The Green Bay Packers have placed both Davante Adams and Allen Lazard on the COVID-19 IR this week and they will not be bringing back Marquez Valdes-Scantling in time for their Thursday night showdown with the Arizona Cardinals. This is a bad situation for Aaron Rodgers. But it may be a great situation for Robert Tonyan.
Tonyan scored four touchdowns in two games without Adams in 2020 and also had a season-high 98 receiving yards in one of those games. While we expected touchdown regression for Tonyan this season, there's little doubt he'll be one of Rodgers' first looks in the red zone on Thursday. Basically everyone outside the top 10 at tight end is touchdown dependent, so you might as well go with the guy playing with Rodgers, who has one of the highest touchdown rates in league history.
The one caveat I must add is that the Cardinals have been exceptional against tight ends this year. They still haven't allow
Fantasy points per game this season. I'm pretty skeptical of defense vs. tight end numbers in the first place, and these are particularly dubious.
Here's everything else you need to know about tight end in Week 8:
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Week 8 TE Preview
Who's Out
The following players are not being projected to play Week 8 at this time. Here's what it means:
Hunter Henry should be a reliable starter
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Numbers to Know
- 14.3% -- Robert Tonyan's career touchdown rate, which dwarfs Rob Gronkowski's career rate.
- 20% -- Noah Fant's target share so far this season. We'll see what Jerry Jeudy does to that.
- 29.3% -- Kyle Pitts' air yards share, comfortably the highest among tight ends this year.
- 19.5 -- Rob Gronkowski's 19.5 Fantasy points per game leads all tight ends. He could return this week.
- 7 -- Jared Cook has seven targets in two of his past three games.
- 12 -- Ricky Seals-Jones is averaging 12 Fantasy points per game in his three starts.
Matchups that matter
Waiver Wire Targets
Bill Belichick will be far more interested in stopping Keenan Allen, Mike Williams, and Austin Ekeler.
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Tonyan is still touchdown or bust, but his floor is slightly higher without Adams and Lazard.
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Arnold has been a mixed bag since arriving in Jacksonville, but I expect five-plus targets coming off a bye against a mediocre Seattle secondary.
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DFS Plays
Those people who said Pitts was more of a wide receiver than a tight end look really smart right now. He's lining up out wide, running past people, and dominating targets and air yards. His price will only go up from here.
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The Patriots have historically been hard on tight ends, I just don't think Belichick is going to make Cook a priority.
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Heath's Projections
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