Week 7 Fantasy Football Defensive Matchup Exploitation: TE

Kyle Rudolph
Kyle Rudolph
Oct 13 2013 Minneapolis MN USA Minnesota Vikings tight end Kyle Rudolph 82 catches a pass as Carolina Panthers safety Quintin Mikell 27 tackles him in the second quarter at Mall of America Field at HHH Metrodome Panthers win 35 10 Bruce Kluckhohn USA TODAY Sports

Figuring out tight end matchups is tough because tight end production fluctuates so greatly from one tight end to the other. A team that’s not giving up a lot of points to tight ends might have not played a single good tight end. On the other hand, if a team is still allowing a ton of fantasy points per game to tight ends at this point in the season, that’s the matchup to exploit.

Clearly, the Eagles are not big tight end stoppers, nor are the Rams, so Jason Witten and Greg Olsen remain must-starts if you have them. Julius Thomas should be just fine against the Rams too.

On the favorable side, I’d avoid Zach Miller because he’s used to little but Jordan Cameron, Tony Gonzalez, Vernon Davis, Coby Fleener, Heath Miller, Kyle Rudolph, Brent Celek, Brandon Myers, and Scott Chandler all have good-looking matchups. Even Tim Wright is a sneaky play against the Falcons after seeing seven catches (on nine targets) for 91 yards against Philly on Sunday.

Let’s take a look at all of the fantasy football tight end matchups for week 7.

Browse Defensive Matchups by Position: QBRBWRTE

 Highly Unfavorable, Unfavorable, Neutral, Slightly Favorable, Favorable

Rank
vs
TE

AVG
TE
FPS
Allowed

Defense

Week 7 Opponents

1

2.77 Chiefs Garrett Graham

2

4.62 Bills Charles Clay

3

5.02 Steelers Dallas Clark, Ed Dickson

4

5.67 Seahawks Rob Housler, Jim Dray

5

5.97 Saints BYE

6

6.02 Lions Jermaine Gresham, Tyler Eifert

7

6.15 Eagles Jason Witten

8

6.22 49ers Delanie Walker

9

6.23 Rams Greg Olsen

10

6.55 Colts Julius Thomas

11

6.58 Panthers Jared Cook

12

7.07 Raiders BYE

13

7.20 Bengals Brandon Pettigrew, Joseph Fauria

14

7.42 Chargers Clay Harbor, Marcedes Lewis

15

7.83 Jets Rob Gronkowski (Q), Michael Hoomanawanui

16

7.9 Patriots Jeff Cumberland

17

8.13 Bears Jordan Reed, Fred Davis

18

8.15 Texans Sean McGrath

19

8.37 Browns Jermichael Finley

20

9.36 Redskins Martellus Bennett

21

9.44 Buccaneers Tony Gonzalez

22

9.72 Broncos Coby Fleener

23

9.77 Titans Vernon Davis

24

9.95 Ravens Heath Miller

25

10.93 Jaguars Tony Gonzalez

26

11 Falcons Tim Wright

27

11.8 Giants Kyle Rudolph

28

12.12 Packers Jordan Cameron

29

12.24 Vikings Brandon Myers

30

12.77 Cowboys Brent Celek

31

14.8 Dolphins Scott Chandler

32

16.55 Cardinals Zach Miller

*Values based on Yahoo standard scoring.

Browse Defensive 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.