Fantasy Football Week 9: Tight End rankings

The fantasy football community tends to experience a thrill unlike any other when Atlanta Falcons tight end Kyle Pitts scores a touchdown. Such a thrill was thusly experienced in Week 8 when Pitts delivered his best game of the season during the Falcons' 37-34 victory over the Carolina Panthers for sole possession of first place in the NFC South.

Pitts converted nine targets — his highest total of the season *insert eyes emoji here* — into five catches, 80 yards and a touchdown. Those are the kinds of statlines we expected Pitts to deliver on a weekly basis when we drafted him back in August.

Unfortunately, most of us know that a statline like this, instead of being a norm for Pitts, will likely remain nothing more than another jolt of hope, unless the Falcons drastically change their offense.

Head coach Arthur Smith has implemented a run-heavy approach for the Falcons and, as much as we might want to whine and complain, the approach works. The Falcons have pretty much been able to run on most of their opponents of late. Sadly, that often relegates Pitts to more blocking duty, when all fantasy managers want is for him to be a tight end in position only, but a wide receiver in role.

[Week 9 Fantasy Rankings: QBs | RBs | WRs | TEs | FLEX | DST | Kickers]

Due to the run-heavy offense quarterback Marcus Mariota isn't being asked to throw as often, either — and it's not like he's not able to tuck the football and take off himself, further strengthening their case for running so much.

As such, all we fantasy managers can do is continue to hope for more games like the one Pitts had in Week 8, especially down the stretch of the season when points matter so much.

Here's the tight end position — check out where Pitts and the rest of the TEs landed in our analysts' rankings for Week 9:

2022 Fantasy Football Rankings powered by FantasyProsECR ™ - Expert Consensus Rankings