Was Week 6 in fantasy football the most “normal” tight end week we have had all season? Players like George Kittle, Mark Andrews, Sam LaPorta, Trey McBride, Evan Engram, and Brock Bowers were all top-ten plays heading into Monday Night Football. In a season that has been defined by wide variance in tight end scoring, it was comforting to finally see some of our top draft picks at the position performing well.
However, some players who were drafted as top-ten tight ends still couldn’t quite crack the top 10. Jake Ferguson, David Njoku, and Dalton Schultz continue to underwhelm. If your frustration with these high-draft-pick tight ends is about to boil over, perhaps a new one is in order on your roster. We will look at some of those options today.
This weekly column helps identify tight end options that are strong streaming options for the week 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.
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Fantasy Football Tight End Streamers & Waiver Wire Pickups (Week 7)
(Rostered percentages based on Yahoo! leagues as of the time of publication.)
Grant Calcaterra (TE – PHI) at New York Giants | 1% Rostered
Dallas Goedert left Sunday’s game with a hamstring injury before he could score a single fantasy point. His status is now considered week-to-week as the Eagles determine the severity of the injury. It is very likely now that Grant Calcaterra will fill in as the full-time tight end until Goedert is ready, making him a valuable pick-up in deep leagues or leagues that have any kind of tight end premium scoring.
In Goedert’s absence, Calcaterra filled in admirably. he played over 90% of snaps from the time Goedert left until the end of the game and caught all four of his targets for 67 yards. That is a good sign that Jalen Hurts and the Eagles’ coaching staff trust him already in a game that was close throughout and needed some big plays on offense to lock up the victory. There are likely more sexy picks on the waiver wire than Calcaterra, who has never been a starter before. However, four of his next eight games are against teams who all top-ten fantasy points to tight ends this season (Bengals, Rams, Ravens, and Panthers).
Hunter Henry (TE – NE) at Jacksonville Jaguars | 26% Rostered
The New England Patriots might actually have a real quarterback now after Drake Maye threw for three touchdowns and ran for more than 30 yards against the Texans in his first NFL start on Sunday. That could be huge news for Hunter Henry, who already saw a nice fantasy bump in Week 6. Henry saw five targets and turned that into 41 yards and a touchdown, leading to his second-best fantasy game of the season. Maye already seems more comfortable throwing downfield than Jacoby Brissett ever was, and he has more passing touchdowns on Sunday than Brissett had in five games (two).
Even before yesterday, Henry was seeing strong usage compared to his tight end peers. He ranks eighth in targets and target share, fifth in route participation, sixth in share of air yards, and third in red zone targets. That red zone targets stat might be the most important for Henry going forward. He has always been a reliable weapon in that area, and the Patriots figure to have many more red zone trips with Maye under center than with Brissett. Currently, New England is tied for 29th with 2.3 red zone scoring attempts per game. Henry is likely to be a big beneficiary if they can move up to even the middle of the pack this year.
Noah Fant (TE – SEA) at Atlanta Falcons | 27% Rostered
Noah Fant finally saw heavy usage against the San Francisco 49ers in the Thursday Night Football game last week. He had season-highs in targets (six), receptions, (six), yards (63), and fantasy points (12.3 in PPR formats). Was this just because the game ended in a 36-24 shootout or is Fant starting to become a more focal part of this offense? The answer is likely a little bit of both, and it comes at a time when the Seahawks’ schedule is going to become very friendly for tight ends from a fantasy points perspective.
In the next 10 weeks ahead, Fant will see the Cardinals (twice), Falcons, Rams, Packers, and Vikings. each of those teams is in the top half of the NFL in tight end fantasy points allowed. In several of those games (Cardinals, Falcons, Rams), the likelihood of a high total and a shootout is high, and these are the weeks where Noah Fant could end up being an extremely valuable streamer for teams who are desperate for a tight end play. Seattle is still throwing at a rate (68%) that is best in the league, so their passing pie is enough to feed everyone.
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