NFL

3 Fantasy Football Tight End Streaming Options for Week 6

Josh Shepardson  —  @BChad50 Oct 8th, 2019
Chris Herndon returns from his suspension this week to take on the Cowboys. Is he a tight end you can look to stream in Week 6?

The tight end position in 2019 features distinct tiers. It's headlined by the elite trio of Travis Kelce, George Kittle, and Zach Ertz. Behind them is a young trio of promising options who many gamers drafted expecting them to take a leap forward this year in the form of O.J. Howard. Evan Engram, and Hunter Henry.

Things haven't gone according to plan with Howard and Henry, but Darren Waller and Mark Andrews have helped add some talent to the position. Still, tight end continues to leave something to be desired. Whether you entered the year planning to stream or have been disappointed by the option you drafted, I've got you covered. Below, there are three widely available options for streamers for Week 6.

Chris Herndon, New York Jets

Yahoo Ownership: 29%

Chris Herndon has served his four-game suspension, and he's eligible to return this week. Although, it's apparently not a given he'll be activated, as head coach Adam Gase reportedly wants to evaluate him in practice this week first.

Herndon's a semi-risky streamer in the sense that he's not a total given to be activated this week. Having said that, unless he face plants during the week, he'd provide a lift to the offense. Furthermore, he's worth rostering nearly universally, so adding him isn't a bad move, even if gamers have to swerve and scoop a different streamer later in the week.

Speaking of the New York Jets getting a lift on offense, they'll get their greatest pick-me-up when starting quarterback Sam Darnold returns. Josh Alper of Pro Football Talk at NBC Sports reports Darnold will have his next check up for his spleen on Tuesday morning, and Gase relays that when Darnold's cleared, he'll start. Darnold and Herndon demonstrated good rapport in their respective rookie seasons last year.

Darnold was at his sharpest last year when he returned from injury, and he flashed from Week 14 through Week 17. Among tight ends targeted a minimum of 10 times during that stretch, Herndon's 9.81 yards per target ranked seventh out of 28 tight ends, according to Pro-Football-Reference. In that time frame, he also ranked 16th in targets (16), tied for 15th in receptions (11), and 12th in receiving yards (157)among tight ends.

The matchup has plus potential for Herndon this week. Defending tight ends, the Cowboys have allowed the sixth-most targets (42), tied for the fifth-most receptions allowed (32), and fifth in receiving yards (323) coughed up, per Pro-Football-Reference. The Jets implied team total this week is only 17.5 points, according to FanDuel Sportsbook, but that doesn't disqualify Herndon from being a solid streaming option -- with staying power -- since he's more than a touchdown-or-bust tight end.

Gerald Everett, Los Angeles Rams

Yahoo Ownership: 9%

Third-year pro Gerald Everett had a career game in Week 5's Thursday Night Football game, setting new single-game highs in targets (11), receptions (7), and receiving yards (136). In Week 4, he'd set his previous high in targets (8) and tied his previous single-game high in receptions with 5 grabs. He also reached pay dirt in Week 4. In all over the last two games, he's been targeted 19 times and hauled in 12 receptions for 180 receiving yards and a score.

Everett's stock is on the rise. He's played a higher percentage of offensive snaps than fellow tight end Tyler Higbee in back-to-back weeks with the Everett playing 56 percent of the offensive snaps in Week 4 and 81 percent of them in Week 5 compared to 44 percent and 56 percent, respectively, for Higbee. Through the first four games of the year, thus, not including his career-best showing in Week 5, his snap share was 64.1 percent and he participated in a route 54.9 percent of the time, per PlayerProfiler.

Brandin Cooks suffered a concussion in that contest and is in the concussion protocol. Should he be forced to miss this week's game against the 49ers, that would provide a bump to Everett's value. If Cooks does play, however, that doesn't wreck Everett's steamer viability.

Cooks' last play was at 12:55 in the fourth quarter. From that point until the end of the game, Everett reeled in 3 receptions on 5 targets for 46 receiving yards. Before that point, Everett caught 4 passes on 6 targets for 90 receiving yards. Prior to Cooks' exit, Everett ranked second in targets to Cooper Kupp, tied with Kupp for the most receptions on the team, and he led the way in receiving yards.

There are a lot of mouths to feed in the Los Angeles Rams' offense. Everett's proving he should be among the players getting touches. Give Everett a look this week.

Jordan Akins, Houston Texans

Yahoo Ownership: 7%

The Houston Texans are coming off of an outing in which they hung 53 points on the Falcons, and Deshaun Watson completed 28 of 33 passes for 426 passing yards and 5 touchdowns. He completed his only target to Jordan Akins for 21 yards. Fellow tight end Darren Fells turned his 2 targets into 2 receptions for 20 receiving yards and 2 touchdowns.

This is all a long-winded way of saying the Texans can hang points in bunches, but Akins isn't a high-volume option who's necessarily needed for them to pile up points. Regardless, he's made a second-season leap. He's jumped from 14.1 receiving yards per game on 1.1 receptions per game as a rookie to 31.4 receiving yards per game and 2.0 receptions per game through five games this year. He's surpassed 20 receiving yards in each of the last four games, and he's caught multiple passes in three of five games. Yes, those are admittedly low bars to clear, but tight end is a wasteland.

Additionally, Akins showcased his single-game upside by catching 3 of 5 targets for 73 receiving yards and 2 touchdowns in Week 3. He's also been efficient with his limited volume. Out of 28 tight ends targeted at least 15 times this year, his 10.47 yards per target is the highest mark. Furthermore, his 0.83 Target Net Expected Points (NEP) per Target is second on the Texans this year.

Looking at this week specifically, the matchup is a plus and the sports betting info supports getting pieces of this contest. The Chiefs have faced the most targets (54) to tight ends, are tied for the most receptions (37) allowed to them, and have ceded the sixth-most receiving yards (321) to the position. Early in the week, the Texans at Chiefs game has the highest over/under total (55.5 points) in Week 6, 3.5 points clear of the next highest over/under total. The Texans are 5-point underdogs on the road, but their implied total of 25.25 is still a fantasy-friendly number. Akins is a boom-or-bust streaming option.