Streaming Tight Ends: Week 9 Targets

Nov 01, 2016

So you missed out on a top-tier TE, or purposely chose to wait until later rounds with the strategy of streaming the position weekly? You’ve come to the right place. It’s time to assess your lineup and see if the TE you drafted is starter-worthy this week or if you are better off grabbing someone off the waiver wire who has an above average matchup which can hopefully translate to TE1 production.

The main focus of our research when looking at a TE’s matchup is 4for4’s Schedule-Adjusted Fantasy Points Allowed (aFPA) metric. As the season continues to progress and more data is available, aFPA becomes more and more reliable, using rolling 10-week data. Targets and efficiency metrics are also considered when coming up with weekly TE streamers.

The goal in streaming is to roster a player that is going to return TE1 fantasy points and in Week 8, two out of three recommendations came through for me, and hopefully you as well. Weighing in as TE6 on the week, C.J. Fiedorowicz scored 15.3 PPR fantasy points, and Vernon Davis, despite having Jordan Reed back on the field, finished as the TE8 with 14.3 points.

After eight weeks of football, 4for4 streaming candidates are averaging 8.81 PPR fantasy points per game, which currently ranks as TE21. The optimal TE streamer has a combined 106.6 PPR fantasy points, enough for TE2 on the season thus far. On to Week 9 where we are faced with six teams on bye weeks, more injuries and continued lack of production. Here are this week’s streamers who will hopefully provide you some relief, as well as the kick in the pants your team may possibly need.

In order to provide advice that you can actually implement, candidates for streaming must be available in at least 40% of Yahoo fantasy leagues.

Cameron Brate (TB) vs. ATL

I’ve been flying the Cameron Brate flag since training camp, and I’m certainly not going to stop now. After Jameis Winston and Mike Evans, Brate has the third highest PPR points on the Buccaneers offense with a total of 65.8. He has worked his way from a virtually unknown player, to TE16 on the season through the first eight weeks.

This Thursday, Tampa Bay gets the Atlanta Falcons at home in what should be an exciting divisional game -- at least we hope it doesn’t somehow turn into the brutal TNF drivel we’ve seen so far this season. Luckily for Brate, the Falcons are ranked as the 27th team in the league when it comes to the TE position with an aFPA of 19.3 PPR points.

Look for Brate to get a solid share of targets this week as the Bucs offense is somewhat of a triage unit, with several key players status’ questionable at this point. With only 41% of Yahoo fantasy teams currently rostering the talented TE, do yourself a favor and grab Brate while you still can.