Week 5 Tight Ends: Waiver Wire Pickups & Adds

What’s up Rotoballers? Welcome to my Week 5 tight end waiver wire pickups piece.  In this article you will continue to find plenty of Tight End waiver surprises throughout the year so make sure you check back weekly.  This week we saw Travis Kelce & Larry Donnell bust into the fantasy scene and hopefully you beat everyone to the punch because you read last weeks article right?

To help accommodate your needs in various leagues and formats, I’ll also be looking at deeper sleepers (way off the radar) to make this article a little more unique compared to others. All of my waiver wire recommendations will be organized by priority, so those players closer to the top of the article are more valuable to target. The goal is to recommend both short term tight end options (i.e. matchup plays, injury fill-ins), and also longer term tight end considerations (i.e. emerging rookies). With that said lets get to it!

Fantasy Football Tight Ends (TE) – Week 5

Larry Donnell - New York Giants, 45% owned in Fleaflicker  

At this point I don't know why Larry Donnell is available in over half of the leagues out there.  On the season Donnell is a top 5 TE fantasy option by points with 25 catches, 236 yards, & 4 TDs  (avg. 6 catches, 59 yards, 1 TD a game).  Eli Manning has always relied on his tight ends, and last year's distinct absence of a pass catching tight end contributed to Eli's putrid year. As we've seen so far on the season Donnell has become his security blanket on the short routes that Eli has relied on for success the past couple weeks.  If you are looking for a TE1 at a bargain price, open up the FAAB budget for Donnell - he is a no brainer pickup.

Recommendation: Waiver wire pickup in 10+ team leagues (standard, PPR)

Travis Kelce - Kansas City Chiefs, 51% owned in Fleaflicker

Travis Kelce has been another player I've been tooting my horn on for quite some time and in week 4 you saw what I was referring to (9 targets, 8 catches, 93 yards, TD).  Kelce was able to showcase his abilities for the world to see on Monday night. If you happened to miss the game let me spare you the details and say that he's going to be a BEAST!  As we all know the Chiefs offense lacks offensive weapons outside of Jamaal Charles and Kelce will become that second weapon for them. Their offense looked infinitely more potent with Kelce playing.  If you are seeking TE waiver option with a ton of upside, look Kelce's way.  He's not far behind Donnell at all as far as potential value for the rest of the season.

Recommendation: Waiver wire pickup in 10+ team leagues (standard, PPR)

Heath Miller – Pittsburgh Steelers, 43% owned in Fleaflicker

Ben Roethlisberger is reacquainting himself with the reliability of his tight end Heath Miller. On Sunday in week 4, he targeted Miller 11 times, same as #1 wide receiver Antonio Brown.  In 2012 Miller was heavily used in the Steelers offense and ended the year with 71 catches, 816 yards, & 8 TDs, which had him as solid TE1.  In 2013 Miller was injured and not playing at full strength, which led to a down year and many people forgetting about his reliability going into 2014. Miller is having a bounce back season and at his current pace would be staring at 84 catches, 788 yards, and 4 TDs.  These numbers make Miller a nice startable TE in 12+ team leagues and a bye week fill-in or injury replacement in shallower leagues.  If you were an owner of Pitta, Rudolph, or Reed....Miller would be an ideal solution to your TE woes.

Recommendation: Waiver wire pickup in 12+ team leagues (standard, PPR)

Clay Harbor - Jacksonville Jaguars, 0% owned in Fleaflicker

With my last choice this week I'm going to recommend a player that's such a deep sleeper he is 0% owned.  I may be crazy but I feel pretty good about this recommendation.  When the Jacksonville Jaguars lost starting TE Mercedes Lewis to a high ankle sprain (scheduled to return week 11)  the Jaguars needed someone to step up while Lewis was out.  It looks like the Jaguars have found that option in Clay Harbor.  Last week new starting quarterback Blake Bortles showed chemistry with Harbor and frequently targeted him (8 times).  The amount of targets may have been inflated due to the score but the chemistry with Bortles was real.  At this time I'd continue monitoring this situation and see how next week goes, but it's quite possible Harbor could become a nice sneaky PPR pickup.

Recommendation: Continue monitoring 10-14 team PPR leagues

More Higher Owned Tight End Waiver Options

45% owned or more in Fleaflicker

Jordan Reed (WAS), Jordan Cameron (CLE), Owen Daniels (BAL), Dwayne Allen (IND)

Super Deep Tight End Waiver Options

Less than 20% owned in Fleaflicker

Eric Ebron (DET), Garrett Graham (HOU), Austin Seferian-Jenkins, Logan Paulsen (WAS), Chase Ford (MIN)

Recap of Last Week’s Recommendations

I did quite well in week 4 and would have done fantastic if Paul did not get injured.

• Niles Paul: 4 targets, 3 catches, 60 yards (9.0 PPR points) [did not play full game due to concussion]
• Larry Donnell: 8 targets, 7 catches, 54 yards, 3 TDs (30.4 PPR points)
• Travis Kelce: 9 targets, 8 catches, 93 yards, TD (23.3 PPR points)
• Jared Cook: BYE WEEK

I hope these guys help you in your matchup next week and going forward for the season. If anyone has any specific questions or is looking for any assistance, please feel free to comment on the article directly or send me a message to my twitter account at @businesssoxroto. See you all next week RotoBallers!