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Remember Cameron Brate? He's the guy that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers used all summer to troll all the Austin Seferian-Jenkins truthers out there. Well, it's Week 4 -- surely the Bucs have quit playing their games and put in the clearly-superior ASJ. No need to talk about Brate anymore. Right? Right, guys?
Sorry to disappoint ASJ truthers, but the over-hyped tight end is no longer a member of the Buccaneers, paving the way for Brate to take hold of the starting job for the Bucs. Brate has averaged a usable nine PPR points per game in eight games without ASJ over the past two seasons, but what really should have you excited is last week's performance.
After playing just 41 percent of the offensive snaps in Weeks 1 and 2, Brate played 78 percent of the snaps in Week 3, coming in just 8 snaps behind Mike Evans for the lead among pass-catchers. He ended the day ranked second among tight ends in targets (10), which he turned into 5 catches for 46 yards and 2 of Jameis Winston's 3 touchdowns.
In Week 4, he will play against a Denver Broncos defense that is a funnel defense of sorts, stuffing the run and blanketing opposing receivers, leaving the middle of the field open for opposing tight ends. In 2015, Denver allowed the 11th-most fantasy points to opposing tight ends, despite having one of the best defenses in recent memory.
Brate likely doesn't have the upside that many of these options do, but he is a fine option in deeper PPR leagues, as he should be peppered with targets in a game during which the Bucs will probably be trailing.