Fantasy Football Tight End Streaming: Week 12 Edition
So here’s some food for thought:
J.J. Watt, defensive lineman for the Houston Texans, would have finished tied for the 11th-best fantasy performance among Week 11 tight ends with his one catch, resulting in a two-yard touchdown. Consistent under-performer Jermaine Gresham caught two freaking touchdowns. And fantasy football punching bag, Coby Fleener finished as the fantasy top tight end for the week.
Once you’re done struggling to comprehend last week's madness, we can start to try and look forward to Week 12, and hopefully a return to some sense of normalcy.
Streaming tight ends, especially late in the season, is no easy task. But we will continue to work match-ups, and focus on taking advantage of some unfortunate injuries.
Coby Fleener, Indianapolis Colts
Owned - ESPN: 57.6%, Yahoo: 44% Week 12 numberFire Rank: 7th
I’m just as guilty as the next person for hating on Fleener multiple times during his short three-year NFL career. So many times it seemed like he was the only things standing in the way of teammate Dwayne Allen bursting forth into true stardom.
What a difference a week makes.
Fleener exploded last Sunday night against the Patriots, recording 7 catches on 7 targets for 144 yards. And to top it off, Allen went down with an injury. Even though Allen is calling himself “day-to-day†following an ankle injury sustained in the second quarter of the Colts’ loss to the Patriots, it’s fair to wonder about his availability for week 12.
Fleener has seen 18 targets in the last two games, and if Allen is sidelined for any amount of time, becomes a more integral part of the Colts’ offense that has a penchant for airing it out.
Look for Fleener to be involved this week against Jacksonville, a team that surrenders 9.3 PPR points per game to opposing tight ends.
Mychal Rivera, Oakland Raiders
Owned - ESPN: 44.3%, Yahoo: 41% Week 12 numberFire Rank: 17th
Regression was almost certainly on the horizon for Mychal Rivera who had turned in two-consecutive top-3 fantasy finishes, and it hit owners hard last week.
The Raiders’ offense as a whole was anemic against the Chargers on Sunday, totaling just 233 yards. They were 3 for 15 on 3rd down, and only ran 55 total plays. This obviously limited Rivera’s opportunity, and he finished with just 3 catches for 40 yards.
Rivera was only targeted five times, his lowest total since Week 7, but still saw 69% of the Raiders’ offensive snaps, and has no real competition at the position.
This week Rivera squares off against Kansas City on Thursday night, a team that has been middling against opposing tight ends.
The worry is that the Raiders may not see much offensive volume due to the Chiefs willingness to take the air out of the ball, but Rivera is still in a decent spot to bounce back.
Jacob Tamme, Denver Broncos
Owned - ESPN: 1.2%, Yahoo: 2% Week 12 numberFire Rank: 39th
This call is highly contingent on both Julius Thomas’s and Emmanuel Sanders’s availability heading into week 12, with both players still questionable at this point. If one or both are ruled out, or even appear to be severely limited, Jacob Tamme will step into into almost guaranteed volume, coming from one of the best quarterbacks on the planet.
With both Sanders and Thomas exiting the Broncos’ week 11 loss to St. Louis, Tamme saw 10 targets, although he only converted 4 of them into 31 yards. No one will ever confuse Tamme for a dynamic receiver, but the potential opportunity he is set to inherit is too much to ignore.
We talk about “narrative†in fantasy football a lot, and it seems to hold some merit when it comes to Peyton Manning. Following an embarrassing loss last week, I expect Manning to be on a soul-crushing mission this week, at home against Miami.
The Dolphins only allow 5.4 PPR points per game to opposing tight ends, but if the Broncos pass-catching corps is depleted, Tamme is worth a long look.
Deeper Streamers
Niles Paul (vs. San Francisco), Austin Seferian-Jenkins (vs. Chicago)
