Through six weeks, it’s fair to say there aren’t any elite tight ends. At the very least, the tight ends we thought were elite have been anything but. While that’s been frustrating for fantasy football managers who paid premiums for replacement-level production, it’s made streaming quite viable. Here are a couple of TE streamers fantasy managers can look to for Week 7 lineups.
All TE streamers are rostered in fewer than 50% of Yahoo leagues.
Week 7 Fantasy TE Streamers
Colby Parkinson, Los Angeles Rams (vs. LV)
In a couple of my admittedly deeper leagues, Colby Parkinson has been my every-week tight end for most of the season. That made it a bit surprising to see him only rostered in 19% of Yahoo leagues.
To be fair, Parkinson is not exactly a needle-mover, and the Los Angeles Rams were on a bye last week. Understandably, many fantasy managers did not hold Parkinson through the bye. Well, if you need a tight end, now is the time to pick him up (or back up).
The matchup against the Las Vegas Raiders isn’t anything special: 19.4% of their total receiving yards allowed have gone to tight ends, which is a relatively average number. While they do rank in the bottom third in fantasy points allowed to tight ends, that has a lot to do with them having only allowed a single receiving touchdown to the position. Parkinson has been and can still get by on volume alone.
Parkinson has seen a very respectable 18.6% target share this season, which is eighth in the league. He’s run a route on 92.6% of Matthew Stafford’s dropbacks, the third-highest rate in the league.
What we have is a tight end who is on the field a lot and running routes far more than he’s blocking. Before the bye, Parkinson had his best game of the season, commanding 13 targets. He’s a very viable “won’t get you zero” type streamer in Week 7.
Cate Otton, Tampa Bay Buccaneers (vs. BAL)
Last week, Cade Otton scored his first touchdown of the season. He still didn’t reach double-digit fantasy points. That’s how you know the tight end position is struggling.
With that said, Otton has scored at least 7.4 fantasy points in his last four games and at least 9.5 in three of his last four. Most of us would sign up for those numbers from our regular tight end right now, let alone a streamer.
6️⃣ 👉 8️⃣8️⃣
📺: #TBvsNO on FOX pic.twitter.com/oUIlIzBQvP
— Tampa Bay Buccaneers (@Buccaneers)
The Baltimore Ravens-Tampa Bay Buccaneers game projects to be one of the highest-scoring of the week. Furthermore, both teams are pass-funnel defenses. Not only should we see a lot of offense but we should see these teams move the ball through the air.
The Ravens allow the sixth-most fantasy points per game to tight ends — 24.4% of their total receiving yards allowed has gone to the position. Rostered in just 36% of Yahoo leagues, Otton is a solid bet for another week of 8-10 fantasy points.
Zach Ertz, Washington Commanders (at CAR)
There is absolutely no upside with Zach Ertz. Not at this stage of his career. But he’s had a solid floor most of the season. Scoring 7.2 points or more in four of his last five really isn’t that bad at all.
Last week, Ertz was featured in this column in a very favorable matchup against a Ravens team that struggles against tight ends. He paid off with 10.8 fantasy points, his best game of the season. We’re going back to the well against a Carolina Panthers defense that also struggles against the position.
The Panthers allow the seventh-most fantasy points per game to tight ends. This is despite having allowed just two receiving touchdowns to TEs all season. A big reason is 23% of their total receiving yards allowed has gone to tight ends.
In Week 6, only one tight end averaged over 4.0 yards of separation and over 10.0 air yards per target – Zach Ertz. He was also the only TE in Week 6 to average 10 or more air yards per target, per @ZebraSports.
— JP Finlay (@JPFinlayNBCS)
Jayden Daniels has been playing like an MVP candidate but lacks a clear second option in the passing game behind Terry McLaurin. Ertz may be nothing after the catch, but his 8.4 aDOT is actually second in the league. Combine that with a 17.6% target share, and we have a tight end who just needs to catch 2-3 passes to justify his streaming status.
