Six weeks into the NFL season, fantasy football owners had so many options at the tight end position that it took a bit too long for legitimate starters, players such as Vernon Davis, Visanthe Shiancoe and Brent Celek, to be picked up. As such, when productive tight ends such as Chris Cooley and Owen Daniels suffered season-ending injuries before Week 9, it was pretty easy to find replacements. Even now, Shiancoe, with eight touchdowns this season, remains available in 26 percent of ESPN leagues.
That was then, this is now: More and more tight ends have fallen to injury (Celek and Brandon Pettigrew, each of whom might miss significant time) or differing levels of unproductiveness (Heath Miller, Tony Scheffler, Zach Miller), and that depth has been pushed to the limit. When I did my tight end rankings for Week 12, I was barely able to find enough players at the position whom I considered start-worthy. The position isn't so deep anymore, but there are options, and all of these players are owned in less than 50 percent of leagues.
To see a handful of good replacement options at tight end in fantasy football, become an ESPN Insider now!
Eric Karabell | email
ESPN.com Senior Writer- ESPN contributor on TV, radio, podcasts, blogs, Magazine
- Charter member of FSWA Hall of Fame
- Author of "The Best Philadelphia Sports Arguments"
ABOUT THIS BLOG
Eric Karabell
Eric Karabell is an ESPN.com senior writer. He has worked at ESPN since 1997 and covered fantasy sports for ESPN since 2001, specializing in baseball and football. Eric appears several times per week on SportsCenter, NFL Live and other ESPN shows, contributes to ESPN Radio and ESPN The Magazine and is the host of the Baseball Today Podcast. He has been honored twice as fantasy sports writer of the year by the Fantasy Sports Writers Association, his blog was named best fantasy baseball series for 2007 and he was inducted into the inaugural FSWA Hall of Fame class in 2010.
Eric grew up in the Philadelphia suburbs, and accordingly, favors Philly teams first, his fantasy teams second. He previously served as ESPN.com's lead NBA editor, and is a former Washington Post and Philadelphia Inquirer sports writer. Eric is also the author of "The Best Philadelphia Sports Arguments," published by Source Books and available in bookstores and online.
Check Eric's ESPN work:
Karabell archive
