Fantasy Football Week 12 Tight End Start/Sit: Colston Loveland, Jake Ferguson, and More
Three tight ends to start and three to sit in Week 12 of the NFL season.
Trey McBride is by far the top fantasy tight end, leading the pack by nearly 25 points in standard scoring and about 45 points in PPR entering Week 12. He is on pace for around 120 catches, 1,220 yards, and 12 touchdowns, each of which would be career highs.
McBride is also on pace for 193.5 standard fantasy points, a number no one has come close to since Kelce topped it in 2022; same for the 314.2 PPR points he is tracking toward. It's not an exaggeration to say that McBride right now is what Kelce was at his best as a fantasy player.
No one is ever going to sit McBride, even in the toughest matchup, so he won't show up on a list like this, but it's clear that McBride will hold his spot among the top tight ends heading into 2026 after dominating so far this season.
Let's look at three tight ends to start and three to sit in Week 12 of the NFL season. There won't be any obvious names below, like McBride. Instead, we have six guys who are worth fantasy consideration some weeks but better left on the bench other times. Most stats are from NFL.com.
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Start
Dallas Goedert, Philadelphia Eagles @ Dallas Cowboys
Goedert has been more of a middling fantasy player than his reputation sometimes suggested in the past. He has had a few good years but never topped 59 receptions or 830 yards, leaving him below the level of the top fantasy starters.
Goedert is on pace for 64 catches and 633 yards, but his real difference in 2025 is finding the end zone, as Goedert has already set a career high with seven touchdowns and is tracking for 12 TDs over the full season. That makes for a nice fantasy score; Goedert sits as TE6 in both standard and PPR.
I still don't see him as a great fantasy player, as touchdowns are random and could slow down, but the matchup is in Goedert's favor this week. The Cowboys have allowed the second-most yards per pass attempt. They are closer to the middle in fantasy points given up to tight ends, but Dallas is as vulnerable against the pass as any team.
When these teams played in Week 1, Goedert caught seven passes for 44 yards. That's fine, especially in PPR, but there is a chance for more in this one. Goedert could get nice volume again while also finding better fantasy success if he can find the end zone again.
Hunter Henry, New England Patriots @ Cincinnati Bengals
After being listed here more often early in the season, Henry has been absent for a while with tougher tight end matchups against teams like the Bills, Browns, and Falcons. He is back with the best TE matchup available, as the Bengals have given up by far the most fantasy points to the position.
Cincinnati has also allowed the third-most yards per pass attempt, regularly getting beaten up in the passing game. Every pass catcher on the Patriots has upside in this one, and their top tight end might be in the best position.
New England is 9-2, tied for the best record in football, and quarterback Drake Maye looks like an MVP candidate. Their schedule has been maybe the easiest in the league, and we won't get a real idea about the Pats' upside until the playoffs, but they keep producing, and for fantasy purposes, that's all that matters.
Henry has been OK, averaging around four catches and 40 yards per game while scoring four touchdowns, but he must be considered with the matchup in fantasy. The matchup couldn't be better in this one, making Henry a strong fantasy play.
Colston Loveland, Chicago Bears vs. Pittsburgh Steelers
Loveland has found a role in the Chicago offense. That might not be a surprise for the 10th overall pick, but he was anonymous during the first few months of the season before coming on lately.
He had a big game against the hapless Bengals (six catches, 117 yards, two touchdowns), but more importantly, he has been touching the ball, registering at least three receptions in each of the past five weeks and averaging 55 yards per game in that time. Loveland was a top-10 fantasy tight end in that five-week stretch.
The matchup is strong again in this one, as the Steelers have allowed the sixth-most fantasy points per game to tight ends. They are right in the middle in terms of yards per pass attempt allowed, but tight ends have averaged 6.3 catches and 67.1 yards per game against Pittsburgh while scoring six touchdowns in 10 games.
There is competition for targets in Chicago, and Loveland has a low floor to go along with a nice ceiling here, so understand the risk before plugging him in. That being said, the matchup is too good to ignore; I like Loveland as a good streamer this week.
Sit
Harold Fannin and David Njoku, Cleveland Browns @ Las Vegas Raiders
Fannin and Njoku have often shown up on the positive side of this article in 2025, as the Browns are short on playmakers, so both tight ends are involved in the offense. They are in a low-level passing game, which caps their ceilings, but both Fannin and Njoku have had games this year in which they've led the passing attack.
Njoku is questionable with a knee injury, so Fannin is the safer fantasy play, but that doesn't mean he's a good option. I mentioned Cleveland's low-level pass attack, and it can't be expected to get much better, as Shedeur Sanders will make the first start of his career.
Regardless of what you think about Sanders, fifth-round rookie QBs don't step in and play well in the NFL. He is likely to struggle mightily, as he did when taking over for a concussed Dillon Gabriel last week.
This is also a negative matchup, as the Raiders have allowed the fourth-fewest fantasy points per game to tight ends while sitting right in the middle in yards per pass attempt allowed. It's reasonable to think that Vegas is a good target because of how bad they are as a team, but the pass defense has been decent, and they have shut down tight ends.
Skip both Cleveland TEs this week; there are much better options.
Jake Ferguson, Dallas Cowboys vs. Philadelphia Eagles
Matchups are the name of the game in this section: Philadelphia has allowed the seventh-fewest yards per pass attempt and the second-fewest fantasy points per game to tight ends. There are questions around the offense, but Philly's defense is back on point as a top unit, particularly against the pass.
Ferguson has been a product of volume this season, racking up 60 catches and seven touchdowns in his first 10 games. He only has 400 yards, which works out to an average of 6.7 yards per catch. Ferguson's career rate is 8.8, and he has never been below 8.4 over a full season.
This massive volume of low-yardage catches is great in PPR, and you can't argue with the seven TDs, but Ferguson otherwise hasn't always been a great fantasy player in standard leagues.
When these teams played in Week 1, Ferguson had five catches for 23 yards. A similar outcome is likely here, making Ferguson an OK PPR option but a player to skip in standard (and even consider benching in PPR).
Juwan Johnson, New Orleans Saints vs. Atlanta Falcons
Johnson has been inconsistent this season, three times topping 70 yards but also failing to reach 30 yards in three other games. He is averaging 4.3 receptions and 49.1 receiving yards per game, fine numbers for a guy to consider in the right matchups.
This is not the right matchup, as the Falcons have given up the third-fewest fantasy points per game to tight ends. Atlanta started the year as one of the best pass defenses in the league, but that has fallen back toward the middle overall. They have allowed more to TEs recently, a stretch that included better players in Henry and Tyler Warren, as well as one long pass against the Panthers last week.
Johnson's quarterback is rookie Tyler Shough, who has looked fine in three starts. He had one bad game, one good game, and one right in the middle, a true Goldilocks performer. He will likely show more inconsistency, as rookies do, making it hard to trust his pass catchers in tougher matchups.
Johnson has a bit of a low ceiling anyway, so throwing in a low floor in this matchup makes him untenable. You can find a better matchup in Week 12, even with a lack of pass catchers around Johnson.
