Streaming Tight Ends: Week 1 Targets

Sep 03, 2019

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Are you bummed with how your roster turned out in the tight end department, or perhaps you had streaming in mind when constructing your teams this draft season? Either way, I have you covered. As a strategy, streaming aims to find players with above-average matchups, which can hopefully translate to TE1 production for your fantasy squad.

For streaming purposes, 4for4’s Schedule-Adjusted Fantasy Points Allowed (aFPA) is a metric we rely heavily on to determine weekly matchup strength. Since aFPA requires a minimum of three to four weeks of data to provide truly reliable results, in these early weeks, streaming options will be selected based on a combination of opponents’ predicted fantasy points allowed, projected targets and target share, red zone volume and last season’s numbers. 4for4 rankings also come into play here and should always be considered when making league-specific roster decisions.

Other Week 1 Streaming Articles: QB l D/ST l K

The goal is to roster a player who will return starter fantasy points and last year this methodology did just that—4for4’s optimal streamer scored 221.4 total PPR points in 2018, which equated to TE5 numbers on the season.

In order to provide advice you can actually implement, candidates for streaming must be owned in no more than 40% of Yahoo fantasy leagues.

Top Streaming Picks

Darren Waller (Raiders) @ Broncos

The former wideout-turned-tight end has been impressive thus far for Oakland, making waves throughout the offseason. If he can slide into a 2019 version of Jared Cook’s role in Oakland's offense, we could see Waller crack the top 10 of tight end fantasy scoring this season. He gets a great matchup to start the season, as Denver's defense perennially struggles to cover the tight end position—remember George Kittle's 210-yard performance in Week 14 of last year? The Broncos ended 2018 ranked 16th in TE aFPA and could have trouble with Waller’s crisp routes and mismatch potential right off the bat in Week 1.

Waller is rostered in only 20% of Yahoo leagues. As an added bonus, he gets the basement-dwelling Chiefs in Week 2, who were ranked 32nd last year in TE aFPA.