2015 Fantasy FootballChris GarosiFantasy FootballFantasy Football Salary Cap Analysis

2015 Daily Fantasy Football Strategy: Week 11 Tight Ends

It is on to Week 11 of the NFL and Daily Fantasy Football at DraftKings. I’m back to provide recommendations for Tight Ends for your weekly lineup. This week is the perfect week to take a dip into the Daily Fantasy pool as you can win $1,000,000! Daily Fantasy can help you with lineup decision for your season-long league and give you another team to root on during the weekend.

This is a great week to check out DraftKings and pick up a new way to play fantasy football.

DraftKings Tight End Recommendations

If you’ve never played on DraftKings before, you can get a deposit bonus by signing up. And there are different options to pick from at DraftKings for any skill level.

Finally, a gentle reminder on the scoring for Tight Ends – this is a PPR site so remember that when selecting players. The full for scoring for Tight Ends is at the end of this column.

Tight Ends can also be used in the flex position at DraftKings. However, with the entire world of RBs and WRs at your disposal Rob Gronkowski is probably the only TE you’d consider as a flex option. TEs still make a viable option at the flex spot as long as the pricing continues to be soft.

Let’s take a look at a couple of options at each price point. For those who are new to the column, I’ll generally look at a couple of options in each pricing tier broken out based on the socioeconomic status of 1970s sitcom families. And I’ll always cover Rob Gronkowski.

I’ll mention Football Outsiders a lot over the season – the passes per game and yards per game stats I use are from Football Outsiders. Here is the link to Football Outsiders’ 2013 stats. FO stats for 2014 are here and I like to use the defense versus types of receivers to fill out my rosters. And we now have 2015 stats located here.

Teams on bye: Cleveland Browns, New Orleans Saints, New York Giants, Pittsburgh Steelers

So, we lose Gary Barnidge, Benjamin Watson, Larry Donnell/Will Tye and Heath Miller.

Over/Under

We’ve added a new feature this year highlighting the top totals (over/under) in Vegas for the week.

The top over/under totals for Week 11 (according to Vegas Insider consensus):

Oakland Raiders at Detroit Lions (48.5 points)
Cincinnati Bengals at Arizona Cardinals (48.5 points)
Buffalo Bills at New England Patriots (48.5 points)

And that’s it above 48 points – it’s a shallow week when looking at totals.

The Gronk Tier

Rob Gronkowski | Patriots | $7,700 – Gronk put up another solid outing last week with 25.3 point and we see his salary drop $300. This week he gets a rematch with the Buffalo Bills who he lit up for seven catches, 113 yards and a TD. The Bills say they have a plan to take Gronk out of the game. And I don’t think Tom Brady will throw 59 times like their first matchup. But, this is the first game without Julian Edelman so those targets will need to go somewhere.

The Jeffersons

Greg Olsen | Panthers | $6,200 – Interestingly, Washington has been tough on TEs this year including holding Gronk to four catches on five targets for 47 yards. They’ve only give up one TD to a TE this year and TEs have scored double digit points twice. It’s a tough matchup for Olsen.

Tyler Eifert | Bengals | $5,900 – Eifert hasn’t caught more than five passes since Week 5. His value lies in his heavy usage in the red zone. And the Cardinals have only given up one TD to TEs all year long. That said, Andy Dalton’s going to need someone to throw to with Patrick Peterson likely blanketing A.J. Green. I wouldn’t go overboard with Eifert this week, but he could be a contrarian play.

Jason Witten | Cowboys | $5,100 – Tony Romo is back! And the matchup is pretty good against a Dolphins team that gave up over 200 yards receiving to TEs last week. An excellent GPP play as I imagine he’ll be underowned.

All in the Family

Jimmy Graham | Seahawks | $4,900 – Nah. Far too volatile week to week to spend even $4,900 on him.

Jordan Reed | Washington | $4,900 – Reed will continue to be an important part of Washington’s offense. He’s scored 10 or more points in every game he’s played this season but one. The matchup is OK for Reed and the Panthers have given up three TDs to TEs in the last three weeks. The Panthers defense is pretty tough so we could see a lot of dump offs to backs and TEs.

Gary Barnidge | Browns | – On bye

Antonio Gates | Chargers | $4,800 – Gates isn’t practicing regularly even after the bye. His knee issue has turned into a hip issue and we all know the knee bone is connected to the hip bone. However, if gates suits up, he’s going to get targets as the Chargers really don’t have a lot of options. I imagine many will be afraid of the injuries which means his ownership will be near zero.

Travis Kelce | Chiefs | $4,700 – Week 1’s 30 point explosion is just a fading memory. Kelce’s had a reasonable floor, but he’s priced a bit too high still for his output. Andy Reid’s offense is conservative and with Charcandrick West showing he can carry the load, Kelce is relegated to the back seat. I don’t see a reason to spend the money on Kelce with other options in this price range. If you want to roster him, you’re counting on the Chargers continuing to be friendly to TEs in the red zone (4 TDs in the last three weeks to TEs).

Delanie Walker | Titans | – Played Thursday night

Martellus Bennett | Bears | $4,200 – Bennett was a bit of a disappointment last week and gets another tough matchup against a Broncos defense that’s given up 10 or more DK points to TEs in only two weeks.

Benjamin Watson | Saints | On bye

Charles Clay | Bills | $4,000 – Just too inconsistent to trust at $4,000. I’d rather dip into the lower tiers for the boom or bust TD-dependent options. He caught three passes for 19 yards a TD against the Pats in Week 2 for just under 11 points. That’s probably his ceiling.

Good Times

Julius Thomas | Jaguars | – Played Thursday night.

Jacob Tamme | Falcons | $3,600 – The Colts have given up TDs to TEs in four straight games and this matchup couldn’t look better. My only concern with Tamme is the potential return of Leonard Hankerson. Tamme’s rise in the offense has roughly coincided with Hankerson’s absence. So, watch the injury report, but I think this matchup is too good to pass up.

Eric Ebron | Lions | $3,500 – Speaking of matchups, Ebron has one of the best matchups of the week against Raiders team that has struggled all year long against TEs. They’ve failed to give up a TD to a TE only once in nine games. He opened the season with three straight double-digit performances, but has only one since. And Brandon Pettigrew snagged a TD last week so there is a bit of concern about Pettigrew vulturing targets. But, it’s tough to pass up this matchup.

Crockett Gillmore | Ravens | $3,300 – Nice matchup, but tough to roster with limited upside. I’d rather spend a couple hundred bucks more on Ebron or Tamme.

Richard Rodgers | Packers | $3,100 – Rodgers has a nice matchup, but what do we make of Justin Perillo ($2,700). Much like the Eagles’ combo of Zach Ertz/Brent Celek and the Colts’ combo of Coby Fleener/Dwayne Allen, the introduction of Perillo mutes the value of both players unless you can guess who the main option this week is. I’d be fine with punting to Perillo at $2,700 if you wanted.

Heath Miller | Steelers | – On bye

Sanford and Son

As we strive to give you more and more each week, we’ve added a new tier. The Sanford & Son tier. If you want to go dumpster diving hoping to find that gem, let Sanford & Son be your guide. You hear that Elizabeth? I’m coming to join ya!

Vernon Davis | Broncos | $2,500 – Tough matchup, but he’s gaining snaps. Downside is a new QB who hasn’t worked with VD much at all.

Clive Walford | Raiders | $2,500 – Walford has TDs in three of his last four games. He’s not the main target (yet) at TE for the Raiders as he has to share time with Mychal Rivera. But, he’s clearly an option around the goal line. He faces a Lions team that has given up TDs to TEs in four of the last five games including two TDs to the Packers TE tandem of Richard Rodgers and Justin Perillo.

DraftKings Tight End Scoring

10 Receiving Yards = +1PT (+0.1PT per yard is awarded)
Reception = +1PT
Receiving TD = +6PTs
100+ Yard Receiving Game = +3PTs
Fumble Lost = -1PT
2 Point Conversion (Pass, Run, or Catch) = +2PTs
Offensive Fumble Recovery TD = +6PTs

The full DraftKings scoring system is here.

Previous post

2015 Fantasy Football: Week 11 Buy/Sell

Next post

Daily Fantasy Hockey: DraftKings Value Picks, November 21