After the top five tight ends, there are a pool of players that get hot for weeks at a time and then come crashing back down to earth. Cameron Brate is the poster boy for this tier of tight ends. He’s been up and down all season, but has scored in three straight games. The best of the three coming against the Bears on Sunday. For fantasy players with the playoffs in mind, Brate is set to have a horrible finish to the regular season. He’ll line up across from the Chiefs (3rd fewest points allowed to the position), Seahawks (7th fewest) and Chargers (11th fewest). If you can survive these three weeks he then gets two games against the Saints (12 most points allowed) and Dallas (8th most points allowed). All this is to say, Brate may find himself on waivers over the next few weeks. If so, he makes a fantastic streamer for Weeks 14-16.
Fantasy football rankings, 2016: Tight ends for Week 11
The SB Nation fantasy team reveals which tight ends rank in the top 25 heading into Week 11.
This bye week is only bad if you wanted to start one of the San Diego tight ends or if you are “lucky” enough to have Rob Gronkowski who is dealing with some sort of lung injury. I suspect an alien parasite, but I shouldn’t speculate. Here are a few good streaming options and our rankings to help you get through Week 11.
Julius Thomas - Even though he just saw a season high in targets, Thomas is the definition of touchdown dependent. Though, when you’ve scored in three of your last four and are facing the Detroit defense that has been tortured by tight ends all season, touchdown dependency isn’t too big of a worry.
Dwayne Allen - The oft injured Colt returned to action in Week 9. His return wasn’t noteworthy, but he is in a good position to have a spectacular Week 11 when he plays the Titans. If Marcus Mariota can stay hot, and Luck isn’t horrible, then this should be a high-scoring game and I like Allen to get a few red zone looks.
Zach Miller - I know he is attached to Jay Cutler, but Alshon Jeffery is suspended and Miller is Cutler’s second most trusted option. He also gets a pretty good matchup against the Bengals.
Tight ends, Week 11
(ZS: Zach Senvisky, JM: Jason Marcum, SK: Scott Kaliska, JG: Jeff Goldberg, KB: Kyle Bennett, DG: Derek Gordon)
| Rk | Consensus | Tm | Opp. | ZS | JM | SK | JG | KB | DG |
| 1 | Jimmy Graham | SEA | vs. PHI | 2 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| 2 | Greg Olsen | CAR | vs. NO | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 4 |
| 3 | Delanie Walker | TEN | @ IND | 1 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 5 |
| 4 | Travis Kelce | KC | vs. TB | 5 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 3 |
| 5 | Tyler Eifert | CIN | vs. BUF | 4 | 2 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 2 |
| 6 | Jordan Reed | WAS | vs. GB | 7 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| 7 | Martellus Bennett | NE | @ SF | 6 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
| 8 | Kyle Rudolph | MIN | vs. ARI | 10 | 9 | 10 | 8 | 8 | 10 |
| 9 | Dennis Pitta | BAL | @ DAL | 13 | 10 | 18 | 9 | 9 | 9 |
| 10 | Jason Witten | DAL | vs. BAL | 15 | 12 | 13 | 10 | 10 | 12 |
| 11 | Dwayne Allen | IND | vs. TEN | 12 | 11 | 23 | 11 | 12 | 11 |
| 12 | Julius Thomas | JAC | @ DET | 11 | 13 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 13 |
| 13 | Cameron Brate | TB | @ KC | 9 | 18 | 12 | 13 | 13 | 18 |
| 14 | C.J. Fiedorowicz | HOU | @ OAK | 17 | 17 | 11 | 12 | 11 | 15 |
| 15 | Zach Ertz | PHI | @ SEA | 20 | 16 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 17 |
| 16 | Coby Fleener | NO | @ CAR | 22 | 8 | 20 | 19 | 20 | 7 |
| 17 | Jack Doyle | IND | vs. TEN | 18 | 15 | 16 | 16 | 16 | 16 |
| 18 | Zach Miller | CHI | @ NYG | 14 | 20 | 9 | 18 | 18 | 20 |
| 19 | Eric Ebron | DET | vs. JAC | 16 | 21 | 8 | 17 | 17 | 21 |
| 20 | Gary Barnidge | CLE | vs. PIT | 24 | 14 | 22 | 25 | 21 | 14 |
| 21 | Lance Kendricks | LA | vs. MIA | 23 | 25 | 17 | 20 | 19 | 23 |
| 22 | Vernon Davis | WAS | vs. GB | 8 | -- | -- | 23 | -- | 19 |
| 23 | Will Tye | NYG | vs. CHI | 19 | 23 | 25 | 21 | 23 | 22 |
| 24 | Charles Clay | BUF | @ CIN | 25 | 22 | 24 | 24 | 24 | 25 |
| 25 | Jesse James | PIT | @ CLE | 21 | 24 | -- | 22 | -- | -- |
| -- | Ladarius Green | PIT | @ CLE | -- | -- | 21 | -- | 22 | 24 |
| -- | Vance McDonald | SF | vs. NE | -- | -- | 19 | -- | 25 | -- |
