Fantasy football start/sit advice, Week 11: Tight ends

Welcome to Week 11 of the fantasy football season. The playoffs are right around the corner and the bye weeks are almost over, so it’s time for owners to lock in their top starters and ride them the rest of the way. However, we still have four bye teams that need to be accounted for.
This week’s bye-week teams are the Atlanta Falcons, New York Jets, Denver Broncos, and San Diego Chargers. Outside of Antonio Gates, none of those teams has a high-profile fantasy star at tight end. Fantasy owners’ bigger concern will be the absence of Rob Gronkowski, who suffered a lung injury and didn’t travel with the team to Santa Clara.

With all that in mind, let’s take a look at the top recommended starts this week, along with some players you should avoid.

Martellus Bennett, New England Patriots (@ San Francisco 49ers)

Bennett’s usage has been erratic with Gronk in the lineup, but he still managed seven catches for 102 yards against the Seattle Seahawks. Now he’ll have all the TE targets to himself for this week, facing a 49ers defense that can’t cover or tackle anybody. Bennett is the easiest plug-and-play option of the weekend.

Ladarius Green, Pittsburgh Steelersr (@ Cleveland Browns)

Making his return from an ankle injury, Green only saw 12 snaps last week, but did record three catches for 30 yards. Now practicing in full, Green figures to see an expanded role. Perhaps he’ll still be forced to share playing time with Jesse James, but Green is clearly the more talented of the two. He’s a high-upside play against the Browns’ bad defense.

Julius Thomas, Jacksonville Jaguars (@ Detroit Lions)

If you’re looking for yards from Julius, you’re out of luck -- he hasn’t reached 30 yards since Week 2. However, he does have Blake Bortles’ trust in the red zone, grabbing three touchdowns in his last four games. Thomas will have a good matchup with a Lions defense that struggles to cover tight ends, in a game that figures to be a shootout. Fantasy owners can do worse as a touchdown-or-bust option this week.

Kyle Rudolph, Minnesota Vikings (vs. Arizona Cardinals)

It might be hard to justify benching Rudolph, who’s found the end zone in two straight games and is one of the only targets Sam Bradford seems to trust. However, he’s going into a vicious matchup with the Cardinals, who are allowing the least fantasy points to tight end in the league. Rudolph still has an erratic fantasy floor and that looks to be particularly low this week. See if you can find a higher-upside matchup.

Zach Ertz, Philadelphia Eagles (@ Seattle Seahawks)

Ertz is actually showing signs of life in recent weeks, going off for 14 catches and 152 yards in his past two games. The bad news is he has yet to find the end zone this season and is running into a tough matchup against the Seahawks, whose tight end defense is much improved with Kam Chancellor back from injury. Ertz’s fantasy ceiling isn’t quite high enough to make him an every-week starter, and owners should strongly consider keeping him on benches this week.

Charles Clay, Buffalo Bills (@ Cincinnati Bengals)

On paper, Clay should have a favorable matchup with the Bengals, whose defense is giving up the third-most fantasy points to tight ends this year. Unfortunately, he hasn’t always taken advantage of good matchups and hasn’t scored a single touchdown. Clay bottomed out in recent weeks with just 15 yards on five catches in his last two games. He hasn’t shown enough to be a viable starter in 12-team leagues.