Having trouble with your tight end position in fantasy football? Well, join the crowd. The position has been a crapshoot all year and things won’t get any easier with six teams on bye this week.
Fantasy football waiver wire: 4 Tight ends to target for Week 9
Gronk, Jordan Reed, and Tyler Eifert are on bye. Buckle up.
Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports
The teams on bye? The New England Patriots, Washington, the Cincinnati Bengals, the Houston Texans, the Chicago Bears, and the Arizona Cardinals. Yup, Rob Gronkowski and Jordan Reed can’t be in lineups this week. Tyler Eifert just came back and now he has to sit on your bench again. Even a desperate flyer like Zach Miller or C.J. Fiedorowicz won’t be available.
In other words, it’s hard times for fantasy owners and tight ends. You’ll likely be scraping the bottom of the barrel on the waiver wire this week. Here are four options that hopefully won’t be terrible, owned in 50 percent or less of Yahoo! standard leagues.
Dennis Pitta, Baltimore Ravens (44 percent)
In hindsight, Pitta’s Week 2 outburst (nine catches, 102 yards) was his peak. He doesn’t really make huge plays and is averaging just 8.8 yards per catch. However, Pitta is getting targets and is useful in PPR formats. The Ravens are coming off their bye to face the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Cameron Brate, Tampa Bay Buccaneers (41 percent)
Brate scored a touchdown on Sunday! Sure, it was the first time since Week 3 he’s found the end zone, but that’s something for fantasy owners to hang their hats on. Brate will continue being a touchdown-or-bust option, but he has a good matchup with the Atlanta Falcons this week.
Eric Ebron, Detroit Lions (37 percent)
The good news? Ebron came back from his ankle/knee injuries and got seven catches for 79 yards against the Houston Texans, seeing 10 targets. He’s clearly a big part of the Lions’ offense. The bad news? They get the Minnesota Vikings’ defense this week. Still, Matthew Stafford likes throwing to Ebron, so you take what you can get.
Virgil Green, Denver Broncos (10 percent)
Green was left for dead after a slow start to the year and a calf injury, but he put himself back on the map with four catches for 55 yards against the San Diego Chargers. Who knows if he’ll be fantasy-relevant again, but a matchup with the Oakland Raiders defense is about as good as it’ll get if you don’t have any better options.
