Fantasy Football Week 8 Tight End Preview: Darren Waller discount? This may be your last chance to buy low
Everything you need to know about tight end in Week 8
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Darren Waller practiced for the first time in weeks on Wednesday and looks to be trending towards a Week 8 return. With the landscape of the position, we're desperate for must-start tight ends; even with Davante Adams on the roster, that's what I expect Waller to be once he's fully healthy. In other words, now might be the perfect time to try to snag him before he takes off.
Waller currently checks in at TE19 at 7.9 FPPG. That number is deceiving, first from playing eight snaps and not recording a statistic in Week 5. But even so, he was TE12 at 9.9 FPPG in the first four weeks of the season. And his two good games were the first two weeks of the year. In other words, Waller's Fantasy manager hasn't felt good about him in more than a month and doesn't know if he's playing in Week 8. I have no reason to believe Waller is going to be anything other than a must-start tight end in the second half of the season, and he's exactly the type of player I'd like to buy before he gets healthy.
If you can't get Waller, the next two best options are Irv Smith (you can find him on the waiver wire in some leagues) and Evan Engram. Engram ranks eighth amongst tight ends in catches and 11th in yards but he still hasn't scored his first touchdown as a Jaguar. Bet on regression and give up a low-end bench piece to add Engram. He may be even cheaper after a tough matchup against the Broncos, if you want to take that chance.
Here's everything else you need to know about tight end in Week 8:
Week 8 TE Preview
TE Preview
Who's Out
The following players are not being projected to play Week 8 at this time. Here's what it means:
Harrison Bryant will be the top tight end in Cleveland, but you can do better.
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Numbers to Know
- 25 -- Kyle Pitts has topped 25 yards in a game once this season.
- 20% -- Dalton Schultz was right back at a 20% target share in Dak Prescott's first game back.
- 9 -- Brett Rypien has targeted his tight ends nine times in each of his first two starts.
- 6 -- The Cardinals have allowed six different tight ends to score double digit Fantasy points against them. Irv Smith will try to make it seven this week.
- 7.9 -- Noah Fant scored 7.9 PPR Fantasy points against the Saints. That's the most a tight end has scored against them this season.
- 50 -- Even after his Week 7 bye, Tyler Higbee ranks fourth amongst tight ends with 50 targets.
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Matchups that matter
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Waiver Wire Targets
Week 8 Streamers (TE Preview)
Broncos quarterbacks have thrown 19.6% of their passes to tight ends this year and with nine targets in Week 7 Greg Dulcich clearly established himself as the top option. If Brett Rypien starts, Dulcich has huge target upside, but his scoring chances increase if Russell Wilson is able to go. There is significant upside if Wilson ever returns to form later in the season.
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I love the matchup this week for Smith, but I'm a little bit concerned about his PPR upside because he hasn't had more than five targets in a game since Week 3. Still, Juwan Johnson just scored 20.2 Fantasy points on five targets against this defense.
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DFS Plays
Top DFS Play
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It's a tough weekend at tight end with Travis Kelce on a bye and Mark Andrews playing on Thursday night. I'll go with Dallas Goedert, whose terrible touchdown luck has carried over from the second half of 2021. If Goedert's touchdown regression hits, he's going to challenge to be TE3 rest of the season.
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Contrarian DFS Play
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Speaking of terrible touchdown luck, Higbee still hasn't scored despite those 50 targets he's earned. Hopefully coming out of the bye Sean McVay has found a way to fix that. Higbee scored once every 14.5 targets from 2020 through 2021.
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