Streaming Tight Ends: Week 1 Fantasy Football Targets

Sep 05, 2017

With most redrafts in the rearview mirror, it’s time to evaluate your roster choices and gauge if the TE you drafted is worthy of starting Week 1, or if you’re better off hitting the waiver wire in search of a better option. If you purposely approached drafting the TE position with the intention of streaming weekly, I’ve got you covered there, as well. 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 usage, and last season’s numbers.

The goal is to roster a player that is going to return TE1 fantasy points and last year this methodology did just that—4for4’s optimal streaming TE posted 217.5 total PPR points in 2016, which equated to overall TE2 numbers on the season.

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

Evan Engram (NYG) @ Dallas

I don’t normally invest in rookie TEs when it comes to fantasy football, but Engram has the potential for a really productive coming-out party in Week 1. New York starts the season against a Cowboy’s defense projected to give up the most schedule-adjusted PPR points to the TE position in the league, with 17.9.

Engram was drafted to solidify the Giants at TE, which has been mediocre in recent years with the not-so-great duo of Will Tye and Larry Donnell. Through the preseason, the 22-year old rookie was used in an every-down role, lining up both inside and outside. New York QB Eli Manning loves himself a TE in the red zone, so Engram could see a high volume of targets right away in the season opener.

Owned in just 19% of Yahoo leagues, there’s a decent chance he’s sitting on your waiver wire and could make a superb start to your streaming TE season.

Continue reading for two more tight end streaming options, plus five more options for deep leagues...