Start ‘Em Sit ‘Em Tight Ends – Fantasy Football (Week 9)

Welcome to another edition of our weekly fantasy football Start ‘Em Sit ‘Em. In this series, we’re here to help you set your lineups and put yourself in a position to win your fantasy football matchups each week. With seven weeks in the books, it’s time to take a look at wide receivers for Week 9 of the 2023 NFL and fantasy football season.

These players will be those “less-obvious” players that you’re on the fence about starting as your WR3 or Flex type of options. Nobody needs to tell you to start Justin Jefferson or Christian McCaffrey.

Week 9 bye weeks: 49ers, Broncos, Lions, Jaguars

Stay tuned for updates throughout the week.

Start ‘Em

Taysom Hill TE – New Orleans Saints vs. Chicago Bears

For three consecutive weeks, Taysom Hill has been a serviceable-to-great “tight end” for fantasy football. He’s averaged 65.3 yards from scrimmage in that span and scored three times in the last two games. Typically, he is very boom-or-bust for fantasy football purposes. However, I feel comfortable riding the hot hand again in Week 9.

Furthermore, the unique thing about Hill is that his skillset doesn’t apply to the typical tight end. He runs the ball, he catches the ball and he even throws it sometimes. With that, we’ll focus on his snap counts. Over the last three games, he’s been in for 43.3 offensive snaps per game as opposed to 23.8 offensive snaps in his first five games.

With four teams on bye and his increased usage in offense, Hill is a solid tight end streaming option this week. Plus, you never know when he’s going to have one of his trademark explosive performances.

Dalton Kincaid TE – Buffalo Bills @ Cincinnati Bengals

Two weeks ago Dalton Kincaid had a minor coming-out party against the Patriots hauling in 8 receptions for 75 yards. Then he followed up that solid performance with another one against the Buccaneers catching five passes for 65 yards and his first touchdown. Really, he nearly had two touchdowns in that game.

More importantly, it feels like Josh Allen is just starting to trust Kincaid as a pass catcher, and you can’t blame him. Kincaid currently has the second-best catch rate in the league at 88.2%, only behind Alvin Kamara. Additionally, it doesn’t hurt that Dawson Knox was put in IR and most of his targets are now being directed towards Kincaid. Enter the Bengals who are giving up the second most points to tight ends in the league at nearly 16 per game. It’s time to insert Kincaid into your fantasy lineups and start ’em.

Sit ‘Em

Cole Kmet TE – Chicago Bears @ New Orleans Saints

Cole Kmet gave fantasy football managers a great performance this past week. He finished with 10 catches and 79 yards in Tyson Bagent’s second career NFL start. What scares me about Kmet is the amount of targets he got from Bagent in the two prior games. Zero. That’s right. When Bagent entered the game in relief of Justin Fields in Week 6, Kmet didn’t see one target until the second drive of Week 8 – more than a game and a half. Needless to say, that’s a long time to go without a look.

On top of that, you’ve got the Saints defense on deck. So far, they’ve allowed just 3.25 receptions and 32.5 receiving yards per game to the position. That’s a rough sell for any tight end and I’ll be avoiding it at all costs. All things considered, I’d sit ’em this week and look elsewhere. Like Hill or Kincaid.

Trey McBride TE – Arizona Cardinals @ Cleveland Browns

Trey McBride had himself a career game last week, seeing 14 targets and going for 10 receptions for 95 yards and a touchdown. That is one hell of a stat line for a tight end in this day and age. However, much like the Marquise Brown decision, I am very hesitant to start any Cardinals with the quarterback situation up in the air. The Cleveland Browns are also giving up a league-low 5.9 points per game to opposing tight ends, which does not bode well for McBride. Make sure he’s on your bench this week.

Start ‘Em Sit ‘Em – Running Backs

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