Week 3 Tight End Waiver Wire Pickups and Adds

September 18, 2018

Tight ends to add or target off the waiver wire for Week 2 of the 2018 fantasy football season. Craig Rondinone lists the TE pickups you should be looking to add to your roster.

Two weeks down, and 15 weeks to go for fantasy football owners to find their starting tight end. The Greg Olsen and Delanie Walker owners who were unable to fill their tight end voids last week have another opportunity to this week.

If you are in the market for a new tight end for your fantasy team, here is a look at a handful of waiver wire options that could help you entering the third week of the season.

Let's get to it.

TE Waiver Wire Options for Week 3

Jesse James, PIT - 10% owned

The rumors of Vance McDonald being the best fantasy tight end in Pittsburgh have been squashed after James busted out for 138 yards and a touchdown this past weekend against Kansas City’s charred secondary. James ran rampant and had the best game of his career, showing superb hands and big-play ability.

So was James a one-week wonder or can he keep up the momentum throughout the season? Having Antonio Brown and Juju Smith-Schuster flanking him will make it hard for James to have consistent target totals from week-to-week, but that talented twosome will also keep defensive backs from keying on James. James could finish the season with 800 yards and six scores by season’s end so he is definitely worth a waiver pick this week.

Austin Seferian-Jenkins, JAX - 32% owned

Jacksonville has found a younger version of Marcedes Lewis in Seferian-Jenkins, and not just because neither is good at averaging 10 yards per catch. A.S.J. hauled in a Blake Bortles touchdown pass in Week 2 and has back-to-back three-catch games to his credit to start the season. While he will not be challenging Rob Gronkowski or Travis Kelce for the top tight end spot in fantasy football anytime soon, Seferian-Jenkins has to be looked at by fantasy players in need of a TE due to his red-zone capabilities.

Seferian-Jenkins will be facing a Tennessee Titans defense that has allowed quarterbacks to throw for 540 yards and four touchdowns against it in the first two weeks of the season. Sounds like Seferian-Jenkins could be primed for 40 yards and a touchdown grab, especially now that Bortles is confidently throwing darts like he did a couple years ago. As long as you know Seferian-Jenkins is not going to rack up yards in large chunks like Tyreek Hill, sign him up and hope for a few receptions and a two-yard TD.

Jake Butt, DEN - 3% owned

Butt looks fully recovered from the serious knee injury that ruined his rookie campaign in 2017. He has a modest six receptions for 77 yards over Denver’s opening pair of contests, but what is encouraging is that quarterback Case Keenum is noticing Butt over the middle more and more. The future of Denver’s unsettled offense is as murky as a polluted fish pond. Keenum has been inconsistent, Demaryius Thomas is getting like Brandon Marshall with the dropped passes, and the running back rotation is still undefined even though Phillip Lindsay has been the best back in the early going. Butt will never win any running races, but he could become a dependable chain mover ala Indianapolis’ Jack Doyle if he keeps improving, develops more chemistry with Keenum as the year wears on and becomes a larger part of Denver’s work-in-progress offense.

Other Options

Ian Thomas, CAR - 7% owned

Greg Olsen’s replacement did not put any stamp on the fantasy map in his first game as a semi-starter. He only caught two passes for 10 yards, but what he will be remembered for most was dropping a sure touchdown toss. But with home games coming up against suspect secondaries (Cincinnati and New York Giants) he can be viewed as a possible pickup in deep leagues.

 Chris Herndon, NYJ - 0% owned

The fourth-round rookie is New York’s best pass-catching tight end, which is like saying someone is Oakland’s best pass rusher. Still, Herndon has wide-receiver skills as a tight end and seems to be getting open and targeted by Sam Darnold downfield, so taking a flyer on him is not the worst idea.

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