There have been few players more disappointing in Fantasy Football this season than O.J. Howard. He was drafted as a consensus top-six tight end and has scored zero touchdowns in his first six games of the season. On Friday, we found out he won't play in the Buccaneers' seventh game due to a hamstring injury. Anyone who was still holding out hope for Howard will surely be cutting bait soon. But that doesn't mean you should forget about all Tampa Bay tight ends.
Cameron Brate has actually scored twice in his past three games and will now be in line for an increase in targets without Howard. While neither Brate nor Howard have seen enough volume this season, they have combined for more than five targets per game. If Brate can hit that number, he should be in for a good Fantasy day against a Titans defense that has had some struggles with tight ends.
Brate has seen five or more targets nine times since the start of 2017 and scored double digit Fantasy points in six of those game. As desperate as well are for any help at all at this position he vaults into the top 12 in PPR rankings with this news and is still widely available to anyone looking for a streamer.
Week 8 TE Preview
Who's Out
The following players are not being projected to play Week 8 at this time. Here's what it means:
Jonnu Smith has a great matchup if Walker is out.
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Fire up Cameron Brate.
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Numbers to Know
- 19.1% - Target share for Gerald Everett the past month. As bad as the position is, Everett looks like a weekly starter.
- 12.3 - Average targeted air yards for Hunter Henry. That's tops among tight ends.
- 10 - Red-zone targets for Zach Ertz and Evan Engram. Those are going to turn into touchdowns eventually.
- 49 - Snaps for Seth DeValve last week with Geoff Swaim out. Josh Oliver only played 25 and didn't see a target.
- 5 - Targets for Eric Ebron in Week 7, matching his season-high. He was awesome in this game and could start trending back in the right direction.
Matchups that matter
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Waiver Wire Targets
Smith has disappointed us in this spot before, but I won't be able to pass him up against Tampa Bay if Walker is out. The Bucs have given up the second most Fantasy points to opposing tight ends, and Smith is coming off a 64-yard performance in Week 7. He scored double-digit Fantasy points in his final five healthy games without Walker in 2018.
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Brate has a good matchup and a great opportunity without Howard.
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Goedert has at least nine PPR points in three of his past four games and 12 targets in the past two games combined. He's cutting into the target share of Zach Ertz and has been wildly efficient with the targets he's received. It's a terrible matchup, but he has the talent to overcome it.
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Hill scored in Week 7 and now could be looking at a matchup against the Arizona Cardinals in Week 8 if Jared Cook is unable to return. Hill is touchdown-dependent for sure, but the Cardinals have surrendered eight touchdowns in seven games to tight ends.
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DFS Plays
Henry has 197 receiving yards and two touchdowns in two games since returning from his knee injury. He's having the breakout we envisioned; it just got delayed by a few weeks. The Chargers cannot run the ball, so short targets to Henry have replaced that aspect, but he's also being targeted down the field.
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None of the good tight ends will likely be low owned, and Smith is my favorite cheap option if Walker is out.
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Heath's Projections
Non-PPR Rank | PPR Rank | TE | NON-PPR | PPR |
2 | 1 | 10.47 | 16.45 | |
3 | 2 | 10.09 | 16.33 | |
1 | 3 | Hunter Henry | 10.67 | 16.02 |
4 | 4 | 9.88 | 15.53 | |
5 | 5 | 9.29 | 14.28 | |
6 | 6 | Zach Ertz | 8.22 | 13.19 |
7 | 7 | Evan Engram | 7.76 | 12.32 |
8 | 8 | 6.68 | 10.21 | |
12 | 9 | 6.05 | 9.35 | |
9 | 10 | Gerald Everett | 6.18 | 9.26 |
15 | 11 | Cameron Brate | 5.34 | 9.22 |
10 | 12 | TJ Hockenson | 6.08 | 8.97 |
11 | 13 | Eric Ebron | 6.07 | 8.57 |
14 | 14 | 5.37 | 8.52 | |
16 | 15 | 5.28 | 8.43 | |
13 | 16 | 5.40 | 8.18 | |
17 | 17 | 4.98 | 7.46 | |
19 | 18 | 4.49 | 7.38 | |
18 | 19 | 4.84 | 7.15 | |
23 | 20 | 4.24 | 7.11 |
So who should you sit and start in Week 8? And which surprising quarterback could lead you to victory? Visit SportsLine now to get rankings for every single position, and see which shocking QB comes out of nowhere to crack the top 10, all from the model that out-performed experts big time last season.
