Top daily fantasy football tight end plays for Week 1

With Week 1 of the NFL season upon us, we take a look at some of the best tight end values to be found on FanDuel, as well as some players worth fading.

by Jeff Goldberg

Sep 10, 2016, 6:15 PM UTC

NFL: Preseason-Minnesota Vikings at Seattle Seahawks

Joe Nicholson-USA TODAY Sports

Welcome to Week 1 of the Daily Fantasy season, which is also known as Week 1 of the NFL season. This is arguably the best week to play NFL DFS on sites such as FanDuel, for several reasons. We’ve all been waiting eight months for football to return; many large-field tournaments fail to fill, creating nice overlay opportunities; and player pricing is based purely on conjecture, leading to nice values and under-owned diamonds. This article looks at some of the projected lesser-owned players at tight end who could provide huge boosts to your tournament lineups, as well as some trap plays to avoid.

PLAY

Travis Kelce $6,400 (Kansas City Chiefs vs. San Diego Chargers)

His price is a little high, but his ownership is looking like it might be surprisingly low, considering he could be in for a productive day against a suspect Chargers defense. If Jeremy Maclin is the No. 1 target in the passing game, Kelce is 1-A, and there’s no reason to think that even at $6,400 he can’t triple his salary with six catches, 70 yards and a touchdown.

Kyle Rudolph $5,300 (Minnesota Vikings at Tennessee Titans)

Rudolph might be the best overall tight end play of the weekend, especially considering how extremely low-owned he is projecting to be. The Titans were among the worst defenses in the league last season against the tight end position, and with Shaun Hill expected to get the start, you have to figure Rudolph is going to be heavily targeted as the safety valve in the passing game. Rudolph will be busy.

Crockett Gillmore $4,900 (Baltimore Ravens vs. Buffalo Bills)

Dennis Pitta is questionable. Maxx Williams is questionable. Nick Boyle and Darren Waller are out. That leaves Gillmore to pretty much play the entire game. He was productive last season and should easily pay off his price tag in this game. He also will be extremely low-owned for the amount of volume at his disposal. Easily among the best value plays at any position.