Monday, September 17, 2018

2018 Fantasy Football TE Waiver-Wire Options Heading Into Week 3

Every week, we examine players that may be available on your league's waiver wire that could help your team in the short and/or long term.

For a player to be listed, he must be owned in 50 percent (or less) of Yahoo! leagues. The goal is to provide recommendations of players that have a greater chance of being available on your league's waiver wire. Of course, your league's size and settings could significantly impact whether these players (or better options) are available in your particular league(s).

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With that said, here are some tight end waiver-wire options that I like heading into Week 3 (Yahoo! ownership in parenthesis):

[Note: Players listed below are sorted by my preference to add.]

1. Austin Hooper, Atlanta Falcons (17 percent)

Hooper caught all five of his targets in Week 2 for 59 yards and a touchdown. Like most/all of the options on this list, Hooper is a TD-dependent option. The good news is that the Saints-Falcons Week 3 matchup could turn into a shootout (54-point over-under) that leads to plenty of streaming appeal.

2. Austin Seferian-Jenkins, Jacksonville Jaguars (32 percent)

Seferian-Jenkins has exactly three receptions and five targets in back-to-back games with 25 yards or less. The difference between Week 2 (from Week 1) is that his touchdown wasn't called back. There are not many inspiring options in the under-50% ownership category, but ASJ remains a TD-dependent streamer.

3. Ricky Seals-Jones, Arizona Cardinals (27 percent)

The Cardinals offense has been terrible. Absolutely terrible. After all, starting quarterback Sam Bradford has 243 passing yards ... through two games. Larry Fitzgerald (15) leads the team in targets, but Seals-Jones (12) currently ranks second in that category. Averaging 6.0 targets per game is equivalent to a 96-target pace, something only seven tight ends had in 2017. Perhaps that volume will lead to more than 18.0 yards per game at some point in the season.

4. Jesse James, Pittsburgh Steelers (10 percent)

Going into Monday Night Football, no tight end has scored more fantasy points (standard-scoring) than James (TE2 in PPR). Even with Vance McDonald returning in Week 2, James hauled in five receptions for 138 yards and a touchdown. Considering I expect McDonald to score more fantasy points than James going forward, I have James ranked relatively low on this list of mediocre options.

5. Jake Butt, Denver Broncos (three percent)

Butt had four catches for 48 yards on six targets in Week 2 and now has 10 targets through the team's first two games. If Butt continues to average five-plus targets per game, he'll have the chance to perform as a high-end TE2. For now, he's worth a look in deeper leagues.

- More Fantasy Football Waiver-Wire Advice Heading Into Week 3

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