The Ticker, Week 12: Finding a tight end savior on the waiver wire

Literally the only two tight ends this season who have presented owners with zero lineup headaches are Rob Gronkowski and Greg Olsen. Jimmy Graham was injured; Julius Thomas is now. Martellus Bennett started hot and has faded, while Antonio Gates went from draft afterthought to 2005 flashback. Jordan Reed was supposed to be hot stuff, but he was bad, then hurt, then bad, and now he's hurt again.

For the last few weeks, I've recommended a could-return-from-injury tight end in The Ticker. Rudolph made an appearance, then Tyler Eifert, then Marcedes Lewis. It's all been in an effort to stop the bleeding. So this week, we're going tight end heavy. Some guys who I think could help, some guys who I think really couldn't and a couple of super-deep dumpster dives. (It's not all tight ends, of course, but we're looking at several.)

Yeah, if someone like Jonas Gray is out there on your waiver wire, add him. But if you add him with an eye on starting him right away, you are likely struggling too much to have a real chance to win anyway. But tight end is a different story. You could grab a tight end this week who could lead you to a title. (I mean, probably not, but it's possible.) So go for it.

Sure, this isn't any great insight. Dwayne Allen has been a productive tight end, and he sprained his ankle in Indianapolis' game on Sunday. Fleener has had his moments, including several of them last year when Allen missed the season. So if Allen were to be out for some time, sure, Fleener's production is believable. But here's the thing: Even if Allen plays going forward, I think Fleener will be relevant. He's already top 10 in tight end production this season, tied with the much more popular Travis Kelce. Allen won't be 100 percent, and regular pass-catcher Ahmad Bradshaw is done as well. Fleener is a fine option, Allen or no Allen.

Of the three primary San Diego receivers, Floyd has 78 fantasy points, Eddie Royal has 67 and Keenan Allen has 54. Allen is the big name, but he's really struggled. And while more than half of Royal's production came in Weeks 3 and 4 alone, and he hasn't gone for more than three points in a game since Week 6, Floyd has been consistent all season. He had a goose egg in Week 2, but otherwise has had at least five points in every game this season. He's been the Chargers' leading fantasy receiver in five of their last six games. Yet Floyd sits at 37 percent ownership, while Allen is at 92. Royal is at 22, so people have gotten that message, but still.

Monday night, a rookie sixth-rounder started his third game in Tennessee. Russell Wilson, a third-rounder, was Seattle's starter from his first game. Derek Carr is doing the same as a second-rounder. From the 2013 draft, second-rounder Geno Smith has 676 career pass attempts and third-rounder Mike Glennon has 619; even fourth-rounder Matt Barkley has 50. Ryan Nassib, taken only 12 spots after Barkley? He has five. The point is, sometimes guys don't get a shot for reasons that don't really make sense, and that is what happened with Mallett while he was stuck behind Tom Brady all those years. He wasn't great Sunday, but Mallett showed enough that, in deeper leagues, he's worth a look.

I'm lumping these guys together. Normally, what they did Sunday (34 yards and a score for Graham; 13 yards and two touchdowns for Gresham) wouldn't be that remarkable in the grand scheme, but with the disaster area that has been the position this season I can see some poor owner who was stuck with, I don't know, Zach Ertz, or who (maybe) lost Dwayne Allen or Julius Thomas, seeing those stat lines from Sunday and giving Graham or Gresham a shot. And let me stop that thinking right now. Ten bucks says neither guy reaches double-digit fantasy points again in November.

Johnson is a super-fast player with not much else. He had six career catches for 60 yards entering Week 11. But when the Vikings lost both Greg Jennings and Jarius Wright to injury in the game on Sunday, Johnson got some looks, and he responded with six catches for 87 yards. We don't know the status of either guy for Week 12 yet, but for me it doesn't matter. If Jennings and/or Wright play, Johnson won't get looks. And if one or both misses the game, I expect the Packers, with time to game plan accordingly, will look more toward Cordarrelle Patterson and Kyle Rudolph. Either way, I think Johnson slides back to anonymity.

Ellington is a perfect example of a player who looks better for fantasy than he does for real football this season. He's ninth in fantasy scoring among running backs this season, and would look better in PPR, with 4.1 catches a game. But Ellington has averaged only 3.4 yards per carry this season, and his only big play came on that 81-yard score he had against the Broncos in Week 5. He's been banged up all year and doesn't figure to be healthy until next season. Combine all that with a last six games of at Seattle, at Atlanta, vs. Kansas City, at St. Louis, vs. Seattle and at San Francisco (aka the hardest schedule in the history of ever), and if your trade deadline hasn't passed yet, see if someone will give you value for him immediately.

In the Coby Fleener entry a few paragraphs ago, I noted that he has the same number of fantasy points this season as Kelce. I bet not many would guess that, since Kelce has been getting all sorts of publicity and attention this season, while Fleener has been the Colts', what, sixth-best option on offense? Lower? I know that, before looking at the numbers, I wouldn't have guessed they were tied. But for all Kelce's athletic ability, the Chiefs just don't look his way as often as you'd expect. I don't know if that's because Kelce isn't as good as we thought, or because the Chiefs just want to run Jamaal Charles until he dies, but Kelce just isn't producing enough.

Hilton started slow this season, with 106 yards in Weeks 1 and 2 combined. Between then and Sunday, he had averaged 119 yards and 14 fantasy points a game. That's seven weeks of easy No. 1 fantasy receiver production. So in Week 11, when he goes against Darrelle Revis and gets 24 yards, it can safely be called a fluke. Hilton is still an easy WR1.

Primarily, I'm recommending Helu as a handcuff to Alfred Morris in Washington. Morris has provided good return on investment this season (fallow period in Weeks 5-7 notwithstanding), and if he were to go down, Helu would slide right in as a nice option. Morris owners should be investing. But even absent his handcuff status, Helu has provided some fantasy value in his own right this season. He's averaged 54 yards a game this season, with 3.2 catches per game boosting his PPR value. Helu has been Washington's leading receiver twice. Helu makes sense as a Morris stash, but in a super-desperate situation, he wouldn't even be a bad play in a pinch.

Guys like Fleener -- discussed earlier -- and Jacob Tamme are pretty obvious at tight end right now. If Dwayne Allen and/or Julius Thomas have to miss Week 12, their immediate backups are the clear fill-ins. But with so many people needing help at the position, those are only two guys. If you miss out, Green -- the third string in Denver -- might be an option. He hasn't played since Week 8, and has only 19 career catches, but with the possibility of the Broncos being without some combination of Thomas, Montee Ball, Ronnie Hillman and Emmanuel Sanders, it'll be all hands on deck.

James Jones looked like a popular fantasy pick after averaging 9.4 fantasy points the first five games, but he's averaged three a game since. Then Andre Holmes averaged 13 a game from Weeks 4 to 8, but has one a game since. Mychal Rivera went from 15 in Week 9 to 12 in Week 10 to just four this week. Basically, the Raiders haven't shown any kind of ability to keep a pass catcher performing. Meanwhile, Rod Streater -- who was the team's best option last year and had a decent start to this season -- has been working out, and is eligible to return from injured reserve in Week 13. He's an interesting sleeper play.

A couple of paragraphs ago, I noted that it is "all hands on deck" in Denver right now, considering all the team's injuries. Well last year, that meant Caldwell suddenly started participating, as he had two touchdowns and 17 fantasy points when Wes Welker missed Week 15. Sunday, after Sanders went out, Caldwell caught three quick passes for 31 yards. If the team is without multiple weapons in Week 12, and with Welker being very underwhelming so far this season, Caldwell could have another game like that one from last year.