Streaming Tight Ends
There it goes. The first half of the fantasy regular season has ended. But at what cost? The injuries have stacked up across the league, and luckily, the tight ends have been relatively unscathed. With the trades of high-end wide receivers and the season-ending injuries, we would see more production from the tight ends, but they continue to be inconsistent.
Last week, Jonnu Smith saw a second game in a row where he had at least seven targets. He grabs the week’s top spot and has a touchdown and 96 yards. David Njoku thrived as the number one option for the Browns. Brock Bowers tied Njoku for the week-high in targets with 14. Bowers’ dominant rookie season looks to continue with the absence of Davante Adams, and Gardner Minshew will remain the signal caller with Aiden O’Connell hitting IR. Mark Andrews hit us with a two-touchdown game, and you can’t help but smile and hope we’re back.
Travis Kelce gets the Raiders this week, and we hope to finally see his first score of the year. George Kittle is day-to-day with a foot sprain, but the 49ers are without Brandon Aiyuk for the season, and Deebo Samuel is in the hospital with fluid in his lungs. Kittle would be the focal point without the stud wide receivers. The Jaguars had the game last week under control with the run game, so Evan Engram was slightly disappointed. They play the Packers this week, and they’ll need to pass all day to keep up with Jordan Love and company. Tucker Kraft has four touchdowns in the last four weeks, and there is no way this can be maintained all season, but the party might just happen in Week 7. The Jaguars have given up a QB1 performance in every game. Love may go nuclear, and Kraft should benefit one more time. More brutal plays include Sam LaPorta, who has seen less than a 10% target share in four of six games this season.
And now, here are a handful of streaming options for you all to consider this week:
David Njoku
New QB, No Problem
Amari Cooper is in Buffalo and the talent at pass catcher in Cleveland is questionable at best. Where you do see consistency is at the tight end position. Njoku has seen over a 29% target share in the last two games and the trend should only continue. Watson will be out for the season with a torn Achilles, and without him last season, Njoku finished with four straight games at tight end, three or higher.
Cade Otton
Last Man Standing
Cade Otton has been an exciting play for the last several weeks. Not only does he have one of the best quarterbacks this season, but before Week 7, he also had over an 18% target share in three of the prior four games. Otton walked away from the Ravens game with eight catches for 100 yards. Mike Evans re-injured his hamstring, which should sideline him for multiple weeks. The game only got worse for the Buccaneers as Chris Godwin went down with an injury that will keep him out “indefinitely”. This leaves the offense to the running backs, a couple of young, unproven wide receivers, and Otton.
Noah Fant
Break Glass in case of Emergency
Now we make it to the final straw, the last ditch effort to shoot for some free waiver wire points. Part of me is hesitant with this one because I hate chasing points, but situations point us here. We know DK Metcalf avoided a major injury at this point, but it is considered week-to-week. With him out of the lineup, that would put a quarter of the targets back on the table, and Geno Smith continues to lead the league in passing yards. Noah Fant is over 60 yards in each of the last two weeks. He is still scoreless on the season, so in a game without the Seahawks’ best red zone threat potentially missing, he may find pay dirt.
Let me know what you think about these players! Any questions? Please find me on Twitter/X @TooMuch_Brian.
Feature image by Michael Packard (@CollectingPack on Twitter) / Photography by John Byrum / Icon Sportswire