Week 11 Tight Ends - Waiver Wire Pickups and Adds

A half-dozen NFL teams will be off this week, just when fantasy football owners need them most.

New England’s Rob Gronkowski is one of the six starting tight ends not suiting during Week 11 due to the bye, but he is not even the biggest loss at the position since he has missed the last couple games due to injury anyway. The biggest void fantasy players will have to fill in their lineups will be left behind by San Francisco’s George Kittle, who tops Gronk in every major fantasy category this season.

Without further ado, here are the best tight ends to pick up heading into Week 11. Good luck RotoBallers!

TE Waiver Wire Options for Week 11

Jonnu Smith, Tennessee Titans – 9% owned

Marcus Mariota and the Titans offense are not missing Delanie Walker as much as they were earlier in the season. Smith had 77 receiving yards over Tennessee’s first seven games of the season and was a fantasy liability. The second-year man has 78 yards and touchdowns in back-to-back weeks over this last two games, however, and is shaping up to be a dark horse fantasy threat emerging from the pack of usual suspects on the waiver wire at the tight end position.

Smith’s schedule from now until season’s end is not loaded with shutdown corners and stout safeties. Only one of Smith’s remaining seven opponents have a pass defense ranked in the top 10 (Jacksonville). Mariota is finally fully healthy and throwing the ball better than he has all season, and Smith seems the most comfortable he has been all year as the Titans’ top tight end. Do not bank on Walker-like numbers from Smith, but he could be the No. 1 TE on many leagues’ waiver wires at the moment in my mind.

C.J. Uzomah, Cincinnati Bengals – 30% owned

A.J. Green is going to miss at least another game or three due to his foot injury, and Cincinnati’s tight end Tylers (Eifert and Kroft) are out with their own injuries. That leaves Uzomah as one of the few pass catchers quarterback Andy Dalton can rely on other than breakout receiver Tyler Boyd.

Uzomah has to find open areas against division rival Baltimore’s defense, a unit that is ranked second against the pass but has allowed touchdowns to tight ends in two of its past three games. Uzomah’s schedule gets more favorable after the Ravens as four of the following five games are against pass defenses ranked in the lower half of the league. Pick him up as a low-cost, low-risk option who can grind out 35-50 yards every week with the possibility of a touchdown every other week.

Ricky Seals-Jones, Arizona Cardinals – 28% owned

Seals-Jones is so frustrating for fantasy owners. The kid has wide-receiver skills, but unfortunately his quarterbacks this season have not had the necessary quarterbacking skills to deliver the ball to him on a consistent basis. This is why Seals-Jones only has 267 receiving yards and one touchdown instead of a whole lot more.

Seals-Jones will be facing Oakland and the Los Angeles Chargers the next two weeks, a pair of squads with below-average pass defenses. Coming off a game where Seals-Jones had a season-high nine targets and it appeared his chemistry with rookie quarterback Josh Rosen is the best it has been, taking a chance on Arizona’s tall tight end for the final few weeks does not look like a bad idea on paper.

Other Tight End Options

Jordan Thomas, Houston Texans – 9% owned

Thomas is appearing to be uncoverable in the red zone and the end zone. He hauled in three touchdowns during the two-game span before his bye week and should be a top target of Deshaun Watson’s when the Texans get inside the 10-yard-line from here on out. Just do not expect much in the reception and yards departments because of Thomas’ size and lack of speed, not to mention DeAndre Hopkins’ penchant for taking all of the Texans targets.

Chris Herndon IV, New York Jets – 30% owned

I have been banging the drum for Herndon for several weeks now, yet he is still available in 70 percent of leagues. He has caught touchdown tosses in three of his last five games and has averaged 42 per contest over that span. Herndon’s only problem this week is that his Jets are on bye (thankfully for those who enjoy watching well-played football), so if you are picking him up it is because you need him down the stretch and not for this upcoming weekend.

Follow Craig on Twitter @craigrondinone!

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