Julius Thomas

Fantasy Upside

Julius Thomas is reunited in Miami with his head coach from Denver, Adam Gase, after a couple of uneventful seasons in Jacksonville. At a position where fantasy success relies heavily on touchdowns, Thomas joins on offense where 7-of-18 red zone touchdowns went to tight ends. Thomas is an instant upgrade to what Miami trotted out at tight end last season (Jordan Cameron, Dion Sims, woof). Thomas also has a career red zone touchdown rate of 45.3 percent; whereas, the top returning Dolphin in that area is Jarvis Landry at 21.7 percent, per 4for4's Chris Raybon.

Fantasy Downside

Can Thomas stay healthy? From 2013-2016, he has missed 17 games and been on the injury report for another 17 games. When on the injury report during that span, Thomas averaged 4.1 fewer PPR points per game than when healthy.

2017 Bottom Line

Thomas is the lone pass-catching TE option left on the Dolphins with Cameron and Sims gone. Yes, there's injury risk, but at his cheap round 12 ADP, the risk does not outweigh the reward here.

Week 11 at Detroit
The plus side last week was that Thomas caught a season-high six passes. The downside was that it was just for 24 yards as he and Blake Bortles continue to try to get on the same page. He did score his fourth TD of the season to salvage the day, but wow, four yards per catch? The big news is that Detroit has given up nine touchdowns to opposing tight ends this season. Given that Thomas gets a lot of looks inside the 10, he's a decent sleeper play this week at tight end.

Week 9 at Kansas City
Thomas had three catches for 28 yards last week, but did score for the second consecutive week. He's dealing with an ankle injury, but is expected to play. New offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett used his tight ends a lot when he was in Buffalo, so Thomas could benefit from the change in OCs. Thomas isn't a top start this week, but he should be on your radar moving forward as we see what happens with Jacksonville's offense.