The bye weeks return in Week 9 and unfortunately for those of us streaming tight ends it takes away two of the best defences to target. The Lions and Broncos take the week off alongside the Jaguars and 49ers. There are still 14 games being played, so there’s plenty left to choose from at the position. Before we get to then there is the trade deadline to get through on Tuesday, but hasn’t been much talk of tight-ends moving so far.

All of the options discussed in the article are rostered in less than 50% of Yahoo fantasy leagues. These suggestions are aimed at players in 10-12 team leagues. In shallower leagues there may be better available. In deeper leagues there’s a good chance some of these players will not be available for you.

Trey McBride, Arizona Cardinals

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Rostered in 20 % of Yahoo Leagues

Last week I said Trey McBride was one to watch, but not to play in a tough game against the Ravens. How wrong I was! In the first game after Zach Ertz went to injured reserve McBride was targeted a whopping 14 times. He made the most of them as well, catching 10 for 95 yards and a touchdown. For as long as Zach Ertz remains out of the line-up McBride figures to be a big part of the Cardinals offence.

This week he faces another challenging defence in the Cleveland Browns. The Browns give up the least yardage (and fantasy points) to opposing Tight Ends. However, with Josh Dobbs so locked in on his Tight Ends the volume is going to be there for McBride. Even in the worst match-up of the year, he should be able to put up a useful fantasy score.

Donald Parham Jr, LA Chargers

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Rostered in 3 % of Yahoo Leagues

Like McBride, Donald Parham also took advantage of injuries to put up a strong fantasy score. Gerald Everett was inactive with a hip injury and Parham put up his most targets, catches and yards of the season. The yardage still wasn’t huge (44), but he did grab a touchdown against the Bears. He also benefitted from Justin Herbert look back to his usual self after struggling with accuracy in recent weeks.

Up next for the Chargers is a trip east to face the New York Jets. Gerald Everett should be back to complicate things but Parham will retain a solid role in the red zone. The Jets are a pretty good draw for tight end in the red zone in particular. They haven’t given up many huge yardage games, but have allowed 5 touchdowns in 7 games.

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Rostered in 22 % of Yahoo Leagues

Taking any player from the Green Bay offence is a big risk at this point in the season. After a strong start to the season, the Packers have failed to top 20 points from Week 3 onwards. Musgrave has at least retained a strong role in the offence. He has 3+ targets in all but one game this season and recorded his highest snap percentage in Sunday’s loss to the Vikings.

In Week 9 the Packers host the LA Rams. They were a match-up we targeted last week with Jake Ferguson and they allowed another touchdown to him. The Rams have now allowed four touchdowns in the last five weeks alongside plenty of yardage to the position. Musgrave will continue to be involved in the offence and may be able to score the first touchdown of his pro career this week.

Other Options

Taysom Hill’s (35%) hybrid role has been very fruitful the last couple of weeks. He gets a nice draw against the Bears’ porous defence.

The Giants have been up and down against Tight Ends, I’d stick with Michael Mayer (19%) again this week.

It wasn’t a good week for Jonnu Smith (36%) as he was targeted just once against the Titans. He did lead out snap Kyle Pitts though, so I wouldn’t be too concerned going into a game against the Vikings.

Tyler Conklin (7%) has a good match-up against the Chargers, but it’s tough to trust the offence after Zach Wilson’s disaster-class against the Giants.

With injuries at WRs, Hunter Henry (28%) could see a bigger role against the Commanders weak tight-end defence.

In the same game, Logan Thomas (45%) is again worth a look off the back of catching 6 for 44 yards and a TD against the Eagles.

Cade Otton (2%) hasn’t done a lot with his opportunities, but he has at least had 6 targets in back-to-back games.

Interested in reading more? Check out our Rookies to Watch series here. Follow on twitter @ThinkingFantasy for more thoughts and notifications when new articles go live!