NFL

Fantasy Football Tight End Streaming: Week 10 Edition

Jordan Hoover  —  @jhoover9787 Nov 10th, 2015
With Benjamin Watson now owned in over 50 percent of fantasy leagues and Jacob Tamme on bye, let's take a look at a new crop of lower-owned tight ends for the streaming crowd in Week 10.

Week 9 was a mixed bag in terms of tight end production.

Just days after the Denver Broncos traded for Vernon Davis, Owen Daniels predictably (sarcasm font) tossed up a 6-catch, 102-yard, 1-touchdown stat line, finishing as the TE3 on the week while Delanie Walker shredded the New Orleans Saints, a defense that has proven to be extremely vulnerable to opposing tight ends all season.

Two of the tight ends profiled in my article last week turned in top-10 finishes on the week with Jacob Tamme and Benjamin Watson finishing with 12.1 and 11 fantasy points, respectively. Tamme saw massive target volume again (10) while Watson was extremely efficient, converting all 5 of his targets into catches.

With nine weeks’ worth of data to draw upon, we have a clearer picture of which teams we should be targeting when looking for streaming tight end options on a weekly basis. Let’s dig deeper to find a few lower-owned options for Week 10.

Crockett Gillmore

Owned – ESPN: 9.1%, Yahoo: 8%
numberFire Positional Rank: 12th

With Baltimore coming off a bye, there’s a good chance that Crockett Gillmore is available in your fantasy league. And while he has not been spectacular over his last three games since returning from injury, there is reason to believe an uptick in production could be coming soon.

Steve Smith's season has ended due to an Achilles tear, and opening up in his absence are the 73 targets he saw through seven games, 22.5 percent of the team’s total targets. This overflow will certainly be distributed among multiple targets, but Gillmore stands to be one of them.

Gillmore has also been highly efficient with his given touches ranking third in Reception Net Expected Points (NEP) per target among 33 tight ends with 20 or more targets so far this season.

While Baltimore’s opponent this week, Jacksonville, has been decent against opposing tight ends (allowing 7.2 fantasy points per game to the position), the Ravens hold a 29.5-point implied team total according to Vegas. On an offense desperately looking for offensive playmakers following Smith’s injury, Gilmore is an intriguing Week 10 streaming option. 

Charles Clay

Owned – ESPN: 56.5%, Yahoo: 44%
numberFire Positional Rank: 11th

Charles Clay is borderline ineligible for this article based on his 56.5 percent ownership rate in ESPN leagues. However, I feel he’s worth mentioning in the case that he’s available in your specific league.

The Bills emphasized the run game last week against Miami, racking up 266 yards on the ground with Sammy Watkins doing nearly all of the heavy lifting in the passing game. But this week’s matchup against the Jets presents a much stiffer test for LeSean McCoy and Karlos Williams with the Jets ranking fifth in run defense according to our metrics.

Through 8 games, Clay has seen 51 targets, 13th most in the league among all tight ends and has been on the field for 98 percent of the Bills’ offensive snaps over the last three games.

The Jets are a tough matchup (allowing just 6.3 fantasy points per game to opposing tight ends), but on a week devoid of great streaming options, Clay is worth a look if he’s hanging around on your league’s waiver wire.  

Richard Rodgers

Owned – ESPN: 29.7%, Yahoo: 24%
numberFire Positional Rank: 15th

Richard Rodgers was a major beneficiary of the Packers' falling behind early against Carolina last week, eventually catching 2 touchdowns on his way to an 18.9 fantasy point day. His TE5 finish was the best of the season so far, and even though Green Bay likely won’t be trailing that often, he still represents an obtainable piece of the Green Bay passing offense.

With both of his scores last week coming from inside the five-yard line, Rodgers looks to be a primary red-zone target for Aaron Rodgers. With Andrew Quarless still on short-term injured reserve, expect Rodgers to remain near the 90 percent snaps played mark he’s seen over the last two weeks.

The matchup this week against Detroit is an exploitable one, as the Lions have allowed the 12th most fantasy points to opposing tight ends on the season. Green Bay also holds a monster 35.5-point implied team total, making nearly all Packers’ offensive starters in play for fantasy purposes.

Another two-touchdown game isn’t likely, but Rodgers certainly makes for a very interesting streaming play this week.