Green Bay Packers TE Robert Tonyan Finishes the Fantasy Football Season Strong

Scoring a touchdown in Sunday's 41-17 win, Green Bay Packers TE Robert Tonyan was finally back as an essential piece to an offense that showed just how explosive it could be when their back is up against the wall. Aaron Rodgers only had to attempt 24 passes, and Tonyan caught the lone touchdown and 52 of the 159 receiving yards. The Packers tight end would finish with his best performance since Week 6 and finished Sunday's slate of games as the TE7 in fantasy football Championship Week.

Tonyan's 2022 Fantasy Football Season

For those that drafted and held Robert Tonyan through the entirety of the 2022 season, it was mostly a disappointment from a fantasy perspective. In a typical redraft league, he became almost impossible to start after a fantastic first half of the season, but if we're looking at things from an optimistic viewpoint, he actually performed quite well for those who had him in best ball leagues, such as the Underdog format. Finishing as a TE2 on the year (TE19), Robert Tonyan stats had him scoring three double-digit fantasy point performances, including a 10 reception, 90-yard performance on 12 targets back in Week 6; a stat line that almost looks like a typo in retrospect.

Though he had only found the end zone once, Tonyan was the overall TE11 through those first six weeks of the season and was scoring a reasonable 6.9 half-PPR points per game and looking like a steal as a late-round veteran tight end. As wide receivers continued to find their way back into the lineup, the wheels started to fall off, as Tonyan was targeted twice or less in four games of a six-game stretch before Week 17, and he caught one pass in each of them. His 12.3 yards per game were hardly a blip on NFL screens, let alone fantasy lineups.

While Tonyan caught three of four targets for 52 yards and a touchdown to close the traditional fantasy season, it was likely too little, too late for managers who dropped him a month ago.

Forecasting Week 18's Utilization

Green Bay's Week 17 win now keeps them alive in the NFL Playoffs, and this sets up an entertaining showdown with the division-rival Detroit Lions on Sunday Night Football. The Packers will enter the playoffs with a win while the Lions need a laundry list of event to happen to find themselves in the dance, but a win would go a long way.

As far as Tonyan goes, he finds himself in a great matchup, as this game's current total is the second-highest of the slate, with the Packers current team total sitting at 27.0, the third-highest of the week. The Lions have been susceptible through the air, and particularly to the tight end, where they rank 29th in schedule-adjusted fantasy points allowed to the position. In the two teams' last meeting, Green Bay tight ends combined for nine receptions and 89 yards on 10 targets.

Robert Tonyan is in a great spot to wrap up his regular season with back-to-back big games.