In some ways, Week 4 felt like the turning point of the fantasy football season. A handful of major injuries could have season-altering ramifications, and it’s also the last week every team played before the bye weeks start. The challenges are just starting for fantasy owners, and the waiver wire will be more important than ever during this middle stretch of the year.
Fantasy football waiver wire: Best tight ends available in Week 5
Injuries and the start of the bye weeks means wide receiver is particularly thin this week.
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Injuries have plagued the quarterback, running back, and wide receiver positions, and things aren’t much different at tight end. Greg Olsen and Tyler Eifert are still out indefinitely, while Jordan Reed continues to deal with multiple minor injuries.
On top of the injuries, fantasy owners also have to deal with bye teams (Denver Broncos, Atlanta Falcons, New Orleans Saints, Washington). Reed, Coby Fleener, and Austin Hooper won’t be available this week, so now’s the time to test your bench depth and waiver wire savvy.
With so much turnover at the position, here are the top tight ends on the wire, owned in 50 percent or less of Yahoo! standard leagues.
Cameron Brate, Tampa Bay Buccaneers (50 percent)
O.J. Howard had the flashier highlight play, but Brate ended up with the better stat line, finishing with 80 yards and a touchdown on four catches. Despite a bad drop, Brate is still seeing regular targets and is a guy Jameis Winston trusts in the red zone. With two touchdowns in three games, Brate is a locked-in streamer for the bye weeks. He gets a chance to feast on the New England Patriots’ struggling defense on Thursday.
Evan Engram, New York Giants (46 percent)
Engram is by far the most productive rookie tight end, getting regular usage in the Giants’ offense. After four games, he has 19 catches for 200 yards and a touchdown, putting him on pace for an impressive 76-800-4 stat line. He must be taken seriously as an every-week starter at this point, especially with the Los Angeles Chargers coming up next.
Benjamin Watson, Baltimore Ravens (24 percent)
The Ravens’ offense is broken beyond belief and Joe Flacco looks washed, but at least Watson is still making use of his dumpoff targets. He had a couple of injury scares, but still finished Week 4 with five catches for 43 yards. Watson will be on the streaming map when Baltimore plays the Oakland Raiders this week.
Austin Seferian-Jenkins, New York Jets (seven percent)
Since returning from his suspension, Seferian-Jenkins has nine catches for 77 yards in two games. It’s not sexy production, but he clearly has the trust of Josh McCown with Robby Anderson and Jermaine Kearse being wildly inconsistent. Despite the 2-2 start, this Jets offense is still hard to trust, but ASJ has done enough to put him in the TE2 conversation.
