3 Fantasy Football Tight End Streaming Options for Week 8

The story of the tight end position is a tale similar to every sports offseason. There's annual optimism in advance of the season. Yet, optimism turns into reality without fail, and every team isn't playing for a championship. Or, in the case of tight ends, the many mid- and late-round breakout candidates fail to materialize into weekly contributors.

Some gamers understand this reality and pounce on an early-round stud. Others recognize it and intend on streaming out of the chute. Still, others arrive in the streaming group unwittingly after their middle-tier or late-round dart throw flops.

Regardless of how you got here, this is your weekly home for streaming options. Below you'll find three widely available options for Week 8.

Jared Cook, Los Angeles Chargers

Yahoo! Roster Percentage: 44%

Despite the Los Angeles Chargers coming out of their bye in Week 7, Jared Cook ranks 10th in routes (181) among tight ends, per Pro Football Focus. Further, he's fourth on the Chargers in routes (181), receptions per game (3.5), and receiving yards per game (39.2), and he's third in targets (33).

Also, even though he's an ancillary piece in the offense, that's plenty of targets to go around in a pass-happy offense. According to Sharp Football Stats, the Chargers pass at a 64 percent clip when the offensive scoring margin ranges from trailing by seven points to leading by seven points.

In addition, Cook compares favorably to his peers playing tight end in receptions and receiving yards per game, ranking inside the top-15, per Stat Head. Thus, he's the prototypical fringe starter at tight end in 12-team leagues or larger.

So, take advantage of his roster rate dipping under 50 percent due to the Chargers' bye in Week 7 and scoop him up if you need help at the position this week.

Tyler Conklin, Minnesota Vikings

Yahoo! Roster Percentage: 9%

My favorite streamer at tight end this week is Tyler Conklin. The Minnesota Vikings continue the theme of teams coming out of the bye with usable tight ends for streaming purposes.

First, the betting context is favorable. The Vikings host the Dallas Cowboys, potentially forcing them to air it out a pinch more to keep up. NFL odds lists the Vikings at 2.5-point underdogs in a game with a fantasy-friendly total of 54.5 points. And even if the Vikings aren't pushed to pass the ball more, they're already passing at an above-average rate (61 percent) in neutral game scripts.

Second, Conklin's season numbers are in the same fringe tight end starter category as Cook's. He's inside the top-15 in routes (174), receiving yards per game (40.0), and receptions (22).

Third, he's jostling for third in Minnesota's passing-game pecking order with K.J. Osborn. And, as is the case with Cook on the Chargers, serving as the third or fourth option on a team that passes at an above-average clip is good enough to merit streamer consideration at a position that has a glut of similarly valuable options behind the elite players.

Dan Arnold, Jacksonville Jaguars

Yahoo! Roster Percentage: 4%

The following requires a small-sample warning. However, excluding a quick turnaround in Week 4 when the Jacksonville Jaguars first acquired Dan Arnold by trade, Arnold's numbers are promising for a tight end.

Thus, I'm looking specifically at Week 5 and Week 6. In those two weeks, among tight ends, he ranked 16th in routes (57), 14th in receiving yards (91), tied for 11th in receptions (8), and tied for 8th in targets (13).

So, we have another tight end who appears to be smack dab in the glut of fringe starters.

However, Arnold is not attached to an above-average passing offense. Instead, the Jaguars are passing at a slightly below-average rate (56 percent compared to 58 percent) when the scoring margin ranges from trailing by seven points to leading by seven points. Nevertheless, he offsets the difference in passing percentages Cook and Conklin are attached to by arguably being higher in his team's pass-catching hierarchy.

Among Jags players in Week 5 and Week 6, he ranked fourth in routes (57) and receiving yards (91). However, he tied for second in targets (12) and receptions (8).

In addition, he was hamstrung by being acquired in-season via trade rather than spending the entire offseason building a rapport with his current quarterback and learning the team's playbook. So, I think there's room for growth coming out of the bye with more reps with Trevor Lawrence and more time to assimilate the playbook under his belt.

I view Arnold as an ascending option in an offense lacking elite high-end pass-catchers. As a result, he's in the same tier as the other fringe starters at tight end.

Joshua Shepardson is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, Joshua Shepardson also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username bchad50. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his/her personal views, he/she may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his/her personal account. The views expressed in his/her articles are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.