When it comes to Tight Ends, there are studs and duds. It is one of the most volatile and exploitable positions. Most of the time, it comes down to opportunity, so let’s dive in! Commentary based on DraftKings strategy and scoring.
Week 2 Quarterbacks | Week 2 Running Backs | Week 2 Wide Receivers
One topic of conversation this week is rostering a TE in the FLEX spot as well as your TE position. There are certainly benefits to doing that. The volatile TEs tend to be cheaper than most WRs, in the $3-$4,000 dollar range. So you could create some salary cap relief by rostering a TE in the FLEX. It also wouldn’t hurt you too bad if you choose the right guys (of course). Four of the top eight scoring players last week, were TEs, so the upside is certainly present.
Rob Gronkowski ($7,300) is matchup proof, he’s the best, he’s GRONK! I don’t think I need to say much more. He’s targeted all over the field and especially in the redzone. He had 4 RZ targets in week 1 (tied for the most) and converted on 3 of them for TDs. He’s more of a WR than a TE. If you have room to afford him, certainly do it. Pairing him with one of these value TEs, could be very interesting…
A popular play will be Tyler Eifert ($4,200) and for good reason. A massive game in Week 1 with 9 catches and 104 yards. We talked last week that the Bengals and Andy Dalton are really high on Eifert if he can just stay healthy. Well, he’s healthy now! You won’t be the only one on him, but you should have plenty of exposure to Eifert.
Jordan Cameron ($4,000) is the perfect GPP play waiting to explode. He could absolutely be this week’s Tyler Eifert or Travis Kelce. Jordan Cameron is a big 6’5″ TE with great hands who can cause plenty of matchup issues on defense. He saw 8 targets from QB Ryan Tannehill last week and while only converting on four of them, the aDOT (average depth of target) was 16.2 yards. That was the highest of any TE with 5 or more targets. That means Cameron is a big play TE who gets the ball thrown to him deep down field. This matchup with the Jaguars is outstanding as Jacksonville was one of the worst performing teams vs. TEs last season!
Holy targets, Jordan Reed ($3,700). Reed accumulated 10 targets from QB Kirk Cousins in Week 1, converting on 7 for 63 yards and a TD. It’s clear that Cousins relies heavily on the big TE as he led the team in targets. With DeSean Jackson sidelined, it’s not unfathomable to think that his targets would go UP this week!
We know that Tyler Eifert targets, but you probably forgot that Heath Miller ($3,500) had twelve of his own! Big Ben looked Miller’s way the same number of times he threw to star WR Antonio Brown. Miller converted on 8 of those targets for 84 yards and 16.4 DK points. Miller could be a sneaky option at TE and could find his way into the endzone after monopolizing the PIT redzone targets with four of the team’s five looks.
