Fantasy Football Tight End Streamers & Waiver Wire Pickups (Week 1)

The NFL season hasn’t even officially kicked off yet, but you might already not be a fan of the tight ends on your fantasy football roster. As typically one of the “onesie” positions on fantasy football rosters, tight ends have the distinction of being both easy to acquire and often hard to trust.

Despite the tight end pool being as deep as we have ever seen in fantasy football, tight end is still a volatile position. Outside the consensus top eight average draft position (ADP) options, every tight end has a range of questions attached to their role or usage in the offense. Even stalwart players like Mark Andrews and Travis Kelce are dealing with age and injury-related issues.

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This weekly column will help identify tight end options that are strong streaming options for the weekend ahead. Whether it’s due to bye weeks, injuries or overall lack of production, these tight ends are often widely available on the waiver wire (all under 50% rostered) and have matchups worth exploiting for fantasy football rosters.

Tight End Streamer Options for Week 1

Rostered Percentages based on Yahoo! Leagues as of the time of writing.

Hunter Henry (TE – NE) at Cincinnati Bengals: 27% Rostered

Hunter Henry didn’t come close to finishing in the top five in tight end targets for the 2023 season. His 61 targets tied for 21st in the league at the position. But, it should be addition by subtraction for Henry this year as Mike Gesicki and his 45 targets left town and he was only replaced by the corpse of Austin Hooper.

With Jacoby Brissett named quarterback, I think this helps Henry in the short term. Brissett has always been a security-blanket type of simple, short-throw player. Henry can provide that security blanket for him, especially in Week 1 against a Bengals defense that was routinely torched by tight ends last year.

In 2023, Cincinnati allowed 1,080 receiving yards to tight ends, which was the second-most in the league. No team in the NFL allowed more than the 107 receptions the Bengals gave up to tight ends in 2023 as well. With a strong six touchdowns in 42 receptions last year, Henry could find himself as the most reliable red zone target for the Patriots in Week 1.

Noah Fant (TE – SEA) vs. Denver Broncos: 32% Rostered

No team allowed more fantasy points to tight ends than the Denver Broncos in 2023. The Broncos allowed 1.3 more fantasy points per game to the position than any other team, including a league-leading 1,091 yards and 10 touchdowns. This aligns perfectly with Noah Fant’s situation in Seattle and he should be firmly on our radars.

After last season, the Seahawks let Colby Parkinson and Will Dissly walk and only replaced them with Pharaoh Brown. That means Fant should see a healthy increase in the 55% snap counts he played last season. That number was the lowest of his career whereas he had been between 70% and 80% in his first three years in the league.

The Seattle coaches have already admitted Brown is there because he is one of the best blocking tight ends in the league. That leaves Fant open to run the routes in this new up-tempo Seahawks offense. The injury Tyler Lockett is suffering from doesn’t hurt either. It could mean a few more targets Fant’s way in Week 1.

Zach Ertz (TE – WAS) at Tampa Bay Buccaneers: 5% Rostered

There is a lot of chatter around rookie Ben Sinnott this season, and frankly, there should be. He caught 80 balls for over 1,100 yards and 10 touchdowns in his final two years at Kansas State. Eventually, he is going to be a potent weapon for the Washington Commanders. But until he is completely ready and acclimated, old reliable Zach Ertz should be in our short-term plans.

In the seven games Ertz played with Arizona last year he averaged six targets and almost four receptions per game. The old man still showed he could compete at a high level. That was part of the reason former Arizona Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury brought in Ertz after he was named offensive coordinator. After he was traded from Philadelphia to Arizona, Ertz had 103 catches and seven total touchdowns in 21 games when Kingsbury was roaming the sidelines.

Jayden Daniels will need a reliable target in his first game in the NFL. The Buccaneers allowed the second-most fantasy points to the tight end position. He may not be a name you have on your roster for very long once Sinnott starts to emerge. But for a Week 1 matchup, he is a fine option if you are already desperate, and he’s available on the waiver wire in 95% of leagues.