Getty Zach Ertz of the Philadelphia Eagles
Welcome to Fantasy Football Start ‘Em, Sit ‘Em for Week 9 of the NFL season. Our tight ends edition features a player who was once a must-start tight end, but is approaching his last straw of good faith from fantasy owners.
* Reminder: Start ‘Em, Sit ‘Em is intended to present you with the non-obvious choices for your fantasy lineup. We dig deep into player matchups, scoring trends, and other factors to best help you with your fantasy decisions. Superstars such as Travis Kelce will not be found in this column. If you’re looking for players of such caliber check out our weekly fantasy football tight end rankings.
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TE: Start ‘Em
Start of the Week: Hunter Henry vs. GB
Henry cooled off a bit last week after back-to-back monster performances to kick off his return from injury. Look for the Chargers tight end to get back to stellar ways in Week 9 vs. the Packers. Green Bay has allowed four receiving touchdowns to the tight end position over the past two weeks. They’ve also surrendered an average of 21.2 fantasy points to starting TEs over that same time span.
Zach Ertz vs. CHI
Don’t give up on Ertz just yet. While the two-time Pro Bowler has been horrendous the past three weeks, a matchup with the Chicago Bears may be just what the tight end ordered. As surprising as it may seem, the once-vaunted Bears defense allows the 11th-most fantasy points to the position this season. For all Ertz’s struggles this season, he’s still a major focal point of the Birds offense, seeing 16 more targets than the next closest Eagles pass catcher in 2019.
Eric Ebron at PIT
Ebron has been extremely hot and cold this season, never yet scoring in double-digits in back-to-back weeks this year. He has, however, scored at least 11.5 points in every game that he’s scored under double-digits this season. If history repeats it’s self, Ebron should be in for a solid outing. Pittsburgh also happens to allow the third-most fantasy points to tight ends in 2019.
Sleepers: TJ Hockenson at OAK
Hockenson has yet to recapture his Week 1 form this season. In fact, he’s averaged just 3.64 fantasy points in five of his last six games. He does, however, have sneaky startability this week as Oakland surrenders the second-most touchdowns to tight ends this season, with a near one touchdown receptions per game average. The Raiders have allowed an average of 19.25 fantasy points to tight ends in five of their past seven games.
TE: Sit ‘Em
Sit of the Week: Charles Clay vs. SF
Clay is a name that many people know, likely enough for some to take a gamble on the one-time viable tight end after a solid showing last week. However, Clay racked up the majority of his 11+ fantasy points on two busted coverages, one of which was a flea-flicker. Prior to Week 8, Clay had not exceeded 3.7 fantasy points in any game this season. I shouldn’t have to tell you how good San Francisco’s defense is, but just in case you were wondering, they haven’t allowed a tight end to score more than 4.00 fantasy points against them since Week 2.
Darren Fells at JAC
Fells could call it a season now at the midway point of 2019 and have it go down as the best season of his six-year career. However, you never truly know what Fells you’re going to get week-to-week. The Texans tight end has yet to see more than two targets following any contest where he received at least six. He’s pretty much touchdown or bust, averaging 1.2 receptions in all but three games this season. The Jaguars have held all but two tight ends to three receptions or less this year.
Buyers Beware: Mark Andrews vs. NE
Much like Baltimore’s aerial attack as a whole, Andrews has seemingly slowed down quite a bit since the first two weeks of the season. The former Oklahoma Sooner has averaged just 6.6 fantasy points in three of his previous five games. New England allows an average of 3.81 points to the position this season, the fewest in the NFL. No tight end has eclipsed three receptions or 40 receiving yards against them through the first eight weeks of play.
READ NEXT: Fantasy: Tight End Rankings Week 9
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