Week 13 Fantasy Football Defensive Matchup Exploitation: TE

Charles Clay Fantasy Football
Charles Clay Fantasy Football
Nov 17 2013 Miami Gardens FL USA Miami Dolphins tight end Charles Clay 42 breaks away from San Diego Chargers inside linebacker Manti Teo 50 for a touchdown during their game at Sun Life Stadium Miami won 20 16 Steve Mitchell USA TODAY Sports

There’s a big gap between the league’s elite tight ends and the league’s typical tight ends. No matter the matchup, Jimmy Graham, Julius Thomas, Vernon Davis, and Rob Gronkowski are always must-starts. Jordan Reed is right on the fringe and Jason Witten and Greg Olsen are just a step below that. Tony Gonzalez, Antonio Gates, and Jordan Cameron have all seen sparse usage lately and can no longer be considered “elite”. Everyone else is just that. Everyone else. That means we’ll need to find good matchups to find truly startable tight ends.

This week, Jordan Cameron has a good looking matchup against the Jags. He hasn’t done much lately but he was targeted 10 times in his last game and Brandon Weeden should look his way often so this is definitely the week to roll him out. The most favorable matchup belongs to Philly but neither Brent Celek or Zach Ertz factor into their gameplan and Celek has been almost invisible since Nick Foles took over.

Martellus Bennett has a beautiful matchup against the Vikings, Charles Clay looks great against the Jets, and Coby Fleener looks like a lock against the Titans. Favorable matchup or not, we’re certainly not starting Jeff Cumberland, Mychal Rivera, Anthony Fasano, Brandon Myers, or Brandon Pettigrew.

On the unfavorable side, feel free to start Julius Thomas, Vernon Davis, and Jimmy Graham as you normally would. Rob Housler, Jared Cook, Zach Miller, Tony Gonzalez, Andrew Quarless, Garrett Graham, Delanie Walker, and Tim Wright are all tough starts this week.

Let’s take a look at how all of the tight end matchups are shaping up for Week 13.

Browse Matchups by Position: QBRBWRTE

Highly Unfavorable, Unfavorable, Neutral, Slightly Favorable, Favorable

Rank
vs
TE

AVG
TE
FPS
Allowed

Defense

Week 13 Opponents

1

4.22 Chiefs Julius Thomas

2

5.01 Rams Vernon Davis

3

5.65 Eagles Rob Housler

4

5.96 49ers Jared Cook

5

6.17 Saints Zach Miller

6

6.35 Bills Tony Gonzalez

7

6.46 Bengals Antonio Gates, Ladarius Green

8

6.53 Lions Andrew Quarless

9

6.76 Seahawks Jimmy Graham

10

7.23 Steelers Dallas Clark, Dennis Pitta

11

7.23 Patriots Garrett Graham

12

7.29 Colts Delanie Walker

13

7.55 Panthers Tim Wright

14

7.56 Falcons Scott Chandler

15

7.61 Buccaneers Greg Olsen

16

8.08 Raiders Jason Witten

17

8.43 Giants Jordan Reed

18

8.46 Ravens Heath Miller

19

8.54 Browns Marcedes Lewis

20

8.56 Chargers Jermaine Gresham, Tyler Eifert

21

8.56 Texans Rob Gronkowski

22

8.56 Packers Brandon Pettigrew, Joseph Fauria

23

8.58 Bears John Carlson

24

9.44 Redskins Brandon Myers

25

9.47 Titans Coby Fleener

26

9.5 Jets Charles Clay

27

10.02 Broncos Anthony Fasano

28

10.21 Cowboys Mychal Rivera

29

10.75 Dolphins Jeff Cumberland, Kellen Winslow

30

10.88 Vikings Martellus Bennett

31

11.58 Jaguars Jordan Cameron

32

14.66 Cardinals Brent Celek, Zach Ertz

*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.