2021 Fantasy Football Week 7 Sleeper Tight Ends: Cole Mining

Well, it’s finally here. The week seven byepocalypse has hit us. We will be without the fantasy football options on the Buffalo Bills, the Dallas Cowboys, the Jacksonville Jaguars, the Los Angeles Chargers, the Minnesota Vikings and the Pittsburgh Steelers. For those of you who came here looking for sleeper tight ends, I hope you’ve been enjoying… uh… Dawson Knox and Dalton Schultz? While the lack of options made this week difficult, difficult is not impossible, so we still have three sleeper tight ends available for you. To qualify, the sleeper tight end must be unrostered in at least 50% of leagues. For deep league players, there’s one sleeper tight end available in at least 90% of leagues.

Week 7 Tight End Sleepers

Ricky Seals-Jones at Green Bay (44% rostered)

I wrote about RSJ last week, noting that he had eight targets in week five going up against a good matchup against Kansas City. He walked away with six targets, four catches, 58 yards and a touchdown. Not too bad on my part. Let’s get back into the fire with RSJ this week, as he takes on the Green Bay Packers. The Packers have been strong against tight ends, but allowed every tight end who had more than two targets against them to get at least 4 catches for 49 yards, with three of four guys to hit that threshold to absolutely brutalize them. This should be a good game for RSJ this week if you’re desperate.

Cole Kmet at Tampa Bay (19% rostered)

A lot of the time, I choose these sleepers via the “vibes only” method. But, this week, I couldn’t find a third vibey guy so I decided to dive into the numbers and let the numbers guide me. This week, the numbers guide me to Cole Kmet. Cole Kmet has that which we covet so dearly in the fantasy football community: unrealized opportunity. He currently sits fourth in unrealized air yards to tight ends, which is an indicator of upcoming production. He also has the tenth-highest target share (16.6%) among tight ends, but just 4.5 fantasy points per game.

Hopefully, a matchup with Tampa Bay could be what the doctor ordered to convert those air yards and targets into fantasy football production. The Buccaneers are one of the worst pass defenses in the NFL, allowing the fifth-most passing yards and third-most touchdowns per game. They’ve been somewhat stiff against tight ends, but (likely) no Lavonte David means that part of their defense should slack a bit. This could be the Cole Kmet Game. Maybe? Hopefully?

C.J. Uzomah at Baltimore (2% rostered)

With Ricky Seals-Jones, I’m staying with the hot hand. With Cole Kmet, I let the numbers lead me to where I needed to go. But with C.J. Uzomah? Let’s just throw our hands up and pray. Uzomah has three touchdowns in his last three games, notching two against the hapless Jaguars three weeks ago and a third last week against the Lions. This week, he gets the Baltimore Ravens. The Ravens have been a strong pass defense, giving up the seventh-fewest fantasy points to wide receivers, and the eleventh-fewest fantasy points to quarterbacks. But, if they have a weakness, it is giving up fantasy production to tight ends. The Ravens give up the third-most fantasy points to tight ends, including a touchdown or 50 yards to five different tight ends in six weeks. With that kind of defensive strength everywhere in the passing game but the tight end, it could work out for you this week.

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[Image Source: Image Source: Cole Kmet on Twitter]