After the first couple weeks, it’s not easy to add your tight end. Teams tend to indicate early on who they are going to throw the ball to in between the numbers and there is usually a good sample size of the snap counts. Here are five tight ends who could make an immediate impact on your fantasy team.
Fantasy football waiver wire, Week 4: 5 tight ends to target
Dennis Pitta went down with a serious injury and a number of tight ends aren’t healthy. Here are five possible replacements for your fantasy roster.
Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports
Travis Kelce, Kansas City Chiefs (owned in 48 percent of leagues)
His snap counts are starting to go up and the Chiefs are not looking great on defense. Kelce caught his first touchdown of the season in Week 3 and he had a nice game against the Broncos in Week 2, racking up 81 receiving yards.
The Chiefs do not have a game-breaking receiving option next to Dwayne Bowe, so the targets are there for the taking. It won't be long before Kelce is putting up TE1 numbers. That could start against the Patriots on Monday Night Football in Week 4.
Niles Paul, Washington (owned in 43 percent of leagues)
Jordan Reed is very likely to miss Week 4 against the Giants. Paul has been awesome so far in his understudy role, totaling 18 catches for 253 yards in three games. Kirk Cousins is using Paul a ton and that's not going to stop until Reed gets back on the field.
He’s a safe bet for low-end TE1 production in 12-team leagues for now.
Waiver Wire Advice
Larry Donnell, New Yorks Giants (owned in 40 percent of leagues)
The Giants get Washington on a short week and its secondary is in deep, deep trouble. Corner DeAngelo Hall is out for the season and there are multiple injuries elsewhere. It’s going to be a great matchup even on a short week.
Donnell has been targeted at least six times in each game and has 18 catches on the season. He’s a great red-zone threat, which is something the Giants desperately need.
Owen Daniels, Baltimore Ravens (owned in 26 percent of leagues)
Dennis Pitta is going to miss the rest of the season due to another serious hip injury. This will be a huge blow to the Ravens and their offense won't be the same.
Daniels had a nice Week 2 outing with two touchdowns, but he only caught one ball in Week 3. Fantasy owners shouldn’t have the confidence to start him for a while, but he’s worth a stash in some cases. Furthermore, if you have doubts on your current TE1, the upside with Daniels is there.
Ladarius Green, San Diego Chargers (owned in 40 percent of leagues)
He is still getting out-snapped by Antonio Gates in a big way, but he gets a lot of targets while he's out there. Green only played 33 percent of the snaps, but he still received six targets and turned them into four catches for 64 yards.
On top of that, the team is going to be starving for options in the passing game with Danny Woodhead out for the season. He's a great stash for his high ceiling, especially if Gates goes down.
