Getty Zach Ertz of the Philadelphia Eagles
Welcome to Fantasy Football Start ‘Em, Sit ‘Em for Week 8 of the NFL season. Our tight ends edition features a player quickly establishing himself as one of the premier talents in the league. While a one-time elite player at his position seems to be trending downwards as the season progresses.
* 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: Austin Hooper vs. SEA
This feels like a bit of a cop-out, so we’ll keep it brief. Hooper leads all tight ends in scoring with 17.8 fantasy points per game this season. Seattle allows the fourth-most points to the TE position this season. If Matt Ryan can’t go this week, expect Matt Schaub to rely heavily on his big-bodied pass catcher.
Hunter Henry at CHI
Henry has quickly re-established himself as an upper-echelon option at a position hungry for talent and production. The Los Angeles Chargers tight end has averaged an impressive 22.9 fantasy points since returning from injury, the most at his position over that time span. Believe it or not, the matchup with the Bears defense is not as vaunting as once perceived. They’ve allowed the 11th most fantasy points to tight ends this season and allowed 11.8 points to unheralded Josh Hill just one week ago.
Sleepers: Jared Cook vs. ARI
Speaking of Josh Hill, he’s the player that stepped in to fill the shoes left behind by an inactive Jared Cook a week ago. Cook’s unavailability likely led to the Saints tight end being dropped in a number of leagues. If he’s sitting on your waiver wire at the moment he’s worth a scoop and start, as long as his health checks out. Cook was riding a two-game touchdown streak prior to his injury. Arizona’s allowed eight receiving touchdowns in seven games to the tight end position, the most in football.
TE: Sit ‘Em
Sit of the Week: Ricky Seals-Jones at NE
Seals-Jones has stepped in admirably for the injured David Njoku, even outperforming him to an extent. The Cleveland tight end has averaged 15.45 fantasy points in two of his last three games. However, don’t be surprised if this week’s game resembles more of his one target, zero reception outing from Week 6. New England allows a horrendous 3.1 points per game average to the tight end position.
TJ Hockenson vs. NYG
When you watch Hockenson play, it’s fairly obvious he’s extremely good at football. He will be a reliable fantasy option in due time, however, that time has not yet come. Over his past five games, he’s accumulated just 1.7 more points than he scored just in Week 1 alone. For all the Giants’ struggles this season, they’ve been extremely stingy to the tight end position, not allowing a TE to score more than 8.1 fantasy points since Week 1.
Buyers Beware: Zach Ertz at BUF
Yes, it’s gotten to this point. I’d likely ride with Ertz, as I doubt he’s been left on anyone’s bench when healthy since maybe his rookie year. However, Ertz isn’t even the leading point-getter at the tight end position for his own team over the past two weeks. Buffalo has yet to allow a receiving touchdown to a tight end this season, while no TE has scored more than 7.8 fantasy points against them.
READ NEXT: Fantasy: Tight End Rankings Week 8