Week 13 Tight Ends - Waiver Wire Pickups and Adds

Just because it’s Week 13 in the NFL, it doesn’t mean that it’s unlucky for fantasy football players.

For the first time in several weeks, no NFL teams are on bye! Fantasy football owners should have their full rosters as they had into one of the most crucial weeks of their regular season, if not the most crucial. The problem is that if you need a tight end this week, the pickings are slimmer than they are at the dinner table of a hungry family at the end of Thanksgiving.

Without further ado, here are the best tight ends to pick up heading into Week 13. Good luck RotoBallers!

TE Waiver Wire Options for Week 13

Chris Herndon IV, New York Jets – 29% owned

Herndon is the top tight end pick in many fantasy leagues right now. He has 267 receiving yards and three touchdowns over his past half-dozen outings, plus he just had a season-high seven receptions and eight targets this past Sunday versus the New England Patriots. Even though Josh McCown is at quarterback instead of Sam Darnold, and even though Robby Anderson and Quincy Enunwa are healthy again at wide receiver, Herndon is still producing.

Herndon has a major roadblock he has to run through this week. The Tennessee Titans have not allowed a tight end to score a touchdown against them this season, so Herndon has his work cut out for him. He has not laid any fantasy eggs in recent weeks, though, and he keeps showing above-average speed and keeps getting featured more in New York’s passing attack. Pick up Herndon and at worst he will get you four catches for 40 yards.

C.J. Uzomah, Cincinnati Bengals – 27% owned

I think Uzomah is setting a record for how many mentions he has had in this column this year. Billboard lists Ariana Grande’s name less often than I have Uzomah’s in my weekly articles. There was just no way to leave him out of this week’s piece when he is coming off a game where he was targeted an ungodly and unlikely 13 times by Bengals quarterbacks.

I know Uzomah does not rack up the yards (287) or score the touchdowns (two) fantasy players would like out of their tight ends, but he has to be strongly considered in PPR leagues where he has been aimed at 26 times over the past month. Uzomah is also facing a Denver defense this week that has given up 192 yards to tight ends over its past two games, including 102 to the ancient Chargers combo of Antonio Gates and Virgil Green.

Matt LaCosse, Denver Broncos – 0% owned

Jeff Heuerman had 17 receptions for 151 yards and two touchdowns over his last four contests and was looking like one of the stronger tight ends on waiver wires this week, but sadly his season is over after suffering lung and rib injuries against Pittsburgh. Now LaCosse is Denver's top tight end. I know LaCosse is not another Mark Bavaro or Shannon Sharpe. What he is, however, is someone coming off his best game of 2017 (3-34-1), and his matchup this week is as mouth-watering as a 10-ounce filet mignon served on a bed of lobster tails.

Cincinnati’s 31^st-ranked pass defense has been abysmal all season long and is allowing almost 300 yards per game through the air. How bad have the Bengals been? Joe Flacco threw for 376 yards against them in a game. LaCosse should be able to do some damage against the bungling Bengals. Hopefully quarterback Case Keenum finds him in the red zone and LaCosse takes a pass to the end zone. LaCosse is fine this week as a one-week stopgap for fantasy owners, but the jury is out on whether or not he has any long-term fantasy value.

Other Tight End Options

Michael Roberts, Detroit Lions – 4% owned

Matthew Stafford is running out of pass-catchers to throw to with Golden Tate traded away and Marvin Jones sidelined with a knee injury. The receiving corps is Kenny Golladay and several clouds of dust. Roberts was targeted a season-high six times on Thanksgiving by Stafford and is facing a Rams secondary this upcoming week that has been allowing oceans of yardage in recent games.

Vernon Davis, Washington Redskins – 18% owned

Should we make something of Davis going for 73 yards and a touchdown in Colt McCoy’s first start of the season? It could mean something, or it could mean nothing. All I know is Washington’s weak wideouts make it easier for Davis to do more fantasy-wise, and McCoy has shown that he can deliver the ball to David downfield.

Follow Craig on Twitter @craigrondinone!

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