The season has flown by, and if you haven’t been paying attention to your league schedule, you have roughly three weeks to secure a spot in the playoffs.
Even if you feel confident in your ability to make the playoffs, with points-scored serving as a potential tiebreaker, every decision you make matters and the position that has been the most frustrating is tight end. With so many unreliable options, it’s time again to dig deep and sift through the bargain bin.
The easiest place to look is to find out who is facing the Cardinals. They rank dead-last in coverage against the position and allow an average of 85.8 receiving yards per game. They’ve given up 10 receiving touchdowns to tight ends, and they allow the most fantasy points per game to them.
With a matchup against San Francisco, most might dismiss the game because George Kittle is owned everywhere. All signs, however, are pointing toward Kittle’s knee keeping him on the sidelines. Hello, Ross Dwelley. If available, he is an immediate add.
Obviously, you have to protect yourself in case Kittle somehow makes it to the field and spoils the Dwelley play, so check to see if the Saints’ Jared Cook is available. The Buccaneers rank 29th in coverage, allow 84 yards per game to the position and are coughing up the second-most fantasy points per game to them. Drew Brees needs to make a statement after last week’s debacle, and Cook should be a strong beneficiary.
Struck out on both? dig even deeper and look at Bengals tight end Tyler Eifert. The veteran caught his rookie quarterback’s eye last week and grabbed his second touchdown. This week, he faces the Raiders, who are allowing the third-most fantasy points per game with an average of 65.4 yards to the tight end. The Raiders are likely to take an early lead, which will push Ryan Finley to air it out more. With limited targets, exploiting Eifert’s matchup should be a priority.
The bottom of the barrel is, obviously, not where you want to be, but desperate times call for desperate measures. If that means you have to rely on a disappointment like T.J. Hockenson because he is in a soft matchup, then that is the road you must go down. It matters not if the win is ugly. Just so long as it’s a win.
Howard Bender is the VP of operations and head of content at . Follow him on Twitter and catch him on the award winning “Fantasy Alarm Radio Show” on the SiriusXM fantasy sports channel weekdays at 4 p.m. Go to FantasyAlarm.com for all your fantasy sports advice and .