Owned in 0.4% of ESPN Leagues
Jacob Tamme has already been declared out for this Thursday's matchup against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, meaning third-round rookie Austin Hooper gets a chance to build off his 5-catch, 41-yard performance from last week. After Tamme went down in Week 8, Hooper out-snapped fellow tight end Levine Toilolo 46-to-27 and ranked third on the team in targets.
His opponent this week, the Bucs, appear to be a subpar matchup on paper, but that is largely due to the teams they have faced this season (Arizona Cardinals, Los Angeles Rams, Denver Broncos, and San Francisco 49ers). Against teams that actually utilize their tight ends (Atlanta Falcons, Carolina Panthers, and Oakland Raiders), they have allowed an average line of 7.3 catches for 104 yards to the position, which lines up more closely with their rank of 23rd in our Adjusted Defensive Passing NEP per play.
Hooper has exciting potential, but he is still unproven and plays in an offense that has a lot of mouths to feed. He's a risky streaming option in anything outside of deep leagues. However, with six NFL teams on a bye this week, you could do worse than rolling the dice on his upside in this matchup.