Delanie Walker has established himself as the most reliable tight end in the NFL. Walker has 90 yards or more in 4 of his last 5 games. He has 10 or more DK points in every game except for 2 this season. Those 2 games came against the stout defenses of Carolina and Buffalo. The matchup with the blitz happy Jets sets up nicely for Walker. 9 of Marcus Mariota’s 19 TDs this season have come against the blitz. Walker leads the Titans with 67 catches for 800 yards, which doubles second place Kendall Wright who has 33 for 390. His 67 catches lead all tight ends, and ranks 11th overall in the NFL. Still, Walker is priced $1300 below Greg Olsen this week. The significant savings for paying down makes Walker my top tight end play.
Malcolm Floyd, Stevie Johnson, and Dontrelle Inman have both missed practice with injuries this week, leaving Javontee Herndon, Tyrell Williams, and Vincent Brown as the Chargers receivers. San Diego’s offense has struggled mightily over the last month, only scoring 3 points in 2 of their last 3. It’s an ugly matchup against the Chiefs, who have been playing the best defense in the league. The Chargers have passed the ball at least 30 times in 11 of 12 games this season. Someone has to catch the football and I think it will be Gates. He has averaged 8.5 targets per game when healthy this year. He has scored 2 TDs in 2 of those 7 as well. Overall, the tight end market this week is murky, but Gates makes for a solid upside play.
I’ve been eager to play ASJ for over a month and this week against the Saints is a Prime spot. This game has the highest game total on the week and the Saints allow the most fantasy points to QBs and TEs. Jenkins showed flashes in weeks 1 & 2 with 7 catches for 139 yards and 2 scores before injuring his shoulder. Jenkins worked back in Sunday only playing 33% of snaps, but still caught 3 passes for 31 yards. Jenkins should continue to see an increase in snaps and continue his production. His near minimum price provides salary relief to fit the studs, and he doesn’t have to give much to return value.
Richard Rodgers is in a classic point chasing spot this week, and I will own none of him. Last week, Rodgers had a career game catching all 8 targets for 146 yards and a game winning TD. Rodgers has been solid overall this season, but his production has been volatile. Rodgers has 6 games this season of under 10 points, and has only had back to back 10 point games twice. The Packers get the Cowboys at home this year, where Rodgers has only 2 TDs this season. JunkyardJake.com has Dallas as the 4th best defense against tight ends, and have only allowed 3 TDs to the position on the season. The entire middle tier of tight end is tough this week. I won’t be paying for Rodgers or anyone else in the 3-4K range.
