Week 7 Fantasy Football Start/Sit Candidates: Tight Ends
Wondering whom to start and sit at tight end this week? Below are two top-notch start and two sit options at the tight end position for Week 7 of the 2022 NFL season.
Week 6 Review – half-PPR scoring
Starts
- TE Taysom Hill (New Orleans Saints) vs. Cincinnati Bengals – 4.5 fantasy points (TE25)
- TE Noah Fant (Seattle Seahawks) vs. Arizona Cardinals – 7.5 (TE15)
Sits
- TE Hayden Hurst (Cincinnati Bengals) @ New Orleans Saints – 3.6 fantasy points (TE27)
- TE Cole Kmet (Chicago Bears) vs. Washington Commanders – 2.0 fantasy points (TE43)
Tight Ends – Starts
Gerald Everett (Los Angeles Chargers) vs. Seattle Seahawks
The easiest way to win the tight end position is to start the one who is facing the Seattle Seahawks. Seattle’s 23.1 half-PPR points per game allowed to the position leads the league by a margin of 9.3 points, per 4for4’s Schedule Adjust Fantasy Points Allowed tool.
Los Angeles Chargers tight end Gerald Everett has had a great year, with 47.2 half-PPR points to his name, eighth most at the position, and his 36 targets are a top-five mark. No. 2 tight end Donald Parham, a 6-foot-8 red zone threat, entered the league’s concussion protocol because of a hard hit he took in Week 6.
Juwan Johnson (New Orleans Saints) @ Arizona Cardinals
Arizona Cardinals general manager Steve Keim has made a habit of whiffing on coverage-oriented draft picks, especially as it pertains to slowing tight ends and slot receivers. While the New Orleans Saints’ Juwan Johnson is hardly a prolific target earner, he gets a tasty matchup against the league’s second-most tight end-friendly defense (13.8 half-PPR points per game), amidst a cacophony of injuries suffered by his team’s pass-catching corps.
Players likely out for New Orleans’ Thursday Night Football matchup include wide receivers Michael Thomas, Jarvis Landry, and Keith Kirkwood, as well as fellow tight end Adam Trautman. Though starting quarterback Jameis Winston (back/ankle) has been able to practice in a limited capacity, the team has been cagey as to whether he will play and/or if journeyman Andy Dalton (back) has made them reconsider Winston’s status as the No. 1 quarterback. Regardless, with both quarterbacks working through an injury, fantasy managers can expect nominal tight end Taysom Hill to again operate as a generic offensive weapon, which leaves the literal No. 1 tight end role all to Johnson. The injury-induced target vacuum aids Johnson’s quest for fantasy goodness.
*Check out the full TE Rankings here.
Tight End – Sits
Mike Gesicki (Miami Dolphins) vs. Pittsburgh Steelers
The fantasy community is going to be too high on Mike Gesicki after an overall TE1, Week 6 outpouring of 21.9 half-PPR points, in which Gesicki caught six-of-seven targets for 69 yards and two touchdowns. What box-score cruisers will fail to notice is that Gesicki was a near-non-factor in quarters one through three, having earned just two targets up to that point. Both touchdowns and nearly half of his receiving yards came in the final 10 minutes when the outlook had turned mostly bleak. First thing Monday morning, ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler reported that Miami “is in the ‘we’re-willing-to-listen [to trade offers]’ phase” with the jumbo slot receiver.
Gesicki has been an ill fit in new head coach Mike McDaniel’s scheme from the jump and must now succeed against the Pittsburgh Steelers, who are allowing just 9.0 half-PPR points per game to the position.
Jonnu Smith (New England Patriots) vs. Chicago Bears
Fantasy managers were surprised with a two-catch, two-target, 61-yard outing from New England Patriots tight end Jonnu Smith (ankle) last week, despite carrying a Questionable tag into the match. The flashy performance must be treated as fool’s gold though, as Smith’s 13.9% route participation rate was even lower than his 33.8% season-long average, per 4for4’s NFL Player Stats Explorer. Tight ends need to regularly approach the 80.0% route participation threshold for reliable TE1 consideration.
The Chicago Bears are also one of the eight best teams at keeping tight ends out of the box score, permitting just 7.2 half-PPR points per game to the position.
