Getty Ryan Griffin of the New York Jets
Welcome to Fantasy Football Start ‘Em, Sit ‘Em for Week 12 of the NFL season. Our tight ends edition features a player that continues to churn out monster performances, despite little-to-no notoriety.
* 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: Zach Ertz vs. SEA
Ertz is officially back. After giving fantasy owners a scare for much of the early part of this season, he’s now seen 11 targets and registered 18+ fantasy points in back-to-back weeks. Four of the six tight ends to receive at least six targets against the Seahawks this season have combined for an average of 18.9 fantasy points.
Ryan Griffin vs. OAK
People keep sleeping on Griffin, and he just keeps performing. The tight end, who is owned in just 4% of Yahoo leagues as a write this, is the second-highest scoring fantasy player at his position since Week 7. The Raiders have surrendered the second-most receiving touchdowns, along with the second-most fantasy points, to tight ends this season.
Ross Dwelley vs. GB
Dwelley’s startability is highly contingent on the availability of George Kittle. If Kittle misses yet another game, Dwelley becomes virtually must-start in a league hungry for talent at the tight end position. Dwelley has seen an average of six targets per game in place of an injured Kittle over the past two weeks. He also found the endzone not once, but twice a week ago. No defense has been worse at defending the TE position over the past four weeks than the Packers, allowing five players to eclipse 11+ fantasy points.
Sleepers: Dallas Goedert vs. SEA
We’ve already touched on the Seahawks’ struggles to contain tight ends this season in Zach Ertz’s section. In this section, we’ll discuss why his backup also warrants a look in your Week 12 lineups. Goedert is the ninth-highest scoring fantasy tight end since Week 6 and has scored 11.6+ fantasy points in three of his last four games. With Alshon Jeffery nursing an injury, and Nelson Agholor one more drop from being unemployed, Goedert is the team’s second best-receiving option behind Ertz.
TE: Sit ‘Em
Sit of the Week: Noah Fant at BUF
Fant has intrigued over his last two games, as his role within the Broncos offense has grown in front of our eyes. However, despite seeing a mouth-watering 11 targets a week ago, he hauled in just four receptions. It doesn’t matter how much a Broncos QB looks in Fant’s direction if that QB can’t get the ball to him. To make matters worse, the Buffalo Bills, fantasy’s second-best defense at defending tight ends, have held all but one tight end all season below double-digit points.
Jimmy Graham vs. SF
Graham has now scored in single-digits in seven of his last nine games this season. The 49ers have allowed a staggering average of just 2.23 fantasy points to opposing tight ends in six of their seven games since a Week 4 bye.
Jason Witten at NE
If we’re being honest with ourselves, Witten is no longer the best tight end in Dallas. That honor goes to Blake Jarwin. However, the Cowboys keep trotting Witten out over an abundant amount of snaps, week in and week out. He’s done little to warrant those snaps from a fantasy perspective, scoring 8.4 points or fewer in six of his last eight games. To make matters worse, the Patriots allow the eighth-fewest points to opposing tight ends this year.
Buyers Beware: Jacob Hollister at PHI
Hollister has been a revelation since stepping in for the injured Will Dissly. Hollister has averaged 20 fantasy points in his two starts, ranking as the TE1 over that span. With that said, Philadelphia has not allowed a single tight end to score more than 8.2 fantasy points in any game since Week 4.
READ NEXT: Fantasy: Tight End Rankings Week 12