More coronavirus! Who would have thought, huh? Anyway, things are a mess right now! To make matters worse, the NFL is spinning up the bye weeks. Oh boy, that means it’s time for some sleeper tight ends to help kick your team into high gear. To qualify as one of the sleeper tight ends, a player needs to be on rosters in fewer than 50% of Yahoo! leagues. For all you “Well that’s not what it’s like in my league!!!” types, I offer one player rostered in 10% of leagues or fewer. If he’s not available in your league, well, good luck.
Sleeper Tight Ends Option #1:
Eric Ebron versus Cleveland (49% rostered)
I told you to drop him, and I told you to start him. By getting him in here, I’m just going for the trifecta of “playing all the sides so I can’t be wrong.” Ebron averages over six targets per game this season and has turned in about 5/40 every week. He’s a great PPR floor, which is a great thing to have when you’re desperate (given most TEs have a floor of zilch, zip, nada). Ebron popped up with a hand injury on the practice reports this week, so keep that in mind when scooping him up to start.
Ebron gets the Browns this week, who “shut down” Jack Doyle and Big MAC last week, but in reality, Philip Rivers shut them down. In the first four weeks, tight ends had 6, 6, 9, 7, and 8 targets against the Browns. That’s why they’re the #4 team in opposing TE fantasy points.
Don’t forget, Cleveland tricked us into thinking Drew Sample was good, so…
Sleeper Tight Ends Option #2:
Trey Burton versus Cincinnati (8% rostered)
Trey Burton doubled up the other two tight ends on this roster last week, garnering six targets while Mo Alie-Cox and Jack Doyle combined for three. Burton has eleven targets in two games, and that’s what you’re really looking at here. He’s hauled in just seven of them for 49 yards. It’s the opportunity, not the production, that you’re chasing, here. The matchup isn’t too shabby, either. The Bengals are top-third in fantasy points allowed to opposing tight ends, but only four guys have more than four targets against them. Two guys went for 70+ yards, and the third guy scored.
Deep League Sleeper Tight Ends Option:
Irv Smith Jr versus Atlanta (7% rostered)
Just going to continue to hammer the team that let Robert Tonyan do a somersault and then score a touchdown. Kyle Rudolph doesn’t get a lot of targets, but Irv Smith has started to climb up the target depth chart for the Vikings. The sophomore tight end went 4/64 on five targets last week against the Seahawks. The Falcons are much worse on defense than Seattle, so let’s call that a nice base and kick in a TD while we’re at it? Four catches, 64 yards and a TD for nearly-free TE is pretty sweet, I would say.
The downside? CORONAVIRUS!!! The Falcons shut down their facility on Thursday, throwing this game into doubt. If that happens pivot to Jordan Akins (7% rostered).
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