Earlier in the week I wrote that Tyler Higbee was the top streaming option due to Odell Beckham being placed on the COVID IR. Higbee will face a Seahawks defense that has allowed the third most Fantasy points to opposing tight ends. While the Rams' tight end did only have 14 yards in an earlier meeting with Seattle, he did score one of his three touchdowns. An increase in targets and a favorable matchup makes Higbee pretty close to a must-start tight end.
But as of Thursday afternoon Higbee is up to 68% rostered, so that may not be an option if you're still looking for a tight end. In fact, the best option may not show up in the projections at all. That's because we have no idea who will play tight end for the Browns in Week 15.
David Njoku and Austin Hooper are on COVID-IR along with several other Browns, while Harrison Bryant missed Week 14 with an ankle injury. Byrant was at practice on Wednesday as a limited participant, so he's probably the most likely to play but Njoku seems more likely than Hooper just because he's been in the protocols longer.
The Browns have thrown close to a third of their passes to tight ends this season and they're expected to be without both Jarvis Landry and Kareem Hunt as of Thursday. That could mean a huge workload if only one of these tight ends returns, and that big workload would come against the Raiders, who have been one the league's worst against tight ends.
The ideal situation would be if it is Hooper or Njoku by themselves, that would make them a top-eight tight end. If one of them have to share with Bryant, then they would be a top-12 tight end, as would Bryant if Hooper and Njoku are out. If somehow all three tight ends returned, we'd probably have to avoid all three.
Here's everything else you need to know about tight end in Week 15:
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3 -- Travis Kelce has three catches in each of his past two games. It's the first time since Patrick Mahomes became quarterback that Kelce has been held below four catches in back-to-back games.
1 -- Mark Andrews is currently the No. 1 tight end in total PPR points. Kelce, Rob Gronkowski, and Jimmy Graham are the only tight ends to finish No. 1 in the past 10 years.
23.3% -- Dallas Goedert ranks second among tight ends, with a 23.3% target share since Week 7.
Last week was disappointing, but that's the nature of the position. I still think that as long as Adam Thielen is out, Conklin is in play weekly as a borderline No. 1.
O'Shaughnessy is tied for the team lead in targets since Dan Arnold went down and the Texans have had all kinds of problems with tight ends this season.
In this price range, I think everyone is going to lean Higbee, but Ertz has been the better NFC West tight end this year and he gets to face the Lions.
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Heath's Projections
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