Steaming Pile of
Streaming Tight Ends
Finding a fill-in at the tight-end position will be more challenging over the next several weeks, with bye weeks beginning, but we’re here to help find a few that offer some upside. The position is constantly being churned in most leagues, so keep an eye out who has been dropped to upgrade your lineup during bye weeks.
Week 5 was a lot more kind to the position with 14 players posting double-digit point totals, and six breaking 19 points in PPR formats. If only we could see that every week! We saw some who have been disappointments thus far finally finish in the Top 12. George Kittle led the way, hauling in three touchdowns in his three-catch performance. After what seemed like a bust of a season, Dallas Goedert was heavily featured in the Philadelphia Eagles’ first drive of Week 5 and finished with 117 yards on 8 catches and a touchdown. Sam LaPorta continues to lead the way for the position while single-handedly ruining all talks of rookie tight ends not performing.
Meanwhile, Kyle Pitts is finally giving owners a reason to look his way. Pitts finished with seven catches for 87 yards and is quietly sixth in TE targets this season on a team targeting the position at a league-high 41 percent! Looking back at the mentions we had here last week, Tyler Conklin returned with a TE1 finish on the week. He continues to see work near the line of scrimmage and has been in the top 14 of routes run at the position. He’s matchup-dependent but offers more upside than most think. Zach Ertz received fewer than eight targets for just the second time this season but salvaged his day with his first touchdown. Ertz will continue to see a large target share and is a good floor play. Dalton Kincaid was our long shot last week, and he let us down with an underwhelming total of just two catches. After leaving in the second half with a head injury, he may still serve as a streaming option for some this week.
A ‘Bear’Necessity for your Lineup
Cole Kmet
Cole Kmet is on a tear right now and cannot be ignored. Over the last two weeks, Kmet has 127 yards on 12 catches and three touchdowns. Justin Fields has taken command of this offense, and there is no reason to believe it will end this week in Soldier Field against a Vikings team in a free fall. Did I mention Justin Jefferson is out for the purple and gold? The Vikings should give the Bears plenty of opportunities on offense with them struggling without Jefferson. Kmet has only seven other tight ends through five games with more targets. He also finds himself on a team targeting the position on 26 percent of the team’s throws, the fifth-highest in the league. There’s plenty of reason to believe that the Bears offense should balance out a bit between the passing and rushing game, with the team seeing an 11 to 2 touchdown split, but this still leaves plenty of room for Kmet to get his fantasy points. Don’t overthink it; start him up!
Commanding your Attention
Logan Thomas
Logan Thomas is making himself into a weekly fixture in this segment. If you don’t remember, Thomas came down with nine catches for 77 yards and a score, putting him over 40 yards in every game he’s completed this season. Despite the Commanders having three capable wide receivers, Sam Howell targets the tight end position at the fourth-highest rate in the NFL. The Commanders draw the Falcons this week, and that defense has been surprising so far this season, but they can be carved up in the middle of the field and are 31st against the tight end position. Four teams have scored at least 14.2 points against the Falcons for the position.
Re-Charged off the Bye
Gerald Everett
Coming off of a bye, the Chargers have an interesting matchup ahead of themselves against the Cowboys. The Cowboys’ defense has been elite for most of the season so far, but a romping from the 49ers and an eyebrow-raising loss to the Cardinals have exposed this defense as beatable. One of the biggest places to exploit this team is the tight-end position. The second tight end, Donald Parham, is sitting with three touchdowns on the season, but that can’t take away from Gerald Everett, who is out there more and seeing more work. With Mike Williams out for the season with an ACL tear, it leaves an opening for Everett to strike in as a consistent piece in this offense. According to Vegas, this game is sitting at the highest point total, so with the 24 implied points for the Chargers, there should be plenty of opportunities for Everett.
A Bit ‘Knox’ous, but Aren’t Most TEs?
Dawson Knox
Let me know what you think about these players! Any questions? 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)