Streaming Tight Ends
Back-to-back weeks, we’ve seen Trey McBride finish as the number one tight end. His dominance seems to have no end in sight either. Since Jacoby Brissett has taken over, McBride has scored 6 touchdowns in the 5 games he has played with him. In comparison, he scored only one touchdown with Kyler Murray over the first 5 weeks. George Kittle is healthy and back with his QB1, catching 6 passes for 67 yards and 2 scores. Travis Kelce continues to post solid numbers in his year 36 season. Mark Andrews continues to be viewed as a touchdown-or-bust player, and even though he didn’t catch his end-zone target, he ran one in from 35 yards out on a fake tush push. AJ Barner continues to hit playable numbers with his 10 catches on 11 targets, amassing 70 yards. I was hoping for more from Pat Freiermuth last week, but Darnell Washington was the Steelers tight end who walked away with the good day as he finished at TE8. The trend of seeing Rams’ tight ends at the top of the position moved forward with Colby Parkinson this week. With 13 personnel, this is going to be a trend, but unfortunately, not one we can predict. Dalton Schultz finds magic again with backup Davis Mills finishing with 6 catches and 51 yards. Cole Kmet stole the show from Colston Loveland, but the rookie did walk away with a decent stat line and another huge broken tackle. I imagine the Loveland will be a crap shot each week, though, without an injury to Kmet.
Trey McBride gets the second-best matchup for tight ends this week, but you were starting him regardless. Brock Bowers has a rough matchup with the Browns this week. I would temper expectations with him, but the talent is real. He can surprise any week. Dallas Goedert has been quiet over the last couple of weeks, but in a potential shootout with Dallas, I like him finding the end zone this week. Kyle Pitts has fallen back to barely usable this month, and things are changing in Atlanta. Drake London will be out this week and maybe more, as well as the report that Michael Penix is off to IR for what could be the rest of the season. Harold Fannin might have Shedeur Sanders behind center, which opens so many variables, but his ability to get open and his target share give me the confidence to play him in a questionable matchup. Theo Johnson will be a speculative add each week, regardless of the quarterback. Get the right game this week? Call me crazy, but does Noah Fant get more looks this week without Ja’Marr Chase against one of the best rushing defenses in the Patriots?
And now, here are a handful of my favorite deeper streaming options for you all to consider this week:
Hunter Henry
Cincinnati. Nuff said.
Higher owned player, I know. But how can we not feature this guy this week? Hunter Henry has been quietly the number two player in targets for MVP runner Drake Maye, but the consistency hasn’t been there for Henry. This week, though, we throw it all out the window because the Patriots play the Bengals, who are on a historic pace for giving points to the tight end position. Henry had an 18% target share last week, which isn’t far off his season average of 16.5%. Henry is also just one touchdown behind the team leader in receiving touchdowns. In a game tied with the highest over-under on the week and over 29 points implied to the Patriots, it leaves plenty of wiggle room for Henry to have a standout game against Cincinnati. As long as TreVeyon Henderson doesn’t take all the touchdowns again.
Juwan Johnson
Old guy off the bye
The Saints are coming off a bye, and Tyler Shough looked good in his last start. Let’s roll the dice. With the departure of Rashid Shaheed, Juwan Johnson finds himself comfortably as the number two target on the team. With a cushion of 17.5% team target, he finds himself with a harder matchup in the Atlanta Falcons. The Falcons have been a top-5 team against tight ends this season. Over the last two, they are a bottom-five team, allowing 3.6 more points over expectation. The Falcons also find themselves without a quarterback and their star receiver, Drake London. If Kirk Cousins continues to struggle as he has in Atlanta, we could see plenty of opportunities for Shough to move this offense and lead us to a solid streaming option in Juwan this week.
Luke Musgrave
Let’s try this again
Let me start by saying this might be a gut call for me this week. I won’t be playing him in any leagues because of so much uncertainty, but if anything, a DFS dart throw. Luke Musgrave has not had more than 3 targets since his takeover for Tucker Kraft. Coming in at an 8% target share, it looks like this could end in disaster. Now, before I lose you altogether, we have some upside here. The Packers play the Vikings this week, and over the last month, they have been a bottom team against tight ends, allowing over 16 points per game to the position. The Packers also have a 23.5-point implied total, opening up multiple scoring options. Also, Josh Jacobs looks like he should be out this week, so Jordan Love could need another option to lean on in the short-yardage game.
Let me know what you think about these players! Any questions? Please find me on Twitter/X @TooMuch_Brian.
Photo by John Byrum | Adapted by Parker McDonald (@CarbonFoxGFX on Twitter/X)