Heading into Monday Night Football, Week 6 reminded us how hard it is for tight ends to score fantasy points without scoring a touchdown. Only five tight ends managed double-digit PPR points without scoring a touchdown. Brock Bowers and Trey McBride continue to be too big to ever fail. Bowers’s teammate Michael Mayer caught seven of nine targets for 95 scoreless yards. Dallas Goedert and Dalton Kincaid round out the list, getting there on volume on relatively poor efficiency. Other highlights included Kyle Pitts and Colston Loveland posting top-five scores after slow starts, and Isaiah Likely continuing his breakout with a position-pacing 23.9 PPR points.
Streamers-wise, AJ Barner did not get more involved in the Seattle Seahawks passing attack, and as that passing attack really struggled to do anything aside from feed Jaxon Smith-Njigba, it was a tough night for Barner. Pat Freiermuth popped up on the injury report late in the week, and although he played plenty of snaps, he looked a little limited. The spot ended up being a good one for the Steelers’ passing attack, with Darnell Washington cashing in from the tight end position and Germie Bernard and DK Metcalf both having strong showings. Chig Okonkwo hasn’t played yet, so we’ll stay optimistic and assume that by the time you’re reading this, Okonkwo is coming off a monster game.
Hunter Henry
Rostered in 53% of Sleeper leagues / 52% of Yahoo leagues / 42.6% of ESPN leagues
Hunter Henry is rostered a little more than our typical streamer selections, but this is a tough week for streaming tight ends. If Henry is available, he’s a strong option. Henry has been one of the Patriots’ more reliable options and has a solid red zone role. AJ Brown’s return to the lineup certainly takes a significant share of available targets, but it should also make the Patriots’ offense more efficient overall. That’s good for Henry, because despite his role being more consistent than the typical streamer, he’s still touchdown-dependent. He led all Patriots pass catchers in snap percentage this past week at 76%, but at this stage of his career, Henry isn’t a yards-after-catch or deep-ball threat. The Patriots face the Bears on Thursday Night Football this week in what projects to be a high-scoring game. If you’re really desperate, even Henry’s backup Eli Rairdon offers some upside this week. He’s playing around half the offensive snaps, with a lot of those snaps concentrated into short down-and-distance plays where the tight ends often can earn a target off play-action.
Pat Freiermuth
Rostered in 47% of Sleeper leagues / 46% of Yahoo leagues / 57.9% of ESPN leagues
The unofficial mascot of these streaming articles, Pat Freiermuth seems destined to graduate from streamer to consistent starter as his rostership percentages trend up across all three platforms. Freiermuth has been solid this year, even accounting for a disappointing box score last week after popping up on the injury report. He plays a lot of snaps, gets utilized like a receiver, and presents a big target in the red zone. By this point, you know the typical selling points for Freiermuth. This week he draws the Saints, who just got torched by Isaiah Likely and have struggled against tight ends all season. More importantly, the Saints like to play fast, and that in turn lets their opponents run more plays. If you can’t get Freiermuth, Darnell Washington is also in a great spot this week. He played almost as many snaps as Freiermuth last week, as the Steelers appear to be shifting to more two-tight end sets given their injuries at wide receiver. Washington is one of the most fun players to watch in the NFL, and the Steelers clearly have a package for him around the goal line. He’s not the receiving talent Freiermuth is, but both look like solid starts this week.
Mason Taylor
Rostered in 3% of Sleeper leagues / 1% of Yahoo leagues / 0.2% of ESPN leagues
To make up for recommending two guys that are higher-owned than our typical streamer, the last guy to make the list this week is Mason Taylor. If I ran the Jets, Mason Taylor would not be their primary tight end with Kenyon Sadiq on the roster. The Jets seem to prefer Taylor for base downs, however. Taylor isn’t the athletic freak Sadiq is, but he was a second-round pick and a reasonably well-respected prospect in his own right. It seems likely that in games the Jets have to play catch-up early and often, Sadiq will get more run. The good news for Taylor is the Jets play the Dolphins this week. The Dolphins’ roster may be one of the worst we’ve seen in recent memory, and the Jets should control this game. That likely means a steady dose of running plays. Taylor is the better blocking tight end, and thus should lead the way in snaps and opportunities. That’s a good place to be facing the Dolphins, who struggle to defend every position and frequently fail to sustain their own drives. Taylor is a true touchdown-or-bust dart throw, but of the guys available in deeper leagues, he seems like the best bet to find the end zone.
Feature image by Michael Packard (@CollectingPack on Twitter) / Photography by / Icon Sportswire