The tight end position continues to be a crapshoot for fantasy football in 2024. A Chiefs tight end scored two touchdowns last week? Hope you started Noah Gray for that. A Patriots tight end caught a long score and tallied 14 fantasy points? Did you have Austin Hooper?
Big names like Trey McBride, George Kittle, and T.J. Hockenson produced big games. Popular streamers like Luke Schoomaker and Jonnu Smith also delivered. But tight end continues to be the most frustrating position in fantasy this year. For Week 13, we will try to remedy that.
This weekly column helps identify tight ends 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 in Yahoo! leagues) and have matchups worth exploiting for fantasy football.
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Fantasy Football Tight End Streamers & Waiver Wire Pickups
Zach Ertz (TE – WAS) vs. Tennessee Titans | 48% Rostered
The Washington Commanders, with one of the NFL’s best offenses through the first six weeks of the season, may not have been on your 2024 bingo card. They have regressed somewhat, but Zach Ertz keeps delivering. Sunday’s game against the Dallas Cowboys was a slog until the last five minutes, but plenty of Washington players saw big numbers, even if they came late. Zach Ertz was one of those players.
Ertz finished Sunday with six catches for 38 yards and one touchdown. His eight targets represented a season-high. Ertz now has 23 targets in the last three games. He has at least seven targets in four of the last five games and his next game is against the Tennessee Titans. After that, the Commanders have their bye and then three of four games against New Orleans, Atlanta, and Dallas again. It’s shaping up to be a strong end-of-season for Ertz.
Noah Gray (TE – KC) vs. Las Vegas Raiders | 4% Rostered
One of Week 12’s most lopsided games (at least by the point spread) was supposed to be the Kansas City Chiefs (-11) visiting the Carolina Panthers. However, that wasn’t the case, as the Panthers gave the Chiefs all they could handle. But in this game, one of the most widely available tight ends in most fantasy football leagues proved his value. Noah Gray, off of a game where he just caught two touchdowns against the Buffalo Bills, was heavily involved again, and he scored another two touchdowns in Carolina.
Patrick Mahomes knew it was Cover 0 & went to the LOS to change the play….Dude’s unreal.
Noah Gray quickly becoming his favorite target…4 TD’s the last 6 quarters
pic.twitter.com/7oaB6VzEg6– Chase Daniel (@ChaseDaniel) November 24, 2024
As the Kansas City Chiefs look ahead to the #1 seed in the AFC and home-field advantage in the playoffs, they will surely be looking to give Travis Kelce rest along the way. This is a perfect situation for Gray. The “backup” tight end Gray also played more than 75% in this game, so he certainly is a part of the offensive plan, but he could subsume Kelce’s targets as well if there are “rest” games for Kelce and he plays fewer snaps than normal. Kelce has played at least 79% in five straight games, so giving him a lighter load in Week 13 and beyond makes sense. Noah Gray would be the big beneficiary, just as he has been in the last two games.
Oh yeah, and the Las Vegas Raiders allow the most points to the tight end position this season. Fire up Gray if you need tight end help.
Luke Schoonmaker (TE – DAL) vs. New York Giants | 11% Rostered
His 10 targets in Week 11 didn’t bump up his roster percentage high enough before Week 12’s games, but you can be sure Luke Schoonmaker‘s roster percentage is going through the roof after 55 yards and a touchdown against the Commanders this week. With Jake Ferguson likely to miss another game, Schoonmaker should be back on the field for the majority of the snaps once again on Thanksgiving.
Luke Schoonmaker without Jake Ferguson (concussion):
6-43-0 (TE7)
5-56-0 (TE9)
3-55-1 (TE8)– John Daigle (@notJDaigle) November 25, 2024
The encouraging thing for Schoonmaker is there could be room for more usage. He played just 65% of the snaps and was complemented by 50% of snaps from Brevyn Spann-Ford. Schoonmaker did go up from 53% in Week 11 to 65% in Week 12, so we can hope for a large jump like that in Week 13 against the Giants. The Cowboys have been the fourth-highest team by passing rate over the last three weeks. Even with Cooper Rush, it’s clear Schoonmaker can be worthy of a streamer while Ferguson is out.
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