Streaming Tight Ends (TEBWW): Week 1

Sep 02, 2014

Draft season is all but over and it’s finally time to actually set real fantasy football lineups. Owners that waited until the very end of their drafts to fill out their tight end slot might find themselves in a position to consider the Tight End By Waiver Wire (TEBWW) strategy, or tight end streaming. Tight end is such a volatile position, that even owners who spent a mid round pick on a tight end might want to consider matchups before blindly plugging in a tight end not named Graham, Gronk or Julius.

The basic premise of TEBWW is to target a tight end that is unowned in most leagues but faces a favorable matchup and, hopefully, returns a TE1 fantasy day. In order to ensure that a tight end is widely available, streaming options will usually be on the waiver wire in at least 40% of ESPN leagues. As we get further into the season, and have more reliable data, schedule-adjusted fantasy points allowed (aFPA) will be the overriding influence on which tight ends we choose to stream.

As with all fantasy football advice, recognize league dynamics before blindly making any decision. If a highly ranked tight end is available in your league, play him over the streamers, and in the case that none of the suggested options are available in your league, let 4for4’s weekly projections serve as your guide.

On to my Week 1 favorites:

Charles Clay (MIA) vs New England

4for4 touted Clay as a TE1 all offseason, but he wasn’t drafted as such, owned in just 42% of ESPN leagues going into the first week. Week 1 projections have the Miami tight end projected for a TE1 finish against the Patriots in PPR leagues.

Chris Raybon highlighted why we should seek targets when looking for a fantasy tight end. In 2013, Charles Clay was the 7th most targeted tight end in the NFL, and his 1.62 yards per route run was the 6th best amongst tight ends in the league. With questions in the Dolphins’ backfield and a number one wide receiver that rarely sees high target volume, Clay should be one of the most heavily used tight ends in Week 1, and for the rest of the season.