Fantasy Football Waiver Wire: TE - Week 11

November 17, 2010 @ 14:00:00

By Cory J. Bonini and Bryce McRae
Edited by Tim Heaney

Fantasy Football Waiver Wire: QB | RB | WR | TE | PK | DT

If you are serious about winning your fantasy league football championship, stay on top of your fantasy football team throughout the year.

Each week during the NFL fantasy football season, KFFL brings you its Fantasy Football Waiver Wire, which breaks down players to pick up. Be aggressive when picking up fantasy football free agents. Even if you do not need a player, you can tuck him away for depth or block others from adding him to their fantasy football team.

Note: Percentage of polled leagues in which player is available in parentheses

Fantasy football free agents: Priority additions

The following players should be high on your radar and are worthy of being added immediately to your fantasy football team.

Greg Olsen, Chicago Bears (42 percent)

Olsen caught three passes for 31 yards and a score last week. He has three receptions in each of his last three games and one score in each of his last two. Over the last two weeks, he also has 13 targets.

Given his athleticism, Chicago will probably look to exploit that more often because of the matchup problems he creates. The Bears offensive line has been performing better of late (it's hard to perform any worse), which is a reason Olsen has been able to be more involved. Olsen also has five red zone looks over the last two weeks; they've struggled near the goal line this year, and maybe they're realizing Olsen is their best option in that situation.

As long as that continues and Jay Cutler remains behind center, Olsen should be on a roster and is a playable option when the matchup is favorable.

Fantasy football free agents: Look to acquire

Fasano looks comforting to Thigpen

The following players will have greater significance in deep fantasy football leagues. In shallow fantasy football leagues, they are not as high of a priority but should be considered based on your fantasy football team's needs.

Anthony Fasano, Miami Dolphins (83 percent)

Tyler Thigpen enters as the starting quarterback, likely for the rest of the year, and he connected with Fasano on a nine-yard touchdown pass. More importantly, the athletic quarterback targeted Fasano on three of his six pass attempts. Also, don't overlook the tight end's involvement in the past three games (20 utilizations).

Inexperienced quarterbacks often rely on the tight end position as a safety blanket. Fasano is talented enough to beat a lot of single coverage, and he won't see many, if any, doubles as long as wideout Brandon Marshall is on the field and Miami runs three-wide sets. Temper your expectations this Thursday with the Chicago Bears coming to town, because they have been one of the strongest units in the league against the his extended offensive line position all year (only team to not allow a tight end to cross the stripe).

Rob Gronkowski, New England Patriots (83 percent)

Gronkowski doubled his season touchdown total with three scores on Sunday night. He finished the game with five catches for 72 yards. New England's offense typically doesn't make heavy use of this position, but with Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez, they've targeted the two rooks a fair bit - especially in the red zone - more than they have with other recent tight ends.

Gronk received five looks to just two for Hernandez last week; he had as many as Hernandez (nine) the week before. Now, that isn't to say Gronkowski is going to take over the lead tight end role. The Pats tend to alter their game plan on a weekly basis.

His matchups aren't exceptional, the only highlight being a Week 16 tilt against the Buffalo Bills. However, if you're struggling at the position, Gronk offers a decent option, though there could be some frustration when he isn't as much a part of New England's game plan.

NEW - Delanie Walker, San Francisco 49ers (99 percent)

Offensive coordinator Mike Johnson is happy to have Walker and Vernon Davis on the field at the same time. So is starting quarterback Troy Smith. Walker took over for an injured Davis in Week 8 and saw seven targets. In Week 10, both tight ends received six looks. Smith trusts Walker, but this isn't a repeat of the New England Patriots' tight end sitch. Davis won't see his looks drop much; this offense wants both to make an impact. Their wideouts besides Michael Crabtree are unreliable. There's room for both big men.

How deep is your league? Does it value carrying two tight ends? If you're scrounging, Walker has a notable opportunity to contribute from here on out.

Fantasy football free agents: One-week plays

The following fantasy football pickups are for those who need injury or bye week replacements. They are not players you immediately acquire - unless your team is in dire straights. Some have, however, shown some life and should be followed in case they materialize as options beyond their temporary use.

NEW - Randy McMichael, San Diego Chargers (93 percent)

Do you own Antonio Gates (foot) and are you running out of deep-league options for a possible fill-in? It's a Monday night game this week, meaning you might have to wait for a decision on whether he'll play. That's a tough position to be in at this time of year. If there's a chance Gates plays, it's awfully hard to bench him. But what if he winds up being inactive?

If you're desperate, why not handcuff Gates' real-life backup so you can make an easy switch later on? He could provide help in a pinch; he had two catches, 23 yards and two touchdowns in Week 9. Either tight end will probably have an easy go against the Broncos, who have allowed 4.00 catches, 72.3 yards and 0.33 touchdown catches per game to the position in the last month (three outings). Having a tight end that has seen red zone looks in arguably the league's best passing offense isn't a bad consolation prize.

Fantasy Football Waiver Wire: QB | RB | WR | TE | PK | DT

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Cory J. Bonini

Cory J. Bonini is a senior editor at KFFL. In late 2002, Bonini joined the KFFL staff as a research analyst. He vaulted himself into one of the industry's leading fantasy analysts.

Bonini has been involved in fantasy sports since 1996. A member of the Fantasy Sports Trade Association as well as Fantasy Sports Writers Association, he has been featured in print, on the radio and is also a published writer on scores of sites. Bonini co-hosted Big Lead Sports on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio from 2011 to 2012.

Bonini was recognized with the 2010 Best Article in Print Award from the FSWA and was a finalist for the same award in 2011. In '11, he finished first overall in the FSWA NFL experts challenge that featured 60 of the industry's best competitors.

Follow him on Twitter @CoryKFFL

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Bryce McRae
Bryce McRae is a Managing Editor with KFFL and has been involved in fantasy sports since 1999. He joined KFFL as a volunteer writer in March 2005 before becoming a Hot off the Wire Analyst in March 2006. He began working in his current capacity in September 2008. His work has appeared on fantasy sports sites such as Yahoo! and CBS Sportsline as well as in print. He graduated from the University of British Columbia in 2008 with a B.A. in History and U.S. Studies.

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