Now 11 weeks into the season and Fantasy Football players are still scrambling at the tight end position. To make things worse Jimmy Graham broke his thumb last Thursday but has reportedly opted to play though it. Playing Graham is obviously a risk so let’s see if we can find some Week 12 tight end sleepers.
Week 12 Tight End Sleepers
Cameron Brate, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
It has lined up perfectly for Cameron Brate to have a great Week 12. O.J. Howard has now been placed on injured reserve which will make Brate the Buc’s undisputed TE1 for the rest of season. To boot, Jameis Winston came in for the second half of the game…again, which bodes well for Brate moving forward. Winston threw six touchdowns to Brate last season. When Brate wasn’t catching touchdowns, he was serviceable through volume racking up five or more targets eight times last season.
Winston loves targeting the big-bodied tight end, especially in the end zone. I think that he will find his tight end inside the 20’s frequently in this matchup in an effort to protect the ball for the safer throw underneath.Brate is a great pick up and start for this week and should be viewed as a borderline TE1 for the remainder of the season.
Nick Boyle, Baltimore Ravens
We knew that the Ravens offense was going to look a lot different with Lamar Jackson at quarterback. In terms of Ravens pass catchers, it was a clean slate going into Sunday. It was up to Jackson to determine who he connects with on the field. Nick Boyle was on the field for 53 of 79 offensive plays (67 percent) against the Bengals. Hayden Hurst (44 percent) and Mark Andrews (22 percent) were not used as often as they were in recent weeks with Joe Flacco as the starter.
This is a product of John Harbaugh and the Ravens coaching staff keeping the game as simplistic as possible for the rookie quarterback. They did not want him to force the ball in a jump ball situation to Andrews and Hurst excels in pass blocking. Boyle caught four passes on four targets for 36 yards on Sunday. If you are desperate at the tight end position and Jackson starts, Boyle should have the opportunity to produce against a poor Raiders defense.
All our Week 12 Sleepers: Quarterbacks | Running Backs | Wide Receivers | Tight Ends
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