The tight end landscape in the second week of the fantasy football season was just about as chaotic as the first. Many stud tight ends flopped, unexpected names surged, and injuries and role changes continue to emerge as teams try and fine-tune their offensive plans. As we press on to Week 3, many team may already be looking to pivot to other tight ends or replace someone who is hurt or has a reduced role.

Who are the best options? In Week 2, a few top-10 options actually finished in the top ten in half-PPR points such as George Kittle, Trey McBride, and Mark Andrews (barely). In addition, unexpected names like Elijah Higgins, Brenton Strange, and Luke Schoonmaker also found themselves with solid games. Who do we trust going forward?

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 are fewer than 50% rostered) and have matchups worth exploiting for fantasy football rosters.

• More Waiver Wire Picks
• Weekly Fantasy Football Expert Rankings
• Fantasy Football Start/Sit Advice
• Fantasy Football Trade Tools

Fantasy Football Tight End Streamers & Waiver Wire Pickups (Week 3)

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

Mike Gesicki (TE – CIN) vs. Washington Commanders: 5% Rostered

Despite only running about half the snaps for the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday, Mike Gesicki logged nine targets (a team-high), and caught seven balls for 91 yards. If Gesicki had hung on to a touchdown pass Joe Burrow dropped in his lap in Week 1, we could have been talking about a top-three overall player at the position heading into Week 3. Instead, many fantasy managers will be looking at box scores this week and notice just how involved Gesicki was in the Kansas City shootout.

ICYMI here’s @mikegesicki with the 4th down conversion ????

????: #CINvsKC on CBS/@paramountplus pic.twitter.com/3A6CrfAYYJ

– Cincinnati Bengals (@Bengals) September 15, 2024

In Week 3, Gesicki and the Bengals get the Washington Commanders, widely considered one of the worst pass defenses in the league. They gave up four touchdown passes to Baker Mayfield two weeks ago and then let Daniel Jones throw for 178 yards and two touchdowns. The Bengals are passing the ball at a rate of 32.5 times per game through their first two weeks and will be looking to guarantee they put up a lot of points in Week 3 after starting 0-3 in the 2024 season.

The only complicating factor could be the potential return of Tee Higgins. If he is deemed healthy to play, it could knock into Gesicki’s potential target share. But with 13 targets through two weeks (also a team-high), it’s clear Burrow is prioritizing getting the ball to his new play-making tight end.

Hunter Henry (TE – NEP) at New York Jets: 24% Rostered

Hunter Henry‘s 109 receiving yards against the Seattle Seahawks were the most of his eight-year career, and just the second time he has reached 100 yards in a game. His 12 targets were also a career-high, and it reflects a game-plan many thought would take effect in Week 1. It took until the second week of the season to evolve, but it’s now clear the Patriots want to run and make easy, efficient throws to Hunter Henry and the running backs.

Henry’s 15 total targets are now seven more than anyone else on the New England Patriots and no player on offense had more than Henry’s 57 snaps on Sunday afternoon. He led the team in routes run, but it wasn’t just success relative to his own teammates. He led all tight ends in the NFL in route participation (90%), air yards share (43.5%), and target share (40.7%).

Here’s Hunter Henry taking a screen for 35 yards.

The Patriots did not call a single tight end screen last season.pic.twitter.com/QZUC7NbBPN

– Andrew Cooper (@CoopAFiasco) September 16, 2024

This is a very short week for the Patriots, playing the Seahawks on Sunday afternoon and then traveling to the New York Jets for the Thursday night game. This is not a situation where new head coach Jerod Mayo is going to try and install some complex schemes in three days to try and catch the Jets sleeping. He will go with what has worked, and what’s worked so far is targeting Hunter Henry on offense.

Zach Ertz (TE – WSH) at Cincinnati Bengals: 8% Rostered

On the other side of the Cincinnati Bengals/Washington Commanders game in Week 3, we have another low-rostered option that could make some noise. Rookie quarterback Jayden Daniels seems to have a new best friend or security blanket by the name of Zach Ertz. Only Terry McLaurin has more targets than Ertz this season and no one through two weeks has more receiving yards in one game than Ertz’s 62 from Sunday.

Ertz has played more than 65% of the offensive snaps for two weeks in a row. More importantly, he has played more snaps than any other tight end, any other running back, and any other wide receiver not named McLaurin. Kliff Kingsbury trusts Ertz from back in their time in Arizona together and has made a point to get Ertz in involved when Daniels drops back to pass.

The Bengals have been stingy against tight ends so far, especially shutting down Travis Kelce for just one catch in Week 2. This matchup has an early 47.5 over-under, not something typically seen for two mediocre teams. But this one should be fast-paced with little defensive resistance from the Commanders. It sets up well for a healthy dose of targets again for Ertz.