The fantasy football season is officially in its stretch run. The bye weeks are finally over and owners can gun for the playoffs without needing to worry about replacing their stud players. The regular season only has two or three weeks left (depending on league settings), so now’s the time to clinch a playoff spot.
Fantasy football waiver wire: Best tight ends available in Week 12
The bye weeks are finally over and the playoffs are just around the corner.
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The tight end position has been decimated by injury this year, but things are kinda looking up with Greg Olsen close to returning from a broken foot. Otherwise, owners are still playing a wait-and-see game with Jordan Reed, who still doesn’t have a timeline with his hamstring injury. Tight end remains as big a crapshoot as ever, so fantasy owners will most likely be combing the waiver wire the rest of the way.
So with that all out of the way, let’s look at the top tight end waiver options, owned in 50 percent or less of Yahoo! leagues.
Tyler Kroft, Cincinnati Bengals (45 percent)
Kroft is kind of a bust when he doesn’t find the end zone (think of him like a poor man’s Julius Thomas in that regard), but he did score last week and is up to four touchdowns on the year. The Bengals get the Cleveland Browns, who were lit up by Kroft in their Week 4 meeting (six catches, 68 yards, two touchdowns).
Martellus Bennett, New England Patriots (35 percent)
In his first two games back with New England, Bennett has six catches for 53 yards. He clearly has a role in the offense, though it’s not a big enough role that he’s a real asset outside of PPR leagues. Still, Rob Gronkowski owners might want to earmark him as an insurance policy, even though this is the healthiest Gronk has been in years.
Charles Clay, Buffalo Bills (33 percent)
The Nathan Peterman debacle is rightly getting all the headlines this week, so Kelvin Benjamin getting carted off with a knee injury kind of slipped under the radar. Once again, Buffalo is out of receiving weapons, and whomever ends up playing quarterback will probably lean on Clay as a check-down artist. Clay hasn’t reached 40 yards since Week 4 and is only a dart-throw TE2 against the Kansas City Chiefs.
O.J. Howard, Tampa Bay Buccaneers (22 percent)
The Bucs’ offense has been stuck in neutral with Jameis Winston out, but at least they came to life a little bit against the Miami Dolphins. Ryan Fitzpatrick hit Howard for three catches, 52 yards, and a touchdown, his fourth score of the year. Howard is still too much of a role player to be a weekly fantasy option, but he has touchdown upside if you’re desperate enough. The Bucs get the Atlanta Falcons next.
