Navigating the fantasy football tight end position is an annual exercise in frustration, but this season is testing managers earlier than usual.
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season → navigate → managers
Brock Bowers has been sidelined with a knee injury, while second-year standout Colston Loveland has done a complete disappearing act over the opening weeks.
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Loveland → sideline → weeks
With reliable options dwindling fast, managers are flooding the waiver wire searching for answers.
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managers → dwindle → answers
Rather than chasing unpredictable targets, gaining a true competitive edge comes down to defensive matchups.
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gaining → chase → matchups
By streaming tight ends against defenses that consistently surrender high reception totals, yardage and fantasy points, you turn a chaotic position into a calculated advantage.
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you → stream → advantage
No team illustrates this target-rich environment better than the Bengals.
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team → illustrate → Bengals
Calling their tight end defense “historically bad” last season is not a clever euphemism, it is a literal fact.
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it → call → defense
In NFL history, no defense allowed more receptions, receiving yards and touchdowns to opposing tight ends than the 2025 Bengals.
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defense → allow → Bengals
Though Cincinnati worked to patch up its defensive unit during the offseason, early results prove the vulnerability remains.
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vulnerability → work → offseason
Over the first two weeks of the season, Dalton Schultz and Cade Otton shredded the Bengals for a combined 200 receiving yards on 14 catches across 21 targets.
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Schultz → shred → targets
This brings us to Steelers tight end Pat Freiermuth.
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This → bring → Freiermuth
Under new head coach Mike McCarthy, Freiermuth’s snap share and target volume have surged.
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share → surge → McCarthy
In McCarthy’s system, the tight end acts as a safety valve and intermediate threat, a role Freiermuth is equipped to maximize.
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Freiermuth → act → valve
Given his ascending usage and high-floor weekly projection, Freiermuth has transformed into a must-add waiver claim.
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Freiermuth → give → claim
Unless you already own an undisputed elite option, Freiermuth should be locked directly into your starting lineup this week.
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Freiermuth → own → lineup
Another intriguing target sitting on many waiver wires is Darren Waller of the Panthers.
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target → sit → Panthers
Waller may not command the highest snap percentage among Carolina’s tight end committee, but he is undeniably their most dynamic pass-catcher and primary red-zone weapon.
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he → command → committee
Waller caught two touchdown passes against Atlanta, and he would already have three scores on the year had a Week 1 touchdown not been called back by a penalty.
He gets a favorable matchup against a Browns defense that surrendered a touchdown to Brenton Strange in the opener and allowed five catches to Otton in Week 2.
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that → catch → Week
Finally, we can also target the Commanders, who have struggled to cover the position for several seasons and have already surrendered four receiving touchdowns this year — two to Dallas Goedert and two to Jake Ferguson.
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who → target → Ferguson
Seahawks tight end A.J. Barner might not be the most glamorous name, but he commands an 80 percent snap share.
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he → command → share
With defenses now expected to focus heavily on stopping Jaxon Smith-Njigba near the goal line, Drew Lock will need a reliable safety valve in the end zone.
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Lock → expect → zone
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The top tier of fantasy tight ends remains as thin as ever.
Committing to a weekly streaming strategy requires extra diligence on the waiver wire, but targeting soft matchups, rising snap counts and red-zone usage will consistently put you ahead of your league mates.
Howard Bender is the head of content at FantasyAlarm.com.
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Bender → bet → FantasyAlarm.com
The Aporia
