I’m back with the Week 8 DraftKings recommendations for Tight Ends and Kickers. But, first a note about DraftKings. 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 7: Baltimore Ravens, Chicago Bears, Houston Texans, Indianapolis Colts, San Diego Chargers and Tennessee Titans so we lose Antonio Gates out of the high rent district and some other usable options in Martellus Bennett, Garrett Graham and Delanie Walker. We also lose the friendliest team to opposing kickers in the Baltimore Ravens.
• Thursday night game: Carolina Panthers at Tampa Bay Buccaneers – so we lose Greg Olsen and the emerging Tim Wright – both capable fill-ins, but not studs by any means.
• A friendly reminder that the San Francisco 49ers face the Jacksonville Jaguars in England this weekend so it’s an even bigger travel game for the Niners. Still, the Jags are a terrible team no matter what continent they play on.
• Shane Vereen is “not too far off” according to Jeff Howe. Snag him now if he is on your waiver wire. He’ll be back and starting in Week 11 if this story is true.
• Michael Vick will likely be the starting QB for the Philadelphia Eagles this week. I don’t think he’ll be at 100%, but Jimmy Graham is out this week…because the Saints are on bye. However, there is some thought that he’d be unable to play this week due to injury. Monitor the situation.
• DeMarco Murray could start this week, but I find that tough to believe. We’ll see if he practices this week, but I’d probably stay away from him unless desperate.

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

The Graham Tier is back from vacation and at $8,000 and coming off an injury, I’d stay away.

The Jeffersons

Rob Gronkowski | Patriots | $7,600 – Gronk is back and Tom Brady looked for him early and often (17 targets last week). I assume we’ll see more of the same and Gronk is likely going to be the highest scoring TE this week against the team (Miami) that gives up the second most points per game to TEs.

Tony Gonzalez | Falcons | $6,300 – The Falcons showed they could beat teams with Harry Douglas at WR. As a result, I think we’ll see a different defensive stance from the Falcons’ opponent. And look – their opponent is the Cardinals the worst team against TEs. Gonzalez is a great option if you can fit him into your salary cap. I assume he’ll be a top 3 scorer this week.

Jordan Cameron | Browns | $5,300 – Short and sweet – no Cameron this week. The QB situation in Cleveland is unsettled and they face the toughest team against TEs in Kansas City.

All in the Family

Jordan Reed | Washington | $4,300 – Reed has come on stronger and stronger as Robert Griffin III has gotten healthier. Washington is looking to deal Fred Davis and Reed is clearly the man at TE for Dan Snyder’s team. Reed has a cherry matchup against the Broncos who have given up 9.6 passes per game to TEs and 82.4 yards according to Football Outsiders. He’s likely to be my choice this week.

Good Times

Tyler Eifert and Jermaine Gresham | Bengals | $3,300 – Both Bengals’ TEs have a great matchup against the Jets, but it’s unclear who will be the beneficiary. I’d stay away from both as they are each too risky.

Rob Housler | Cardinals | $3,000 – Housler has all of the tools of a stud TE, but hasn’t been able to put it together this season. He’s picked up his production a bit the last couple of weeks and gets a friendly matchup with the Falcons who do give up a lot of TDs (fifth most on average) to TEs.

From Way Downtown

Levine Toilolo | Falcons | $3,000 – Toilolo is back on this list because of the fantastic matchup with the Cardinals. The Falcons could choose to throw to their TEs all day long.

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.

Jay Feely | Cardinals | $3,000 – Feely is coming off a big performance last week (13 points) against a stout defense. This week he faces the Falcons who give up 2.5 FGAs per game.

If you have a few extra dollars left after filling out your team, then both Garrett Hartley ($3,800 for the Saints) and Stephen Gostkowski ($4,000 for the Patriots) have dream matchups. I wouldn’t recommend either unless you have extra money left over to spend after putting guys in all other spots in your roster.