Saturday, October 23, 2021

Week 7 Fantasy Football 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, Ricky Seals-Jones is listed below as a "start" for Week 7. And I'd certainly be comfortable going into Week 7 with him as my starting tight end.

Then again, Seals-Jones may be a "sit" for your team.

In other words, if you roster both Travis Kelce and RSJ, you should start Kelce and, in turn, bench Seals-Jones.

For a more direct answer on whether we would start Player X over Player Y, check our Week 7 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 7 Fantasy Football TE Start'em

Ricky Seals-Jones, Washington Football Team (at GB)

Topping our list of fantasy football waiver wire options at tight end, Seals-Jones is still only rostered in 50% of Yahoo! leagues as of Saturday morning. If you still need a bye-week replacement, RSJ could be a viable option.

Against the Kansas City Chiefs in Week 6, Seals-Jones had four catches for 58 yards and a score on six targets. It was his second consecutive solid performance with Logan Thomas on IR. In those two games, Seals-Jones almost never came off the field with 99% and 100% snap rates, respectively, and had a minimum of 15% target shares in both games.

The Green Bay Packers have allowed three top-five fantasy TE performances this season -- Juwan Johnson (Week 1, TE5), T.J. Hockenson (Week 2, TE3) and George Kittle (Week 3, TE4). As we head into a week with six teams on bye, RSJ is a plug-and-play option for at least one more week.

Zach Ertz, Arizona Cardinals (vs. HOU)

There are a couple of concerns with Ertz. A midseason trade could require an acclimation period as Ertz adjusts to his new team. In addition, the team's receiving corps goes four deep in terms of targets distribution. The team's top four receivers all have at least 28 targets (15.14% target share) through six weeks.

That said, Ertz was more productive for the Philadelphia Eagles than some might have expected and has a minimum of four catches in three of his past four games. During that span, he has finished as the TE7, TE13, TE54 and TE8, respectively.

Even if he doesn't extend his four-week 18%-plus team target share streak, Ertz gets the most favorable matchup of the weekend against the Houston Texans. Not only have the Texans allowed the most fantasy points to opposing tight ends this season, they have allowed a league-high five touchdowns to the position. In addition, the Cardinals have the week's second-highest implied total as 18-point favorites.

Hunter Henry, New England Patriots (vs. NYJ)

Henry had a season-low two targets in Week 6 against the Dallas Cowboys, but he converted one of his two receptions into a touchdown to extend his scoring streak to three weeks. On the season, Henry is averaging a receiving line of 3.7/40.2/0.5. While not elite, that's certainly solid.

The Patriots are touchdown favorites over the New York Jets, who have allowed the eighth-most fantasy points to opposing tight ends this season.

Week 7 Fantasy Football TE Sit'em

Robert Tonyan, Green Bay Packers (vs. WAS)

Good news first: Tonyan had his second-best game of the season last week. The bad news? He scored two fantasy points (half-PPR) and ended with 10 receiving yards.

Outside of a Week 2 matchup against the Detroit Lions, Tonyan has no more than two catches, 10 yards or two fantasy points in any game this season. At this point of the season, Tonyan is droppable.

Jonnu Smith, New England Patriots (vs. NYJ)

Once again, if I have to play a Patriots tight end, I'd prefer Henry over Smith due to his consistency.

Smith is averaging career lows in Y/R (7.8) and Y/TGT (5.0) and he has zero top-12 weekly performances this season. Over the past four weeks, Smith has 14 yards or less in three of four games. During that same four-week stretch, he has finished the week as fantasy's TE50, TE15, TE27 and TE43, respectively. The TE15 performance was the one week this season in which he caught a touchdown.

Gerald Everett, Seattle Seahawks (vs. NO)

Everett returned in Week 6 and finished with two catches for 40 yards on three targets against the Pittsburgh Steelers. With Russell Wilson out and Geno Smith in, the Seahawks have a bottom-five implied total this week. In addition, the defensive matchup isn't a favorable one, as the New Orleans Saints have allowed the eighth-fewest fantasy points to opposing tight ends this season.

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