I’m back with the Week 10 DraftKings recommendations for Tight Ends and Kickers. First, a note about a great DraftKings offer. New depositors will get a free ticket into a Millionaire Grand Final qualifier.  So you can get a free game with any deposit you make.  What are you waiting for?

News and Notes

• Teams on bye for Week 10: Cleveland Browns, Kansas City Chiefs, New England Patriots, New York Jets so we lose Jordan Cameron and Rob Gronkowski for this week.
• Thursday night game: Washington at Minnesota Vikings – if you don’t play the Thursday night game, Jordan Reed is off limits to you. The Vikes’ starting TE Kyle Rudolph is out for four to six weeks with a broken foot. John Carlson steps in as the number one TE. If you play the Thursday games, both Reed and Carlson have top notch matchups.
• Aaron Rodgers is out for this week and speculation says at least three weeks after a fracture was discovered in his collarbone after a hit early in Monday’s game against the Bears. The Packers will roll with Seneca Wallace at QB which is a huge downgrade and makes the Packers a middle of the road team at best.
• Michael Crabtree is back on the practice field for the 49ers, but on an offense that is last in passing yards per game, he doesn’t excite me for fantasy purposes.
• Denard Robinson has moved up to number two on the depth chart at RB in Jacksonville. It’s an interesting development as I could see the Jags giving him some work to see if Robinson could take over for Maurice Jones-Drew next year.
• On the IDP side, we should see both Aldon Smith and DeMarcus Ware back and ready to make in impact for their respective teams. The 49ers seem to be getting healthier by the week and the Cowboys could certainly use the pressure that Ware provides each and every play.

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.

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Finally, a gentle reminder on the scoring for Tight Ends – this is a PPR site so remember that when selecting players.

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

The full DraftKings scoring system is here.

Tight Ends can also be used in the flex position at DraftKings. However, with the entire world of RBs and WRs at your disposal, it would be unlikely you’d have to head to the TEs to pick up a flex play. Jimmy Graham is always in play as a flex option.

Let’s take a look at a couple of options at each price point. I’ll mention Football Outsiders a lot – the passes per game and yards per game stats I use are from Football Outsiders. Here is the link to Football Outsiders’ 2012 stats. FO has updated their stats for 2013 and you can find them here.

The Graham Tier

Jimmy Graham is injured. He’s averaging 24.8 points per game at DraftKings. Graham played almost 77% of snaps last week after playing sparingly in the prior week.  At $8,100 he’s in play this week as his matchup with Dallas is so choice. Indeed, he’s in play every week unless he’s deemed out.

The Jeffersons

Antonio Gates | Chargers | $5,800 – Gates’ great matchup last week didn’t actualize and he limped home with less than 10 points last week. I’m back on the bicycle this week as he gets another solid matchup against a Denver defense that gives up 13.2 points per game to TEs – fifth worst in DraftKings.

Tim Wright | Buccaneers | $5,100 – I may be buying into the hype here, but Wright has been solid with Mike Glennon at the helm. He’s got back to back 15.8 point performances in the last two weeks. And three of out of his last four games have been above 15 points. He’s got TDs in back to back games and has a great shot at another as the Dolphins give up almost a TD per game to TEs. Wright has moved into more of the WR2 role on the Bucs as they’ve lost Mike Williams for the season.

All in the Family

There is nothing really in this tier to get excited about. This week I’d go with one of the two Grahams – either the one above or below depending on your roster makeup and type of game.

Good Times

Garrett Graham | Texans | $4,000 – Case Keenum looks like an NFL quarterback. The Texans may not have any healthy running backs left. Oh, and they get to face the Arizona Cardinals – the worst team against TEs in the NFL. They average a TD per game to TEs. They give up 4.5 PPG more than the next “best” defense.  I’m leaning toward Graham in my deeper leagues this week.

Delanie Walker | Titans | $3,500 – Walker hasn’t been great this season, but he hasn’t had Jacke Locker at QB for much of the season. Walker is a utility knife on offense and has a good matchup against the Jacksonville Jaguars as they give up almost a TD per game to TEs. The concern is if the Titans get up quickly will the Titans rely on the running game and eschew throwing the ball?

From Way Downtown

Zach Miller | Seahawks | $3,300 – I’m spending a few hundred dollars more than I usually do on my deep cut, but Miller could be worth it. This is purely a TD play as Atlanta is stingy with TEs except at the goal line where they give up the fourth most TDs to TEs.

DraftKings Kicker Recommendations

Your weekly update on this guy is that he’s still not on a roster. Sadly.

A reminder of the DraftKings scoring is below.

There are distance-based bonuses for kickers and no penalties for misses so you can take on risk without penalty.

Extra Point = +1PT
Field Goal 0-39 Yards = +3 PTs
Field Goal 40-49 Yards = +4PTs
Field Goal 50+ Yards = +5PTs

We have the same spread as last week as the most expensive kickers are at $4,000 and the bottom sits at $3,000. A few hundred dollars may not sound like a lot, but every bit counts when assembling your roster. Again, I can’t suggest paying too much for a kicker so we’ll look at the options further down the line.

Mike Nugent | Bengals | $3,000 – My suggestion last week to take Billy Cundiff didn’t pan out, but I’m back again to pick on the Ravens. Nugent gets the kicker-friendly Ravens this week and has a better offense behind him so I expect a double digit performance from him this week.

Caleb Sturgis and Rian Lindell (both at $3,000) are a couple of other good low dollar options with good matchups. If you have the money, Mason Crosby ($4,000) is the play this week. His matchup is great the offense may struggle to find the end zone with Seneca Wallace at QB.