Fantasy football waiver wire: 5 tight ends to target for Week 11

We are now in Week 11 of the NFL season and entering the stretch run of the fantasy regular season. With the bye weeks almost over and the playoffs just three or four weeks away (depending on your league settings), bench depth is going to be less important than it used to be. At this point owners should be riding with their top starters the rest of the way. However, that doesn’t mean the waiver wire loses its value -- we still have some key bye teams and injuries to account for.

This week the teams on bye are the Denver Broncos, Atlanta Falcons, San Diego Chargers, and New York Jets. As far as tight ends are concerned, fantasy owners won’t be missing a lot of big names from those teams aside from Antonio Gates. Still, the position is as thin as ever heading into Week 11 and waiver wire streams will always be in demand. Here’s a look at our top tight end waiver options, owned in less than 50 percent of Yahoo! standard leagues.

OK, this is cheating because Brate is owned in more than 50 percent of leagues. But he’s close enough to the cut line that he might still be available in your league, so you should pick him up if you get the chance. Brate had his best game of the season Sunday, catching seven passes for 84 yards and scoring a touchdown in his third straight game. He’s one of Jameis Winston’s most trusted weapons in the red zone and should continue putting up borderline TE1 numbers the rest of the way. The Bucs get the Kansas City Chiefs next.

Even with Dwayne Allen back from injury, Doyle looks like he’ll keep playing a role in the Colts’ offense. He had five catches for 61 yards in Week 9 before the team went on its bye. Perhaps he’ll see fewer targets now that Allen’s had a week of rest to get more healthy, so fantasy owners might want to lower expectations. Even so, he’ll stay on the streaming radar for the time being. The Colts face the Tennessee Titans, a team Doyle burned for nine catches, 78 yards, and a touchdown in Week 7.

Brock Osweiler’s weaknesses are Fiedorowicz’s gains. Although he got shut down by an underrated Jacksonville Jaguars defense, the tight end continues to be a useful checkdown option for Osweiler, who is either unwilling or incapable of pushing the ball downfield. Fiedorowicz gets a pump in PPR formats and will be a decent TE2 against the Oakland Raiders on Monday night.

With no touchdowns all year and just two games in which he cleared 50 yards, Clay’s fantasy relevance is rapidly waning. The good news is that Sammy Watkins isn’t eligible to come off injured reserve until Week 12, so Clay is still the default No. 2 pass catcher behind Robert Woods. He has a decent matchup with a Cincinnati Bengals defense that’s struggled to cover tight ends, but Clay is just a desperation play at this point.

Green made his season debut Sunday, grabbing three catches on four targets for 30 yards against the Dallas Cowboys. It’s not a big stat line and Green played just 12 snaps, but he escaped without any setbacks to his ankle and saw the same amount of targets as Jesse James. Look for his role to expand in the coming weeks as he gets integrated into a Steelers offense that’s starved for playmakers behind Antonio Brown. Green has good upside against the Cleveland Browns this week.