Streaming Tight Ends: Week 15 Targets

Dec 13, 2016

We’ve reached the tail end of the fantasy football season, and if you’re reading this, there’s a solid chance your team is still alive, fighting for that elusive championship. It’s win-or-go-home time, so it is imperative to have the best possible roster at your disposal moving forward. Is the TE you drafted, starter-worthy this week or are you better off grabbing someone off the waiver wire to get the TE1 production your team needs to survive?

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.

Our goal in streaming is to roster a player that is going to return TE1 fantasy points, and for Week 14, just one of my guys finished in the top, as Jermaine Gresham landed at TE12 with 9.5 PPR points.

After 14 weeks of football, 4for4 streaming candidates are averaging 8.34 PPR fantasy points per game. The optimal TE streamer has a combined 168.8 PPR fantasy points, enough for TE3 on the season. On to Week 15, where those of us who are still playing, need to put it all on the table in the hopes of basking in the glory of a fantasy championship.

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

Charles Clay (BUF) vs. CLE

There is a ton of controversy surrounding the Buffalo Bills as they head down the stretch, but Charles Clay has kept his name out of it all. The TE is currently sitting with the highest number of targets on the Bills offense with 63, and boasts a respectful target rate per snap of 9.5%.

Coming off an impressive Week 14 with 14.2 PPR points, Clay gets to face a very soft Cleveland Browns defense that gives up 16.6 PPR points to the TE position, the fourth most in the NFL. Bills QB Tyrod Taylor will be playing for his job in Week 15, as will Head Coach Rex Ryan. Buffalo is still technically in the playoff hunt in the murky AFC, so should leave it all out there this week at home versus the league dog, Browns.

Clay is currently owned by only 11% of Yahoo fantasy players, and makes a really nice start this week along with Week 16, where the Bills get to stay at home against a Miami team that is just under the Bills when it comes to aFPA with 15.9 PPR points allowed to TEs.