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Should I start Harold Fannin Jr., Cade Otton, or Zach Ertz for Week 7? Fantasy football start 'em, sit 'em picks and recommendations for the 2025 NFL season.
The fantasy season presses on, and attacking the waiver wire has never been more important. Injuries and bye weeks have ravaged lineups, forcing fantasy managers to get creative to win their matchups.
One place that fantasy managers should constantly evaluate their roster is the tight end position. The volatility at tight end makes it easy to stream week over week.
Three tight ends with streaming upside in Week 7 are Harold Fannin Jr., Cade Otton, and Zach Ertz. Are any worth starting in Week 7? Read more below to find out.
Be sure to check all of our fantasy football rankings for 2025:- 2025 fantasy football rankings
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Should I Start Harold Fannin Jr. for Fantasy Football?
Fannin has had a solid fantasy season for a rookie tight end. Fannin is currently the TE16 in PPR points per game (10.0), but has two top-10 weeks. The rookie has played at least a 63.0% snap share in every game this season, but has four games with a 72% or higher mark.
Fannin is averaging 6.3 targets per game, but has had arguably his most productive stretch of the season in the two games since Dillon Gabriel took over the starting job. The rookie has caught 11 of 14 targets for 94 yards and a touchdown during that time.
HAROLD FOR SIX!!!!
Harold Fannin Jr. crosses the Pond to score his first career NFL touchdown!!!!
📺 NFL Network #FalconsInTheNFL pic.twitter.com/Rlw22ogTBt
— BGSU Football (@BG_Football) October 5, 2025
Fannin is set to see a significant workload increase in Week 7, with David Njoku already ruled out due to a knee injury. He is poised to see a significant increase in targets from the tight end position without his primary competition.
Fannin should be considered a top-10 tight end in Week 7 and has legitimate TE1 overall potential against the Miami Dolphins. Miami has allowed the fourth most fantasy points per game to tight ends this season (9.6).
Should I Start Cade Otton for Fantasy Football?
When the week started, it looked like Cade Otton was set to have a monster week. The Buccaneers entered Week 6 without Mike Evans (hamstring) and Chris Godwin (fibula). During that game, rookie sensation Emeka Egbuka suffered his own hamstring strain and was set to miss multiple weeks.
Unfortunately for Otton, Evans was able to return to practice this week and is set to return to the starting lineup. That adds one legitimate target earner to the passing attack and puts Otton into a mix with players who can divide targets (Sterling Shepard and Tez Johnson).
Still, there is some appeal to Otton in a passing attack that is thinner than usual. He has scored at least 10.0 fantasy points in back-to-back weeks and still has a realistic chance to finish second on the team in targets against the Detroit Lions.
Otton should be considered a top-15 option at tight end, but his path to top-10 upside became far more complicated with Evans being set to return to the field.
Should I Start Zach Ertz for Fantasy Football?
Zach Ertz has struggled to replicate his top 10 tight end season from 2024 in 2025. The veteran started the season strong with back-to-back games of 11.6 and 18.4 PPR points per game, but then had three straight weeks with sub-7.0 scores, including a 0.0 mark in Week 5.
Ertz bounced back in a big way against the Chicago Bears in Week 6, finishing as the TE5 with 16.3 points.
Daniels. Ertz. SIX.
CHIvsWAS on ABC
Stream on @NFLPlus and ESPN App pic.twitter.com/9sswHwAnbC— NFL (@NFL) October 14, 2025
Ertz has at least four targets in four of six games this season. He’s found the end zone in three games. That is enough to make him a boom-or-bust tight end each week.
The veteran tight end is more on the “boom” side of things in Week 7 with the Commanders set to take on the Dallas Cowboys. The matchup isn’t ideal, but the offensive environment heading into the game could be. The Commanders have already announced that Terry McLaurin will miss the game due to his quad injury, while Deebo Samuel Sr. missed two practices this week with a lingering heel injury.
Samuel is expected to play (but he’s a game-time decision), but if he is absent, Ertz would be set to dominate targets. The Cowboys are also one of the most explosive offenses in the NFL (with a terrible defense), so the matchup could yield shootout conditions.
It is probably aggressive to lock Ertz in as a top-10 tight end this week, but there is certainly a path for him to get there.
Who Should I Start Tool
Not sure who to start? Check out the Who Should I Start tool:
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Who Should I Start? Who Should I Sit? Some common Week 7 fantasy football lineup decisions are regarding players like Harold Fannin Jr., Cade Otton, Zach Ertz. But not to worry, we are here to help make these decisions and build winning lineups in Week 7. Set your optimal fantasy football lineups for Week 7 of the 2025 NFL season. Our free Who Should I Start? tool will help make your fantasy football lineup decisions. Compare up to four NFL players, and we tell you who to start... all free! Get your winning lineups set, and make the right decisions.
Using The Tool. This is a simple tool, but very powerful. The first step is to enter the player names that you want to compare. In the first box, search for the first player's name. In the second box, search for the second player's name. Compare up to four NFL players at once, and then click the Who To Start? button to see who the recommended starts are based on weekly fantasy football matchups.
Improvements For Who Should I Start? You may have noticed that our Who Should I Start? tool has gotten an overhaul. We've added lots of great features for you to give you as much information as possible to win your fantasy football matchups each week. You'll see NFL player tiles with headshots and bye weeks, enhanced search results with data to compare, and a slick new interface. We hope you enjoy!
How It Works. Each week, our RotoBaller staff puts together their weekly fantasy football rankings and projections based on their research. That information is the core data that is powering the decision-making in this tool. When you search for player names, you will only see those players who are ranked. If someone is out for the week, they will not appear in the search results.
Scoring Formats. Fantasy football managers play in various types of leagues, and this tool allows you to choose whether it's PPR scoring, Half-PPR scoring, or Standard (Non-PPR) scoring. The second thing you want to do is to select the scoring format. There are three small radio buttons (small circles), so click on the scoring format you prefer. The results may vary based on the scoring format you select.
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