Fantasy Football Week 5 Tight End Preview: Kyle Pitts could see volume boost without Calvin Ridley

Earlier this week I wrote about how you needed to keep starting Kyle Pitts. That was before Calvin Ridley was ruled out due to a personal matter. Now Pitts projects for one of the largest tight end loads in the league against a bad Jets defense. That, and everything below, makes Pitts primed below for a breakout performance in Week 5.

Pitts currently ranks seventh among NFL tight ends in both targets and yards. He’s 12th in catches. He’s the No. 2 option on a Falcons passing offense that looks like it’s settling in. And he gets the Jets in Week 5.

With or without Ridley, Pitts should be in your lineup. If you drafted him, that’s easy enough. You don’t have to do anything. If you avoided him, now is the chance to acquire him for much less than it cost on Draft Day. But the window could be closing early Sunday morning.

Here’s everything else you need to know about tight end in Week 5:

Week 5 TE Preview

The following players are not being projected to play Week 5 at this time. Here’s what it means:

• 219 — Pitts’ 219 air yards ranks fifth at the position.
• 20.2% — A fifth of Jacoby Brissett’s passes have gone to Mike Gesicki.
• 127 — Dalton Schultz has 127 yards after the catch. Among tight ends, only Travis Kelce and George Kittle have more.
• 11.6% — Dallas Goedert has seen just an 11.6% target share, two points worse than Zach Ertz.
• 64% — Cameron Brate played a season-high 64% of the snaps in Week 4 without Rob Gronkowski. Now we just need some production.
• 52 — T.J. Hockenson has just 52 yards in his past two games. A third dud against the Vikings would be cause for concern.
• 14 — Tyler Conklin has 14 targets in his past two games; forgive last week’s dud.
• 5 — Dawson Knox set a career-high with five catches in Week 4. His role appears to be growing.

So who should you start and sit this week? And which surprising quarterback could lead you to victory? Visit SportsLine now to get Week 5 rankings for every position, plus see which QB is going to come out of nowhere to crack the top 10, all from the model that has out-performed experts big-time.