It’s fantasy football week eight, which means we’re over halfway to the fantasy football playoffs, and halfway through the real fantasy football season. “What about week seventeen championships?” you might ask. To that, I say: join a real fantasy football league. As always, we’re here to help with some fantasy football sleeper tight ends to help plug holes in your lineup. These guys are owned in less than 50% of Yahoo! leagues, with one player available in at least 90% of Yahoo! leagues. The same caveats apply: see if the guy’s in Waleed’s Waiver Wire Cheat Sheet are available in your league. If they aren’t, then here are some fantasy football sleeper tight end options for you!
Week Eight Fantasy Football Tight End Sleeper:
Chris Herndon at Jacksonville (31% Owned)
Chris Herndon Truthers must have given up already. He had a four-game suspension, then hurt himself coming back from his suspension. He had his first official practice of the 2019 NFL season on Wednesday, finally completing the comeback. Take advantage of your league giving up on Herndon and snatch him up this week, as he should return on Sunday. Don’t be afraid of Sam Darnold seeing ghosts, as the Jags are a far cry from the Patriots defense we saw Darnold facing last week. On paper, Jacksonville is not a great fantasy football matchup; the Jags allow the eleventh-fewest fantasy football points to the position. However, a deep dive shows that they are a good matchup against tight ends, but just one of them, and if you target them. Three tight ends have at least four targets against the Jags this season, and all of them pulled in at least 9.9 fantasy points against the Jaguars. That’s a nice way for Herndon to dip his toe back into NFL waters.
[UPDATE: Chris Herndon is still dead, but then again, so is O.J. Howard against Tennessee. The Titans allow the ninth-most fantasy football points to tight ends, and Cameron Brate is 6% owned. He makes a decent pivot since, you know, he’s probably still playing.]
Week Eight Fantasy Football Tight End Sleeper:
Noah Fant at Indianapolis (14% Owned)
Things couldn’t have gone worse for the rookie tight end last week, as he dropped, or bobbled roughly eleventy-billion passes. That led to just one reception on five targets. I know, what a way to start off the hype piece for Noah Fant. However, the Broncos traded Manny Sanders this week, clearing up 6.3 targets per contest. While a chunk of those will go to DaeSean Hamilton, some will also go to Noah Fant. If Fant gets, say, seven targets this week against the Colts, he should feast. Indianapolis gives up the sixth-most fantasy football points to tight ends this season. They successfully “shut down” Darren Fells last week (two targets). If Fant gets seven targets, he’ll join Austin Hooper, Darren Waller, and Travis Kelce in targets. He’s extremely talented, if raw, so this might be his chance to put him in the conversation with those guys (for 2020).
Week Eight Fantasy Football Tight End Sleeper:
Jonnu Smith versus Tampa Bay (4% Owned)
Delanie Walker was knocked out of last week’s game with an ankle injury, and Jonnu Smith is the next man up in Tennessee. In Walker’s stead, Jonnu Smith turned three targets into 64 yards and helped propel the Ryan Tannehill-led Titans to victory against the Chargers. This week, it looks like Walker isn’t making it on Sunday, which puts Jonnu back front and center. There are no mincing words about the Tampa Bay tight end defense: they’re bad. TB allows the second-most fantasy football points to tight ends, though they have played a murderer’s row, like… Jared Cook? Gerald Everett? In their defense, the Bucs have already played Evan Engram (smashed them), George Kittle (played well), and Greg Olsen (smashed them). I guess I put up as much of a defense of the Bucs as the Bucs put up against tight ends in fantasy football. Hmm.
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