Fantasy football rankings 2015: Tight ends, Week 15
The return of Rob Gronkowski didn’t mean the end of questions. Here are our fantasy football tight end rankings for Week 15.
Week 14 of the 2015 NFL season saw Rob Gronkowski return to action. Unfortunately, injuries to two other premium tight ends have us still questioning things heading into Week 15.
Carolina's Greg Olsen suffered a knee injury in the Panthers' beatdown of the Atlanta Falcons. He's escaped major injury and should be fine to play Sunday, but with Carolina already guaranteed a first-round bye and close to clinching the NFC's No. 1 seed, there is little reason to press Olsen beyond what's necessary. He's still a highly ranked tight end, but there's risk there.
Cincinnati's Tyler Eifert made it only partway through his return from injury before getting hurt again, suffering a concussion after only two catches. It's too early in the week to know his exact prognosis, but he'll have to pass through the league's concussion protocol before being able to play Sunday. Even if Eifert does play, he'll have AJ McCarron at quarterback, which right away puts a probable cap on his fantasy possibilities.
On top of those two, there are some interesting storylines surrounding a few other tight ends:
- We all love Travis Kelce, but he has two touchdowns since Week 1 and has four or fewer fantasy points four times in his last five games. The production has been rough.
- While the yardage hasn't been great (outside of one game), Julius Thomas has now scored in four straight games, with an average of 7.5 targets a game. That's a stock that is rising.
- Week 14 was the first time since the two became teammates that Vernon Davis definitively bested Owen Daniels in targets, with nine to Daniels' four. It looks like a changing of the guard at a secondary part of the position. Ideally, you aren't using either Denver guy, but if you are, it's Davis.
On to our Week 15 tight end rankings.
Tight ends, Week 15
(DK: Daniel Kelley; DC: Dan Ciarrocchi; AM: Andrew Miller; JD: John Daigle; SK: Scott Kaliska)
| Rk | Consensus | Tm | Opp. | DK | DC | AM | JD | SK |
| 1 | Rob Gronkowski | NE | TEN | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 2 | Greg Olsen | CAR | @NYG | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
| 3 | Jordan Reed | WAS | BUF | 5 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 3 |
| 4 | Delanie Walker | TEN | @NE | 3 | 9 | 6 | 4 | 4 |
| 5 | Gary Barnidge | CLE | @SEA | 4 | 6 | 9 | 5 | 5 |
| 6 | Travis Kelce | KC | @BAL | 12 | 4 | 4 | 7 | 7 |
| 7 | Julius Thomas | JAC | ATL | 6 | 8 | 5 | 8 | 8 |
| 7 | Antonio Gates | SD | MIA | 8 | 7 | 8 | 6 | 6 |
| 9 | Benjamin Watson | NO | DET | 10 | 12 | 12 | 9 | 9 |
| 10 | Zach Miller | CHI | @MIN | 9 | 13 | 11 | 10 | 10 |
| 11 | Richard Rodgers | GB | @OAK | 13 | 10 | 7 | 12 | 12 |
| 12 | Tyler Eifert | CIN | @SF | 7 | 5 | -- | 11 | 11 |
| 13 | Austin Seferian-Jenkins | TB | @STL | 15 | 11 | 10 | 13 | 13 |
| 14 | Heath Miller | PIT | DEN | 18 | 14 | 14 | 15 | 15 |
| 15 | Eric Ebron | DET | @NO | 19 | 17 | 15 | 14 | 14 |
| 16 | Will Tye | NYG | CAR | 11 | 19 | 13 | 19 | 19 |
| 17 | Kyle Rudolph | MIN | CHI | 14 | 16 | 20 | 17 | 16 |
| 18 | Jacob Tamme | ATL | @JAC | 17 | 20 | 18 | 16 | 17 |
| 19 | Vernon Davis | DEN | @PIT | 16 | 18 | 17 | 20 | 20 |
| 20 | Zach Ertz | PHI | ARI | 25 | 15 | -- | 18 | 18 |
| 21 | Jason Witten | DAL | NYJ | 22 | 21 | 21 | 21 | 21 |
| 22 | Ryan Griffin | HOU | @IND | 21 | -- | 19 | 24 | 24 |
| 23 | Charles Clay | BUF | @WAS | 24 | 22 | -- | 22 | 22 |
| 24 | Vance McDonald | SF | CIN | -- | -- | 16 | -- | -- |
| 24 | Owen Daniels | DEN | @PIT | 20 | -- | 22 | -- | -- |
| -- | Scott Chandler | NE | TEN | 23 | -- | -- | 23 | 23 |
| -- | Brent Celek | PHI | ARI | -- | 23 | -- | 25 | 25 |
| -- | Jordan Cameron | MIA | @SD | -- | -- | 23 | -- | -- |
| -- | Clive Walford | OAK | GB | -- | 24 | 25 | -- | -- |
| -- | Coby Fleener | IND | HOU | -- | 25 | 24 | -- | -- |
* * *
SB Nation presents: The NFL’s Microsoft tablets take so much abuse
