Week 12 TE Waiver Pickups & Adds: Ryan Griffin Is Gaining Steam

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In what has been a tough season for tight ends, Week 12 is looking like it takes the cake. Travis Kelce, Hunter Henry, and Kyle Rudolph are all on bye. George Kittle, Evan Engram, and Austin Hooper are also questionable this week. To win those fantasy football leagues, you are going to have to win the waiver wire as well. You can find the top tight ends to pick up by rank for this upcoming week.

Week 12 TE Waiver Wire Pickups

Noah Fant – Denver Broncos

Targets continue to go towards Noah Fant, as he has seen 5, 9, 4, and 11 over the past four weeks. He had the big game against Cleveland with a 3-115-1 line, and followed up against Minnesota with a 4-60-0 line on 11 targets. Fant was also looked at on the final play of the game where he could have had a touchdown and likely would have if he didn’t push off. There are not many pass catching options in Denver behind Courtland Sutton, and Fant’s workload should be fairly stable throughout the rest of the season. Given he didn’t top five targets until Week 7 against the Chiefs, things are starting to trend up. He also has a solid schedule outside of the matchup against Buffalo this week.

Tyler Eifert – Cincinnati Bengals

Tyler Eifert missed a chance to take advantage of a Raiders defense where he could thrive. His snaps were back down again, but he is running routes on most of those. Eifert continues to get work in the red zone, which will go up with the Auden Tate injury. The downside is that this Bengals offense is just flat out bad. Eifert’s remaining schedule is what keeps me in here, especially given there are not a lot of great options out there this week. The Steelers have allowed the 6th most fantasy points per game to opposing tight ends this season, and then he will play the Jets and Browns over the next two weeks.

Mike Gesicki – Miami Dolphins

After getting people excited against the Jets, Mike Gesicki has put up back to back duds against the Bills and Colts. While they weren’t premier matchups, it caused people get away from him as a potential pick up option. However there are still some positives, he has been over 40 snaps in each of the last three weeks, seeing six targets in each game. He played a season high 59 snaps against the Bills, who had allowed the second fewest fantasy points to opposing tight ends. With softer matchups and more favorable game scripts coming, Gesicki is still an option in deeper leagues.

Jack Doyle – Indianapolis Colts

We will need to monitor Eric Ebron’s health as he popped up on the injury report with an ankle injury, and Indy has a short week playing on Thursday. Of course the Jacksonville game wasn’t a high point where he did not record a target, but I wouldn’t bank on that happening again this season. Doyle usually flirts with 4-5 targets, and is still an option in the red zone. He played 42 snaps this past week, in what was a pretty controlled game for the Colts offense on the ground. If Ebron is out, Doyle’s stock goes up a bit.

Vance McDonald – Pittsburgh Steelers

It was another strong game for Vance McDonald in the target department, where he saw seven targets for the third consecutive week. With Diontae Johnson and JuJu Smith-Schuster out this week, McDonald could see a few more. Overall the Steelers offense has been non-repairable this season, as injuries continue to pile up. However, McDonald will have a strong schedule coming up facing the Browns, Bengals, and Cardinals over the next few weeks, which are all positive matchups. If the volume of targets continues, McDonald should be able to capitalize with a few strong weeks over the next few games.

Dallas Goedert – Philadelphia Eagles

In a season where most teams can’t support one fantasy viable tight end, how are we going to ask a team to support two? Sure Dallas Goedert is the second tight end on the Eagles depth chart, but the volume continues to be there, especially with the shape that the receiving core is in. He has seen 8, 4, 5, 5, and 6 targets over the last five weeks. The Eagles have an excellent schedule over the next few weeks where the offense can click despite the lack of options. They will face Seattle, who have struggled against tight ends all season, and then will face Miami, New York twice, Dallas, and Washington. All are premier defenses to target with tight ends at this point.

Ryan Griffin – New York Jets

We waited all year for Chris Herndon, and we ended up with Ryan Griffin. After a few 20+ fantasy point outings in the last few weeks, we have to at least entertain him on a weekly basis. Especially with Oakland, Cincinnati, Miami, Baltimore, and Pittsburgh on the schedule over the next five weeks. The Jets passing offense is viable in the right spots, as we have seen with Jamison Crowder producing as well. Griffin has showcased some upside, and I love the matchups moving forward. He is free in just about every league.