The key to being a successful fantasy football manager is possessing the ability to identify weekly player mismatches and using that knowledge to set your lineups.
Given that it is just Week 2, we are still in the “start your studs” mode, as players like Ja’Marr Chase and A.J. Brown should automatically be in your lineups regardless of opponent.
But when you start to look deeper into your roster and begin making those weekly decisions, understanding which defensive matchups are exploitable is paramount, and the tight end position is, once again, a great place to start.
For our Week 2 matchups, we should be viewing it in the same way.
Rather than fawn all over Harold Fannin Jr. and hope he sees a strong target share against the Ravens, look at the fact that, against the Bengals, the Browns successfully targeted their tight ends 15 times for 10 catches and 100 yards.
The Bengals ranked last in covering the tight end last season and did nothing in the offseason to boost their coverage.
Jacksonville’s Brenton Strange is looking like a fantastic streamer this week.
If you lost George Kittle, then get Jake Tonges into your lineup.
Not only did the Saints get roasted by Trey McBride last week, they were second-worst against the tight end last season and did nothing to fix their secondary.
Kittle and Tonges were featured targets and both found the end zone against Seattle last week.
Speaking of Seattle, they face Pittsburgh, and we all know how much Arthur Smith loves his tight ends. Jonnu Smith saw six targets against the Jets, including a 3-yard touchdown.
Even Kyle Pitts — facing a Minnesota defense that struggled against the position at times last season and could be without safety Harrison Smith — is someone to watch.
Looking further ahead, after Tucker Kraft’s six-catch, 124-yard, one-touchdown performance Thursday, starting tight ends against the Commanders should immediately be on your radar.
Their linebackers were terrible in coverage and they got almost no help from safeties.
Not only did Kraft find all the open holes in the defense to lead his team in targets, but we also watched fellow tight end Luke Musgrave corral two targets of his own.
The Giants failed to capitalize on this in Week 1, but their tight ends did see four targets, so at least they were looking in that direction.
If this is a hole in the Commanders defense, we’ll watch Brock Bowers tear them up next week and from there, we can start streaming tight ends against Washington in the upcoming weeks.
Betting on the NFL?
Keep a watchful eye.
There are very few game breakers at the tight end position, but you can always grab a huge edge over your opponent if you can hit the right one.
We are still sorting through the data, but there are numbers to help.
Finding teams who struggled last week, or last year and also failed to improve themselves over the offseason, is a fantastic place to start.
Discover that weakness and streaming becomes a breeze.
Howard Bender is the head of content at FantasyAlarm.com. Follow him on X @rotobuzzguy and catch him on the award-winning “Fantasy Alarm Radio Show” on the SiriusXM fantasy sports channel weekdays from 6-8 p.m. Go to FantasyAlarm.com for all your fantasy football news and advice.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
