It is on to Week 9 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.

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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.

We have six teams on bye this week.

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: Arizona Cardinals, Baltimore Ravens, Detroit Lions, Houston Texans, Kansas City Chiefs, Seattle Seahawks

So, we lose Crockett Gillmore, Eric Ebron, Travis Kelce and Jimmy Graham

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 9 (according to Vegas Insider consensus):

Washington at New England Patriots (52 points)
New York Giants at Tampa Bay Buccaneers (49 points)
Chicago Bears at San Diego Chargers (49 points) – Monday night
Oakland Raiders at Pittsburgh Steelers (48 points)
Tennessee Titans at New Orleans Saints (48 points)

The Gronk Tier

Rob Gronkowski | Patriots | $8,000 – Gronk gets Washington in a game that could easily match the 52-7 game from 2007. What does that mean for Gronk? Well, after “struggling” for a couple of weeks, Gronk is back to putting up 25+ points. The matchup looks tough on paper, but the best TE Washington has faced this year is probably Jordan Cameron. Gronk if you want to – there will be points scored.

The Jeffersons

Greg Olsen | Panthers | $6,500 – Or perhaps you want Gronk-lite. Olsen’s matchup is much better on paper. Back in Week 6 the Pack gave up 20 targets (!) to the Chargers’ TEs. I don’t think Olsen will see that type of targeting, but he’s the main mouth to feed on that offense. Few will be on him as they will just try to pay up for Gronk, but I think Olsen has a shot to equal Gronk’s per dollar output this weekend.

Jason Witten | Cowboys | $5,200 – Matt Cassel is still the QB. There’s just no reason to get excited for Witten. He put up 12.6 points in Week 2 against these same Eagles. Pass.

All in the Family

Martellus Bennett | Bears | $4,900 – The Chargers have given up five TDs to TEs in eight games so there is some TD upside. The problem is that may be all there is for Bennett this week. Alshon Jeffrey is back and in top notch form. And it sounds like the Bears may try to get Jeremy Langford going early. At this price, I’d like a bit more certainty.

Antonio Gates | Chargers | $4,700 – Keenan Allen is done for the year and there are 10+ targets just looking for a home. Gates will likely be a part of that bounty. Now, the matchup is difficult against the Bears who have held just about everyone except Jimmy Graham in check. The opportunities will be there, but the injury and matchup risks make Gates a GPP option only.

Jordan Reed | Washington | $4,500 – The Pats did give up eight catches (on 11 targets) to Heath Miller in Week 1. But, since then, they’ve been pretty stingy. That said, Reed is the focal point of the passing game and there will likely be a lot of passing for Kirk Cousins in this game. As long as he’s in the lineup, Reed is a solid option in cash games every week.

Delanie Walker | Titans | $4,200 – Walker has averaged seven catchers per game over his last three games. And he gets Marcus Mariota back. And the Titans’ WR corps isn’t fully healthy. He’ll continue to be a focal point of the offense and makes a nice play before getting to the low cost alternatives.

Charles Clay | Bills | $4,200 – Clay gets Tyrod Taylor back this week which is good for just about everyone. His matchup doesn’t look to be great, but the Dolphins have averaged 9.25 targets to TEs when playing an NFL-caliber TE (Jordan Reed, Clay, Delanie Walker and Gronk). Clay had 5 catches for 82 yards and a TD in Week 3 and that’s probably his ceiling this week.

Julius Thomas | Jaguars | $4,200 – Thomas is healthy, but his matchup is not. I’m not messing with the Jets at home.

Benjamin Watson | Saints | $4,000 – In two of the last three weeks, Watson has had at least nine catches, 125 yards and a TD. I’m not sure where this came from, but the Saints offense is clicking on all cylinders and Watson seems to be the beneficiary of Jimmy Graham moving on. At this point, the matchup doesn’t matter to me with respect to Watson. Start him in GPPs and cash games this week.

Good Times

Jordan Cameron | Dolphins | $3,300 – Cameron was added to the injury report on Thursday and that’s not a good sign. I’ll stay away.

Ladarius Green | Chargers | $3,300 – Was in a walking boot at practice on Thursday. He’s unlikely to play.

Larry Donnell | Giants | $3,000 – Donnell is out for the week with a neck injury.

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 | $2,800 – VD was dealt to the Broncos this week and as a result will not accrue any points in DraftKings this week.

Austin Seferian-Jenkins | Buccaneers | $2,800 – Will he or won’t he? That’s the question. ASJ said this week he wants to be 100% before he hits the field. He’s practicing again on a limited basis. If he’s active he’s an excellent option this week against a Giants defense that’s given up 70 or more yards to TEs five times this season.

Heath Miller | Steelers | $2,700 – So, Miller looks like he’s back with Big Ben under center. He picked up 10 catches for 105 yards and he gets the Raiders who are awful against the TE. Start Miller with confidence in cash games.

Clive Walford | Raiders | $2,600 – Who? Well, this is the TE of the future in Oakland. The question becomes is the future now? His snap percentage has been slowly climbing week after week and the coaching staff keeps talking him up. And his matchup is quite nice against a Steelers defense that is the third worst against TEs. He’s a GPP option only, but has the skills and matchup to put up a few catches and a TD.

Will Tye | Giants | $2,500 – Looks like he’s going to get the start for Larry Donnell and it’s a nice soft landing spot for him. The Bucs have given up 21 catches on 25 targets over the last two weeks to TEs. In a week where the middle class isn’t great, Tye makes an excellent punt play if you don’t want to pay up.

Vance MacDonald | 49ers | $2,500 – Probably starts this week with Vernon Davis gone and Garrett Celek injured.

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.