Kansas City Chiefs - Fantasy News

Who to Start: Hunter Henry or Travis Kelce?

by Mike Rose

12/15/17

NFL

Kansas City Chiefs

Travis Kelce

A huge AFC West grudge match is set to occur at Arrowhead Stadium on Saturday night when the Kansas City Chiefs welcome the Los Angeles Chargers into town for the first clash between the two teams since they faced off back in Week 3.

This game has huge implications as both teams are fighting for first place in the division. The last time they played neither starting tight end did anything of note. Hunter Henry didn’t register a catch for Los Angeles and Kansas City’s Travis Kelce had one reception for a single yard.

This time around figures to be completely different as Kelce is the No. 1 tight end in fantasy while Henry has come on in recent weeks for the Bolts.

Fantasy Matchup: Hunter Henry (9.0 PFP) vs. Travis Kelce (12.5 PFP)

Henry has averaged 7.7 Dober Fantasy Points per game, which is less than Kelce, so he enters this matchup as a 3.5-point underdog. Henry has struggled at times throughout 2017 and will be facing a Chiefs defense that ranks No. 9 in fantasy against the tight end position. However, the good news for Henry is that Kansas City’s defense has allowed the 10^th-most yards to tight ends, so it could be hit or miss for Henry on Saturday.

The Arkansas product has hauled in 42 receptions for 551 yards and four touchdowns this season. He is averaging 3.23 catches for 42.38 yards per game and has also failed to reach the 100-yard mark so far in 2017. What Henry will see on tape from the Chiefs game last week is a Kansas City defense that allowed Raiders tight end Jared Cook to have a great game. So maybe he can have similar success and eclipse the century mark for the first time this season. Kansas City’s defense has allowed 248.5 passing yards per game (No. 28) and 10.4 fantasy points per game to tight ends, so it will be an interesting matchup for Henry.

Meanwhile, Kelce put the foot on the gas pedal to start the season and hasn’t looked back. He’s had at least four receptions in all but two games while hitting the 100-yard or more plateau four times. He had a stretch of three games in the middle of the season in which he scored in all three of those contests. He is averaging 5.62 receptions and 72.49 yards per game while hauling in a total of 73 passes for 945 yards and seven touchdowns in 2017.

Heading into Week 15, Kelce leads all tight ends in receptions, targets and yards. As a rare “must start” at the position, the sky’s the limit for this stud despite recording only one reception the last time these two AFC West foes squared off earlier this season.

If I was asked to choose which tight end I would start a franchise with right now, I’d tell you Kelce. This guy is the real deal and there’s no reason to doubt him whatsoever. Pencil him onto your Dober Play Card this week as well as the last couple games of the season.

Week 15 Fantasy Projection: Travis Kelce (-3.5) vs. Hunter Henry