week 5: Tight ends
All those late games are really nice, right up until we have injury question marks in those games, and we don’t know what to do.
Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports
For tight ends in Week 5, that question is at the forefront. Are you an owner of Vernon Davis? Jordan Reed or Niles Paul? Heck, Ladarius Green, if you missed the memo about him not actually being that good yet? Well, strap in, because you're in for a wait. All four have various injury concerns right now. Green has a hamstring ailment; Davis has back spasms. Paul suffered a concussion Thursday, and Reed has been out since Week 1 with a hamstring injury. Any/all four could play in Week 5, but no one out of that group is anything like a guarantee.
Davis and Green have 4:25 p.m. ET games Sunday. Reed and Paul don't play until Monday. Save for Green, all of those guys, if healthy and with the role to themselves, would be a sure-fire starter at tight end. If both Paul and Reed were on the field, most weeks they'd both be in lineups -- maybe not this week, against the Seattle Seahawks, but the general point holds. If I'm an owner of Green, well, I'm dropping him. But if I'm an owner of Reed, Paul or Davis, I am definitely providing myself with another option, in case it gets close to game time and the news is bad.
The only problem is, who are the options? You'll need someone in the 4 p.m. Sunday games or later, and someone who isn't already on some roster. That basically leaves you with Arizona's John Carlson, the New York Jets' Jace Amaro, Cincinnati's Jermaine Gresham and Seattle's Luke Willson. If you feel good going to battle with any of those four, be my guest; I'm not with you.
No, if I'm an owner of Reed, Paul or Davis this week, I'm grabbing from the early-afternoon games and probably running with him. Baltimore's Owen Daniels is only 43-percent owned. Dwayne Allen and Coby Fleener of the Indianapolis Colts. Maybe St. Louis' Jared Cook (16 percent).
If, at 12:45 Sunday, Washington or San Francisco comes out and says their tight ends are healthy, 100 percent, no worries, okay, you cost yourself a few days of a roster spot. But if those guys are "probably" or a "game-time decision?" This isn't Calvin Johnson, where if he's banged up but active you have to use him and take your chances. There are only two or three tight ends like that Unless you know for sure your tight end is going to be on the field Sunday evening or Monday, just go with someone else. It's too risky.
To the Week 5 ranks:
Tight end rankings, Week 5
(DK: Daniel Kelley; DC: Dan Ciarrocchi; JD: John Daigle; SK: Scott Kaliska)
| Rank | Consensus | Team | Opponent | DK | DC | JD | SK |
| 1 | Jimmy Graham | NO | TAM | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 2 | Julius Thomas | DEN | ARI | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| 3 | Martellus Bennett | CHI | @CAR | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 |
| 4 | Rob Gronkowski | NE | CIN | 4 | 3 | 10 | 4 |
| 5 | Larry Donnell | NYG | ATL | 7 | 7 | 3 | 5 |
| 6 | Greg Olsen | CAR | CHI | 5 | 5 | 6 | 6 |
| 7 | Delanie Walker | TEN | CLE | 8 | 6 | 7 | 7 |
| 8 | Travis Kelce | KAN | @SF | 6 | 9 | 5 | 10 |
| 9 | Zach Ertz | PHI | STL | 11 | 11 | 8 | 12 |
| 10 | Jordan Cameron | CLE | @TEN | 9 | 10 | 18 | 8 |
| 11 | Antonio Gates | SD | NYJ | 14 | 8 | 15 | 9 |
| 12 | Vernon Davis | SF | KAN | 10 | 13 | 11 | 14 |
| 13 | Heath Miller | PIT | @JAC | 20 | 12 | 12 | 11 |
| 14 | Dwayne Allen | IND | BAL | 12 | 16 | 13 | 16 |
| 15 | Jason Witten | DAL | HOU | 15 | 15 | 16 | 13 |
| 16 | Austin Seferian-Jenkins | TAM | @NO | 21 | 17 | 9 | 20 |
| 17 | Owen Daniels | BAL | @IND | 13 | 19 | -- | 19 |
| 18 | Coby Fleener | IND | BAL | 16 | 20 | 21 | 22 |
| 19 | Jared Cook | STL | @PHI | 18 | 18 | -- | 18 |
| 20 | Niles Paul | WAS | SEA | -- | 14 | -- | 15 |
| 21 | Eric Ebron | DET | BUF | 23 | -- | 17 | 21 |
| 22 | Garrett Graham | HOU | @DAL | -- | 22 | -- | 17 |
| 23 | Jace Amaro | NYJ | @SD | -- | -- | 14 | -- |
| 24 | Brandon Myers | TAM | @NO | 19 | -- | -- | 23 |
| 25 | Luke Willson | SEA | @WAS | -- | 21 | 22 | 25 |
| -- | Scott Chandler | BUF | @DET | 17 | -- | -- | -- |
| -- | Jordan Reed | WAS | SEA | -- | 25 | 19 | -- |
| -- | Richard Rodgers | GB | MIN | -- | -- | 20 | -- |
| -- | Clay Harbor | JAC | PIT | 24 | 24 | -- | 24 |
| -- | Logan Paulsen | WAS | SEA | 22 | -- | -- | -- |
| -- | Ladarius Green | SD | NYJ | -- | 23 | -- | -- |
| -- | Jermaine Gresham | CIN | @NE | -- | -- | 23 | -- |
| -- | Levine Toilolo | ATL | @NYG | -- | -- | 24 | -- |
| -- | John Carlson | ARI | @DEN | 25 | -- | -- | -- |
| -- | Rhett Ellison | MIN | @GB | -- | -- | 25 | -- |
