Week 12 Fantasy Football Defensive Matchup Exploitation: TE

Garrett Graham fantasy football
Garrett Graham fantasy football
Sep 29 2013 Houston TX USA Houston Texans tight end Garrett Graham 88 runs after a catch against Seattle Seahawks safety Kam Chancellor 31 at Reliant Stadium Matthew Emmons USA TODAY Sports

It’s a good week to own a tight end with four of the top tight end defenses on a bye. Unfortunately, a lot of our top fantasy tight ends like Julius Thomas, Jordan Reed (if healthy), Tony Gonzalez, and Antonio Gates all have difficult matchups to deal with.

The Chiefs certainly won’t allow Gates to go off on them but he is averaging 7.6 targets per game over his last five so he remains startable on volume alone. The Niners have yet to give up more than 60 yards to any tight end this season so Reed will be touchdown dependent if he does play. The Saints have been very tough on tight ends as well so a banged up Gonzalez doesn’t make for a very appealing start. I would certainly roll out Julius Thomas against the Pats though, and every week.

On the favorable side, Coby Fleener, Garrett Graham, Vernon Davis, Greg Olsen, Rob Gronkowski, Jason Witten, and Jimmy Graham are all must-starts this week. Andrew Quarless, Dallas Clark, Brandon Myers, Mychal Rivera, and Jared Cook have favorable matchups but have been too unreliable to start. John Carlson could be a sneaky start against Green Bay though.

Let’s take a look at how all of the tight end matchups are shaping up for Week 12.

Browse Matchups by Position: QBRBWRTE

Highly Unfavorable, Unfavorable, Neutral, Slightly Favorable, Favorable

Rank
vs
TE

AVG
TE
FPS
Allowed

Defense

Week 12 Opponents

1

3.54 Chiefs Antonio Gates

2

5.01 Rams Martellus Bennett

3

5.47 49ers Jordan Reed (Q), Logan Paulsen, Fred Davis

4

5.71 Saints Tony Gonzalez

5

5.97 Bills BYE

6

6.09 Eagles BYE

7

6.42 Colts Rob Housler

8

6.51 Lions Tim Wright

9

6.64 Seahawks BYE

10

6.7 Bengals BYE

11

6.79 Patriots Julius Thomas

12

7.02 Raiders Delanie Walker

13

7.04 Panthers Charles Clay

14

7.47 Buccaneers Brandon Pettigrew, Joseph Fauria

15

7.47 Steelers Jordan Cameron

16

7.67 Browns Heath Miller

17

7.84 Chargers Anthony Fasano

18

8.2 Falcons Jimmy Graham

19

8.24 Texans Marcedes Lewis

20

8.87 Ravens Jeff Cumberland, Kellen Winslow

21

8.88 Giants Jason Witten

22

9.01 Bears Jared Cook, Lance Kendricks

23

9.16 Packers John Carlson

24

9.21 Titans Mychal Rivera

25

9.61 Broncos Rob Gronkowski

26

9.66 Dolphins Greg Olsen

27

9.68 Redskins Vernon Davis

28

10.1 Jets Dallas Clark, Ed Dickson

29

10.21 Cowboys Brandon Myers

30

11.24 Vikings Andrew Quarless, Brandon Bostick

31

11.57 Jaguars Garrett Graham

32

14.32 Cardinals Coby Fleener

*Values based on Yahoo standard scoring.

Browse Matchups by Position: QBRBWRTE

author avatar
Igor Derysh
Igor Derysh is Editor-at-Large at XN Sports and has been featured in The Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Boston Herald, Baltimore Sun, Orlando Sun-Sentinel, and FantasyPros. He has previously covered sports for COED Magazine, Fantasy Alarm, and Manwall.com.