Steaming Pile of Streaming Tight Ends
Welcome to Week 14, everyone. Wow, does the slate look bleak? For most, this is a must-win week to grab a playoff spot and stream the position, or your consistent starter all season may have a rough matchup or lose their quarterback, which can be scary. I hope we can find a few deeper plays to get enough points to push you into that realm.
Here are a few guys you may be contemplating to start this week. Evan Engram is coming off his best game of the season, one in which he got his first touchdown of the season. The trouble is now he draws the Browns’ tough defense, and his franchise quarterback is at risk of missing the game. Dalton Kincaid has found himself having an incredible rookie season, but things may struggle a bit as he and the Bills travel to Arrowhead to play the Chiefs.
Gerald Everett has been all over the place, and so have the touchdowns to the tightened position for the Chargers. He does draw a great matchup against the Broncos, who can’t seem to contain the position, as we saw Brevin Jordan have a career day in his matchup with them last week. Tucker Kraft of the Packers has filled in nicely for the rookie Luke Musgrave, who had to be put on IR a few weeks back. Despite the amount of pass catchers that can be involved in Green Bay, Jordan Love has been tossing it all over to offset their lackluster running game.
Here are a few deeper plays at tight end that intrigue me and are worth a start in Week 14.
Isaiah Likely
Will he score a touchdown? It’s Likely!
Isaiah Likely is surprisingly rostered in under 50% of Yahoo! leagues, and it’s pretty shocking. Since Mark Andrews went down, Likely has played in over 70% of snaps. With him being in on most snaps, it sets him up in an offense that hasn’t identified a new top receiving option. The Ravens are set for a battle against the Los Angeles Rams, which is a top-three matchup for the tight end position. Having just come off the bye week, the Ravens have had the time to figure out the offense in a post-Mark Andrews world. With an implied team total of over 21 points, it leaves a good chance he also walks away with a score.
Cade Otton
Baker, don’t let me down!
Well, I put Cade Otton on this list at that time of the season. Otton has been on top in so many metrics this season that it’s pretty incredible he only had one memorable fantasy performance. So far on the season, he is second in the league in percentage route runs per game and fifth overall in tight-end route runs. Here enters the divisional matchup between the Buccaneers and Falcons, a potential deciding game in the NFC South race, and the Falcons do a great job containing the runningbacks and the wide receivers. This allows Baker Mayfield to feed his 6’5″ tight end in a matchup where the Buccaneers should score multiple touchdowns in a 41-point implied head-to-head.
Chigoziem Okonkwo
Lets hop on the Okonkwo train. Chig-a-Chig-a-Chigga ?
It’s been hard out here in the tightened land, and I think it’s time to open the box, break the glass, and call on Chigoziem Okonkwo. The off-season darling was far and away in so many metrics, and many of them show off his athletic abilities. Let’s look at how he’s stacked up this season. Among all tight ends, he is first in yards per route run and second in targets per route run. Even with him at the top in these two metrics, we haven’t really seen any production for him. The significant change is that Will Levis is behind center, and we’ve seen positive movements in the stat categories we want. Okonkwo has at least 45 yards and five targets in his last two games. This is a shot in the dark this week, but in the game script against the Dolphins, he has a good chance to exploit Miami’s defense and show off why he leads the league in the largest cushion the defenders have afforded him. The big fear in the play is how rattled Will Levis becomes from the Dolphin’s pass rush.
Let me know what you think about these players! Any questions? Please find me on Twitter/X @TooMuch_Brian.
Photos by Rene Böhmer/Unsplash and Rich von Biberstein/Icon Sportswire | Featured Image by Ethan Kaplan (@DJFreddie10 on Twitter and @EthanMKaplanImages on Instagram)