Pre-Monday Night Football, we’re coming off a National Tight End Day that was sort of a mixed bag. Trey McBride led the position with a monster 27.1 PPR points on 13 targets. The only other tight end to break 20 PPR points was last week’s streaming article’s very own Mason Taylor, turning six targets into five receptions, 62 yards, and two touchdowns for 25.2 PPR points. Colston Loveland just missed the cutoff with 19.9 PPR points; George Kittle and Tucker Kraft posted matching 14.8 PPR point scores, and Davis Allen won the Rams’ tight end roulette this week, grabbing two touchdowns en route to 18.0 PPR points.
Streamers-wise, the aforementioned Taylor paid off big time. Hunter Henry caught seven passes for 71 yards, but Eli Rairdon got the Patriots’ only tight end touchdown. Pat Freiermuth let us down, earning just four targets and catching only two. Freiermuth also watched Darnell Washington convert a touchdown on his only target.
Gunnar Helm
Rostered in 5% of Sleeper leagues / 1% of Yahoo leagues / 1.9% of ESPN leagues
It might be too optimistic to ever say it’s a good week to start a secondary receiving option on this iteration of the Tennessee Titans, but this is as good a spot as it gets for Gunnar Helm. The Titans travel to Cincinnati to face the Bengals, and few teams, if any, present a better matchup for tight ends. The Titans have a bad offense, and Cam Ward looks terrible. That said, the Titans will almost certainly need to go pass-heavy in this game to keep up with Joe Burrow and company. Gunnar Helm is a plus athlete who plays a ton (84% of the snaps last week), and to the extent the Titans have any passing success, it’s likely to flow through either Helm or Carnell Tate. Tate faces a much stiffer matchup, giving Helm the rare opportunity to be a dart-throw tight end that can accumulate fantasy points on volume rather than as a pure touchdown-or-bust play.
Hunter Henry
Rostered in 60% of Sleeper leagues / 56% of Yahoo leagues / 47.2% of ESPN leagues
In what is likely his last appearance in this article, Henry possesses another highly favorable matchup this week against the Miami Dolphins. The Dolphins do not really defend any position, including tight end, giving Henry a solid shot to find the end zone. Moreover, Henry continues to earn playing time (76% of the snaps last week) and targets (a team-leading seven). As AJ Brown works his way back into form, it’s been Henry that Drake Maye has targeted to keep the offense moving. Against an anemic Dolphins defense, Henry should have plenty of opportunity and space to rack up fantasy points. As with last week, backup Eli Rairdon is also a viable streamer option for deeper leagues. The Patriots should be playing with a lead, allowing them to play more two-tight end sets, and Rairdon has flashed enough to remain a regular part of the offense.
Michael Mayer
Rostered in 36% of Sleeper leagues / 17% of Yahoo leagues / 28.2% of ESPN leagues
Michael Mayer nominally serves as the Raiders TE2. As Brock Bowers essentially plays wide receiver, however, Mayer functions as an every-down player for this offense. Last week, Mayer finished second behind Bowers among Raiders skill-position players with 82% of the offensive snaps. Mayer also sits fourth on the team with 37 targets on the season. In short, Mayer is a talented, every-down tight end that gets lost in the shuffle a bit because of his much more heralded teammate. This week, the Raiders are small favorites against the New York Jets. The Jets defense is not strong, having just been lit up by the previously winless Miami Dolphins, and Mayer runs the classic tight end routes that benefit from his offense playing with a lead. The play-action game should be there for Mayer. Narrative-wise, there’s been some buzz about the Raiders shifting from Kirk Cousins to Fernando Mendoza if the offense doesn’t right the ship. It wouldn’t be surprising to see Cousins and the Raiders use this as a “get right” spot and try to lean on their passing attack a little more than normal to compensate for a struggling rushing game.
Feature image by Michael Packard (@CollectingPack on Twitter) / Photography by Matthew Maxey/ Icon Sportswire