Top Tight End Waiver Wire Pickups for Week 15: Austin Hooper, Tyler Conklin, Gerald Everett, Cole Kmet

It is time to wave bye-bye to the byes! Fantasy football managers no longer have to worry about their starters missing games due to their NFL teams being on their bye weeks. That is a huge relief for fantasy managers who already have injuries, COVID, and mysterious benchings (James Robinson) that cost their players playing time.

Hopefully you are in no need of help at the tight end position this week in your fantasy league, because finding a decent TE on the fantasy football waiver wire is about as hard as finding a Liberal host on the Fox News Channel.

Here are the best available tight end options on fantasy waiver wires heading into Week 15!

Top Tight Ends to Pickup - Week 15 Waiver Wire

Austin Hooper, Cleveland Browns — 41% rostered

Hooper was able to monopolize all the tight end targets in Cleveland with David Njoku and Harrison Bryant out of action against Baltimore this past Sunday. He delivered his best game of 2021 with a 5-30-1 line and would be the No. 1 TE option in fantasy leagues this week, provided Njoku and Bryant each miss the Browns home game against Las Vegas on Saturday. If Cleveland’s No. 2 and/or No. 3 TE return to the field this weekend, then Hooper’s fantasy value plummets and crashes back down to earth.

Tyler Conklin, Minnesota Vikings — 48% rostered

It was WR K.J. Osborn who benefitted more from Adam Thielen’s injury than Conklin last Thursday night as the target split was 9-2 between the two. After being targeted at least four times in eight of his first nine games this year, Conklin has been targeted fewer than four times in three of his last four outings. I do not believe that trend will continue this week, especially if Thielen remains sidelined. Conklin will find targets and openings against a Chicago defense that is light on Monsters of the Midway and just allowed nine-toed Aaron Rodgers to throw four touchdown passes against them.

Gerald Everett, Seattle Seahawks — 31% rostered

Everett went a game without turning a red-zone opportunity into a turnover and should be applauded. He found the end zone against the hapless Houston Texans this past Sunday and continues to be one of Russell Wilson’s top targets once the ball is inside the 10-yard-line. Now Everett has a revenge game against an L.A. Rams team that never used him correctly when he was a player there and then allowed him to walk via free agency. Do not be surprised if he reaches the end zone once again.

Others Tight Ends to Consider Adding

Evan Engram, New York Giants — 33% rostered

Engram has been near the top of my tight end list for six weeks running. It shows how weak the waiver wire talent at the position is in fantasy football and also how little faith fantasy footballers have in him that they are willing to stick with the TEs on their squads. Engram is coming off his worst game of the season (1-8-0) and is stuck with arguably the worst quarterback crew in the NFL, so do not expect his add rate to increase anytime soon, although he faces a Dallas defense that his been at the bottom of the pass defense rankings all season long.

Cole Kmet, Chicago Bears — 27% rostered

Chicago’s present and future top tight end keeps mixing in clunkers with his good games, so he is difficult to have in a fantasy lineup on a weekly basis. Blame some of that on Chicago’s inept offense and quarterback carousel. Kmet has more value in dynasty leagues than standard leagues right now, although he has mouthwatering matchup next Monday night against a Minnesota secondary that is probably the worst one Mike Zimmer has ever coached.

Nick Vannett, New Orleans Saints — 0% rostered

Vannett was New Orleans’ leading pass catcher versus the New York Jets on Sunday as he continues to act like he wants to block less and become more like Rob Gronkowski. He now has back-to-back 40-yard games for the first time in his career and could make it three in a row against Tampa Bay’s below-average pass defense on Sunday night.

C.J. Uzomah, Cincinnati Bengals — 14% rostered

Uzomah finally emerged from fantasy football Siberia to post his best game in six weeks. Granted, he failed to score and seems far, far removed from the two two-TD he posted early in the season, but he has better overall numbers than most available tight ends on fantasy waiver wires at the moment. Uzomah has a difficult matchup at Denver this weekend, so that puts him behind others on this list.

Do Not Forget About…

Foster Moreau, Las Vegas Raiders — 21% rostered

Darrin Waller’s understudy has not taken advantage of his injury the past two weeks, catching four passes for 47 yards while Hunter Renfrow corners the market on Derek Carr’s passes. If Waller stays sidelined and Moreau gets another starting nod this week at Cleveland, however, you cannot discount him as a low-priced play considering he has 10 touchdowns in 42 career contests.

Brevin Jordan, Houston Texans — 0% rostered

Someone other than Brandin Cooks has to catch passes in Houston, so it might as well be Jordan. He has two touchdowns over his last three games and is better off with Davis Mills at QB than Tyrod Taylor. Another thing going for Jordan this week is that he faces Jacksonville, whose defense is always beneficial for a player’s fantasy value.

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