With leagues generally only starting one tight end, you would think there should be 12 solid tight ends any given week. That is clearly not the case, so even if your starting tight end is not on bye you may need help in the department.
The top guys are no-brainer starts, but rounding out the top 12 are some sneaky plays.
* Orange means, already played week 7 on Thursday.
It's never good when you pop up on the injury report after a Saturday practice, and that's exactly what happened with Darren Waller. We will need to monitor the situation very closely before the 4:05 EST kickoff against Philly.
All eyes are on Kyle Pitts to see if the rookie can back up his London game production and continue to emerge as a top fantasy tight end. In a week (and year) where it's dry at the position, Pitts should be a bright spot moving forward for fantasy managers who spent a high draft pick on him.
TJ Hockenson had a bad stretch of games after an explosive start, but got it back together against the Bengals. The overall offensive struggles of the Lions has limited Hockenson at times, and that was always a worry with drafting the young tight end. He doesn't have a great matchup against the Rams this week, but it is a revenge game, and Goff likely throws a touchdown or two. Hock has a great chance of pulling one of those down.
Zach Ertz is aging and on a brand new team, but he is still a damn good tight end and that is something Kyler Murray hasn't had in his young career. Ertz doesn't have to learn how run a hitch route in the new offense to be effective, he's a veteran and I expect him to become a red-zone ball hog in Arizona as long as he can stay healthy. He pops into the top 12 TEs for me in a matchup against Houston that profiles to be a Cardinals blowout, lending extra chances for red zone opportunity for Ertz.
The fringe guys are going to be starting on many rosters, because people like to hoard tight ends and injuries to Irv Smith Jr, Rob Gronkowski, and Logan Thomas already have managers looking elsewhere for start-able talent. We break down the 6 fringe guys we like to start this week, and the six you commonly see up in the start category but I'm not a fan this week.
Robert Tonyan basically just plays with Aaron Rodgers and that gives him a better chance at scoring on a weekly basis than most. He won't catch many balls, but if one of them is a touchdown he has value.
If OJ Howard is good to go this week, he could have a huge day with Antonio Brown out and Brady needing a big target over the middle against the swift Chicago pass rush. If he can't play, I like Cameron Brate to score in his stead.
Gerald Everett is ready to bounce back in Seattle, and Anthony Firkser should see some looks in the passing realm from Ryan Tannehill in a game that looks to need a bit of passing from the Titans. There is always the worry they just run the ball every play too. It happens over there when you have Derrick Henry.
Ross Dwelley is super interesting as a sleeper play because we don't know what he could look like with Jimmy Garropolo, who is back on the field and injury-free. Garropolo loves throwing the ball to George Kittle, and even though Dwelley won't be used in the exact same way, if he can dig a few plays out he will Conti ue to get the volume to be worth a start.
The bench list are guys who don't seem like they will have the volume to carry double digit fantasy points, and they have a lower chance of reaching the end zone than their higher-ranked counterparts.
Cole Kmet and Mo Alie-Cox could surprise , but unless you don't have another tight end rostered, it's risky to trust either of these guys.
Evan Engram, Adam Trautman, and Jonnu Smith are all three cut candidates. They just haven't been able to produce at a high level in 2021 due to health or scheme, and it's past time (if you have't already) to part ways with this tight end trio.
Stay tuned to the Sportsleaf.com Fantasy page for injury updates and start/sit advice before the games tomorrow!
Comments