Saturday, October 31, 2020

Fantasy Football Week 8 TE Start'em, Sit'em

The decision on which player to start, or sit, largely comes down to the options on your roster (and/or possibly the players available on your league's waiver wire).

As an example, Dallas Goedert is listed below as a "start" for Week 8. And I'd certainly be comfortable going into Week 8 with him as my starting tight end.

Then again, Goedert may be a "sit" for your team.

In other words, if you own both George Kittle and Goedert, you should start Kittle and, in turn, bench Goedert.

For a more direct answer on whether we would start Player X over Player Y, check our Week 8 Fantasy Football Rankings. Instead of making those direct comparisons, the goal here is to highlight players that we like, or dislike, for the week.

Week 8 Fantasy Football TE Start'em

Rob Gronkowski, Tampa Bay Buccaneers (at NYG)

Earlier in the season, Gronkowksi joked that "I came here to block, baby."

Over his past five games, however, he's been much more involved as a receiver. With a season-high eight targets in back-to-back games, Gronk has 10 catches for 140 yards and a pair of touchdowns in those two games. In addition, he has a minimum of six targets in four of his past five games with a total line of 20/269/2 on 32 targets over that span.

With Chris Godwin (finger) out this week and Antonio Brown not making his Buccaneers debut before Week 9, Gronk should be the recipient of six to eight targets once again. Meanwhile, Mike Evans has been playing at less than 100 percent and has only four targets over the past two games combined.

Jonnu Smith, Tennessee Titans (at CIN)

Smith has back-to-back one-catch performances with a total of 22 receiving yards over his two most recent games. Before his two-week stretch of duds, Smith had five touchdowns in his first four games this season. Smith is an ideal spot to bounce back.

The Bengals have allowed the second-most fantasy points to opposing tight ends this season. In addition, the Titans have the second-highest implied total this week.

Jimmy Graham, Chicago Bears (vs. NO)

Graham has finished with 34 receiving yards or less in all but one game (Week 3 at Atlanta). That said, he has five or more targets in five consecutive games and a total of 23 catches over that five-game stretch. Like when he faced the Falcons in Week 3, Graham gets another favorable matchup this week against his former team. The Saints have allowed the third-most fantasy points to the position this season.

Dallas Goedert, Philadelphia Eagles (vs. DAL)

Goedert has been activated from IR and is expected to play on Sunday night against the Cowboys. Before sustaining an injury in Week 3, Goedert had 8/101/1 on nine targets and 4/30 on eight targets in Weeks 1 and 2, respectively. With Zach Ertz still sidelined, Goedert has a chance to put up big numbers in a soft matchup against their division rivals. The Cowboys have allowed the ninth-most fantasy points to opposing tight ends this season.

Week 8 Fantasy Football TE Sit'em

Evan Engram, New York Giants (vs. TB)

Against the Eagles in Week 7, Engram had six catches, which tied a season high, for 46 yards on nine targets. While Engram has three games with six receptions, he also has three games with two or fewer. Engram has yet to score a touchdown and he's averaging career lows -- by a considerable margin -- in YPG (31.9) and Y/R (8.6). The only positive for Engram is the Giants are nearly two-TD underdogs and should be throwing often.

Dalton Schultz, Dallas Cowboys (at PHI)

Since the Cowboys lost Dak Prescott for the season, it'd be reasonable to sit all Cowboys players not named Ezekiel Elliott and Amari Cooper. In addition, expectations for Elliott and Cooper should be tempered as both become weekly bust candidates. Over the past three weeks, Schultz has 7/63/0 compared to 17/208/2 in the three games before that.

Eric Ebron, Pittsburgh Steelers (at BAL)

Ebron has at least five catches in three of his past four games. He also has at least 43 receiving yards in four of his past five games. Then again, he has scored only one touchdown (Week 3 vs. Houston) and that's the only week this season that he's finished as a top-12 fantasy tight end. Given the tough divisional matchup against the Ravens, Ebron is a TD-dependent play and more of a mid to back-end TE2.

More positions:

Positional Fantasy Football Rankings:

Check out more of our content:

Posted by at
Labels: , , , , , ,