Playoff Fantasy Football TE Rankings for Divisional Round: Travis Kelce looks to break out

Playoff fantasy football leagues have been growing in popularity each NFL season. This unique format is run in the same way as traditional season-long leagues, such as in scoring settings and roster formats, and also has a typical snake style. The major twist is that as teams are eliminated from the NFL Playoffs, their players are no longer available for fantasy football lineups.

This intense factor forces managers to approach their drafts with a much different strategy than in regular leagues. The most successful teams in these leagues will usually include players from teams that make deep runs into the postseason. Failure to have any of them on a roster makes it extremely difficult to fill out a full lineup, and in turn, fails to maximize final fantasy scores.

An alternative for playoff fantasy football formats, known as survival leagues, combines elements from traditional formats with other factors from DFS and Eliminator pools. Managers must build a DFS-style lineup with any players that they want from a specific round, but the catch is that each player may only be used for the duration of the entire NFL Playoffs.

Regardless of which playoff fantasy football format a manager is competing in, it will be crucial to use specific strategies when building rosters. This includes tight ends, who already represent one of the most challenging positions. It often lacks depth even in season-long leagues, so the shrinking amount of NFL teams in playoff formats makes this position even more difficult to navigate.

Travis Kelce figures to be one of the most popular tight ends to target in the Divisional Round. While he hasn't been as dominant this season as in years past, he still represents one of the most reliable players in the position. He has uncharacteristically failed to score a touchdown in each of his past seven games but has still recorded at least four receptions in all of those games.

Sam LaPorta is another interesting target for this round of playoff fantasy football leagues. The breakout rookie avoided an injury scare to appear in the Wild Card round and responded by scoring his fifth touchdown in as many games. He has a favorable matchup in the next round versus the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, giving him solid lineup value.

All of these situations for every tight end were taken into careful consideration to generate the following positional rankings for the Divisional Round. They can be useful in all playoff fantasy football formats, as well as for DFS players.

TE rankings for playoff fantasy football

1. Travis Kelce
2. George Kittle
3. Sam LaPorta
4. Dalton Kincaid
5. Isaiah Likely
6. Dalton Schultz
7. Cade Otton
8. Mark Andrews
9. Dawson Knox
10. Luke Musgrave
11. Brevin Jordan
12. Tucker Kraft