NFL

3 Fantasy Football Tight End Streaming Options for Week 11

With four more teams on bye, who can you look to for tight end points this week?

TILT. Tilt tilt tilt. I basically tilted all of Week 10. I hope you had a better weekend.

Regardless, I will put on a brave face. It's time to give the people what they want, nay, crave -- tight end streamers. The good ones.

Throughout the season, this column should/will/must be your go-to resource for identifying tight ends to stream when you're in a pinch. Based on monitoring 12-team Yahoo! roster percentages, everyone listed will be rostered in fewer than 60% of Yahoo! leagues.

It was, mercifully, an almost clean slate for tight end injuries. Jack Doyle missed the Thursday Night game with a concussion as expected, but he will have 10 days to recover for Week 11. Irv Smith Jr. was a surprising scratch over the weekend due to a knee issue. Gerald Everett briefly visited the trainer, which is notable to watch in the event he is limited in practice this week.

Based on the incredible reputation of this column (surely it's famous by now), Week 10 was a total miss. While the process on Trey Burton, Austin Hooper and Dallas Goedert still felt good, none delivered usable weeks. I hope you'll still trust me to bring better results this week.

As bye weeks continue, identifying usable streamers will become even more valuable. The Chicago Bears, New York Giants, and San Francisco 49ers and Buffalo Bills are on bye, which removes one starter and two streaming options from the tight end menu. Of course, we'll need to monitor any potential COVID-induced byes or missed games.

It usually takes a good six weeks before positional points allowed data is somewhat reliable. Now that we're there, I'll lean a bit heavier on points allowed to the position in this process where applicable. In the end, though, we're chasing opportunity.

We're not exactly shooting fish in the barrel with tight end streamers, but we'll aim for more successful plays in Week 11.

Logan Thomas, TE, Washington Football Team

Roster Percentage: 35%

Admittedly, the 60% roster maximum I'm holding myself to has become pretty restrictive. It means column staples like Eric Ebron, Dallas Goedert and Austin Hooper are no longer eligible.

So here we are. And honestly, Logan Thomas has been solid this year. He's seen at least four targets in every single game. He was the per-game TE7 from Weeks 6-9, then dropped the TE7 performance of Week 10. Simply put, Thomas is closer to low-end TE1 status than is reflected in his current 35% roster percentage.

While Thomas' 11% target share in Alex Smith's first start is nothing to write home about, it's notable the Washington Football Team's coaching staff was comfortable dropping Smith back to pass 55 times on Sunday. It's not unreasonable to project some pass-heavy scripts going forward.

Thomas has a great matchup in Week 11 against a Cincinnati Bengals defense allowing the second-most points to tight ends in the league. Cincy drops Joe Burrow back to pass 40-plus times per game and plays at a reasonable pace. This game has sneaky shootout potential, and the close 1.5-point spread means it projects as a close game.

Robert Tonyan, TE, Green Bay Packers

Roster Percentage: 51%

Robert Tonyan has appeared in this column just once this season. If you're a weekly reader, you likely recall the pants off dance-off that ensued when Tonyan went bananas against the Atlanta Falcons on Monday night.

Unfortunately, we can't project another three-touchdown explosion as long as Davante Adams is in the lineup. And it doesn't help that the Green Bay Packers are likely to get Allen Lazard back this week.

Still, outside of a Week 9 blowout in which the Packers cruised to victory, Tonyan has remained involved in the offense. If not for wind causing an errant throw, Tonyan could've had a much larger day as Rodgers missed him on a 20-plus-yard gain early.

Tonyan's efficiency is stellar, ranking second among tight ends in yards per target, per RotoUnderworld. Every week, he's attached to an MVP candidate in an offense with a high team total.

In a matchup against arguably the league's best run defense, it's possible Green Bay will skew even heavier towards the pass. Tonyan is more of a TE2 this week, but you can do a whole lot worse. This game opened with the second-highest total of Week 11.

Irv Smith Jr., TE, Minnesota Vikings

Roster Percentage: 7%

FINALLY. It has pained me not to include Irv Smith Jr. even once in this article this year. Often touted as a TE2 sleeper, Smith's usage frustrated to begin the year, mired in a split with Kyle Rudolph.

Smith's production is trending up in the right way. Even mixing in a dud in which Kirk Cousins only threw 14 pass attempts, Smith is the per-game TE13 since Week 5. He caught two touchdowns and was targeted on 44.4% of his routes in Week 9.

The caveat here is Smith was surprisingly ruled out for Monday night's Week 10 game against the Chicago Bears, so monitoring practice reports is key here. It's also notable that Smith nemesis Kyle Rudolph fumbled away the Minnesota Vikings first possession of the game. Perhaps that leads to some more of that sweet, sweet Irv Smith playing time.

Unsurprisingly, the Dallas Cowboys allow the 12th-most fantasy points per game to tight ends. The biggest concern here is another script in which Dalvin Cook dominates and Cousins hardly drops back to pass. Still, Minnesota will come into Week 11 with one of the highest implied team totals on the slate. Assuming he's healthy, Smith is a legit streamer option this week.