Week 1 Tight End Fantasy Football Sleepers & Waiver Wire Pickup List

Pick these guys up before the games start!

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This article originally appeared on RotoBaller.

Back by popular demand in 2015… RotoBaller has brought back for the NFL season our Ultimate 2015 Fantasy Football Sleepers & Waiver Wire Pickups List.

Our team of NFL enthusiasts and fantasy football analysts follow football all day, during the offseason and especially during the NFL season. We recommend NFL players for you to consider as 2015 draft sleepers, ADP values, or hot pickups off the waiver wire once the season starts – every single day of the fantasy football preseason and season. Drafting the right undervalued player or adding sleepers off the waiver wire can be a huge difference maker in fantasy leagues. Last year players like C.J. Anderson went undrafted in many leagues, and players like that helped win a ton of fantasy championships.

What’s better than snagging that big time sleeper hot player off the waiver wire before your league does? Well, not much really. Each day we will update this list, so be sure to check back to see who we’ve added and read the latest analysis about each player. If you aren’t sure who to drop, we’ll help you decide – just ask us in our chat room. Now let’s win some leagues!

Benjamin Watson (TE, NO) – Waiver Wire Analysis

BALLER MOVE: Stash in 14+ Team PPR Leagues OWNED IN: 15% of Fleaflicker Leagues ANALYSIS: Again, some people will call this move questionable, but I’ll remind you this is only if your team is desperately in need of a spot start. Watson was once relevant in the passing game a long time ago, and had a somewhat valuable fantasy season in 2010 with the Cleveland Browns, finishing with 68 catches for 763 yards and three TDs. This is not to say that he will finish this year with those numbers, but he may have a good game this week against the Arizona Cardinals, who gave up the fourth-most fantasy points to tight ends last season. We have heard it all: Jimmy Graham, Kenny Stills and Pierre Thomas are all gone and the team is moving more towards running the ball. However, pass-catching specialist C.J. Spiller isn’t going to play this week. Watson could be in for a couple more targets, considering Mark Ingram is not much of a receiver out of the backfield. It is hard to say if Watson will have the opportunity to score any touchdowns this week, or this season, since Josh Hill will more than likely come in and be the goal-line tight end. Regardless, Watson should see enough targets in this transition offense to make for a valuable spot start this week in PPR leagues

Owen Daniels (TE, DEN) – 2015 Fantasy Football Sleeper

BALLER MOVE: Target in Mid-to-Late Rounds for TE1 Upside CURRENT ADP: 119 STD, 133 PPR ANALYSIS: Even though Daniels hasn’t been a very relevant fantasy football tight end recently, he finds himself in a nice situation heading into the season. He is now reunited with Gary Kubiak, which should bring familiarity back to his role, and he has this guy named Peyton Manning running the offense and throwing the ball. We’ve already seen Manning make fantasy studs out of tight ends Julius Thomas, Jacob Tamme and Dallas Clark (among others), so it would be silly to write off Daniels as a potential tight end sleeper. There are a lot of offensive mouths to feed in Denver, with Demaryius Thomas, Emmanuel Sanders, C.J. Anderson and others, but Daniels is in a situation that creates fantasy upside at the very least. He may not become a PPR stud in the “new-look” offense that’s anticipated, and Virgil Green is also in the tight end mix, but Daniels is still a sneaky draft target. While his PPR ADP of 133 (or the 13th tight end being drafted) isn’t a draft day “steal”, it can still return owners with significant value based on his draft day cost. If Daniels emerges as a reliable offensive option, he will outperform many tight ends being drafted ahead of him.

Jordan Reed (TE, WAS) – 2015 Fantasy Football Sleeper

BALLER MOVE: Target in Later Rounds for TE1 Upside in PPR CURRENT ADP: 229 STD, 186 PPR ANALYSIS: Given the extensive injury history of Reed, I can understand why some fantasy football owners may be shying away from rostering him. But there’s a lot to like here with Reed’s situation entering the start of the NFL season. Let’s take a quick look – he’s healthy, Niles Paul is out for the season, Kirk Cousins will be the starting quarterback, and Reed has normally produced in PPR leagues when healthy. In games where Cousins and Reed both played last year, he racked up stat lines like this: 8-92 (11 targets) and 5-54 (6 targets). In general, he had other games with 7 targets, 11 targets, 10 targets and 7 targets. As mentioned above, the Redskins will be throwing from behind a lot, and Reed should be a primary beneficiary of that as long as he stays healthy. The term “PPR monster” may be in the conversation at some point. With a PPR ADP of 193 (or the 22nd tight being drafted), and only 53% owned, Reed has the upside to be a valuable tight end draft sleeper and waiver wire pickup for fantasy football owners. He needs to be owned in all PPR leagues.

Jordan Cameron (TE, MIA) – 2015 Fantasy Football Sleeper

BALLER MOVE: Target Around ~75 for TE1 with Upside CURRENT ADP: 93 STD, 91 PPR ANALYSIS: After a very impressive 2013 season (80 receptions, 917 yards and seven TDs), fantasy owners expected Jordan Cameron to take another step in the direction of becoming a dominant tight end. But as is usually the case in Cleveland, things did not go as expected. Cameron sputtered in 2014 to the tune of 24 receptions, 424 yards and two touchdowns while missing five games due to a concussion. Sure there were other red flags before the season started, such as tight end friendly offensive coordinator Norv Turner leaving the Browns for a job in Minnesota. Turner was replaced by Kyle Shanahan, whose offense does not feed the tight end as much. Cameron also had to put up with the three-headed QB monster of Brian Hoyer, Johnny Manziel and Connor Shaw. But those days are now in the past after Cameron took his talents to South Beach. Ryan Tannehill may not be a perennial Pro Bowler, but he is light years ahead of the quarterback play in Cleveland these days. Tannehill has long been criticized for his downfield accuracy, which makes having a tight end that can run short-to-medium routes all the more important. With Charles Clay and Mike Wallace out of town, there will be plenty of targets for the uber-athletic Cameron. If you miss out on Rob Gronkowski and Jimmy Graham early, you may be able to get Cameron at a cheap price that you wouldn’t have seen in 2014 fantasy drafts.

Austin Sefarian-Jenkins (TE, TB) – 2015 Fantasy Football Sleeper

BALLER MOVE: Draft In Later Rounds CURRENT ADP: Overall #136/ TE #26 ANALYSIS: Austin Sefarian-Jenkins has an even lower ADP than someone like Kyle Rudolph, but he has just as good of a chance to make an impact in 2015. Entering his sophomore season in the NFL, ASJ looks to be more of a cog in the Buccaneers’ offense than he was in 2014. After scoring just two touchdowns on 21 receptions in the first nine weeks, injuries to his back and ankle led to the IR. Sefarian-Jenkins claimed that the back felt great this offseason, and he’s already drawing very positive comments from his coaches and scouts. It might be a bit of a reach to pick a young tight end in an unproven offense, but the acquisition of Jameis Winston should only help the stock of ASJ. His combination of size and speed were what made him a hot commodity on draft day in 2014, and the Bucs will look to get Sefarian-Jenkins into an important role in hopes that he develops into a top tight end. As another high-upside pick, it certainly makes sense to draft both Sefarian-Jenkins and another high upside guy like Rudolph (as long as your league’s bench space allows it) in hopes that one of the two breaks into the top 12 group of tight ends

Coby Fleener (TE, IND) – 2015 Fantasy Football Sleeper

BALLER MOVE: Target ~115 overall CURRENT ADP: Standard 139, PPR 135 ANALYSIS: Coby Fleener finished last season as the 6th best fantasy tight end. He is currently being drafted as the 14th TE in most standard and PPR leagues. The main reason is that Fleener clearly seems to be the second option at the position behind Dwayne Allen. This is despite the fact that Fleener has played in 32 regular season games to Allen’s 14 over the past two seasons. During those years he had stat lines of 51/608/4 and 51/774/8 in 2013 and 2014, respectively. Fleener finished both seasons as a reliable TE2 option because he was consistently targeted by Andrew Luck, finishing third on the team behind T.Y. Hilton and Reggie Wayne in ’13 and second behind Hilton in ’14. Because Fleener will be expected to split tight end duties throughout the season with Allen it makes it difficult to trust him as a week to week TE1. However, with his consistent play and availability he should be one of the better TE2 options in the league, especially with the ascending Luck and Colts offense. Fleener’s eight receiving touchdown tied him for the team lead last season and made him a boom or bust proposition from a fantasy point of view. Fleener has been Luck’s safety valve since their days together at Stanford and that will not be changing anytime soon. The only question is whether or not the Colts will feature him more to see if he can take the next step to being a potential 1,000 yd receiving option. If not, expect much of the same production which is still pretty damn good for a back up tight end.

Kyle Rudolph (TE, MIN) – 2015 Fantasy Football Sleeper

BALLER MOVE: Target Around Round 10 CURRENT ADP: Overall #114/ TE# 11 ANALYSIS: While Olsen is someone to target early in your drafts, Rudolph can be picked up in the later rounds. Kyle Rudolph has always had immense potential as a big, athletic pass catcher with the Vikings. He has yet to put everything together, mostly due to injuries and poor quarterback play. In 2015, Rudolph will look to stay healthy out of the gate and be the reliant tight end that Teddy Bridgewater will look to often, especially in the red zone. As you can see in my recent article that focuses on Kyle Rudolph as a sleeper, there are plenty of positives to look at with this 260-pound beast. Bridgewater is a quarterback that doesn’t mind getting out of the pocket. When that happens, there will be times when he needs to check down to a possession receiver. Rudolph can serve as that guy. Bridgewater should also look to the big tight end often in the red zone, which could lead to double-digit touchdowns for Rudolph, something he fell just short of in 2012 (his only full season). If he can stay healthy, Rudolph has the ability and opportunity to put up top 12 numbers at tight end. If you wait and miss out on the top options (which is a strategy I turn to often), Rudolph is a nice high-upside pick at the end of drafts.

Greg Olsen (TE, CAR) – 2015 Fantasy Football Sleeper

BALLER MOVE: Draft Early Fourth/Late Third CURRENT ADP: Overall #47/ TE #3 ANALYSIS: Greg Olsen wasn’t on this list a couple week ago, but with the news that Kelvin Benjamin tore his ACL in practice, Olsen is someone we have to address. I had been teetering back and forth between Olsen (ADP of 47 in standard leagues according to FantasyPros.com) and Kelce (ADP of 50 in standard leagues), since I first started ranking players, and I was starting to believe in myself enough to put Kelce at third among tight ends. However, Olsen becomes third with the injury to Benjamin, and his ADP should certainly spike upwards in the coming drafts. Not only does Olsen have a better quarterback then Kelce, but he is more proven as well. In the last three seasons, the Panthers’ tight end has played all 48 regular season games, and eclipsed 100 targets each year. 2014 was his best year yet, as he racked up an above-average 84 catches on 123 targets and was able to finally reach the 1,000-yard mark for a season. We should see much more of the same this year from Olsen. With his connection with Cam Newton growing stronger, and his role growing larger, Olsen should be drafted early in the fourth round if not late in the third in standard 12-team leagues.

Tyler Eifert (TE, CIN) – 2015 Fantasy Football Sleeper

BALLER MOVE: Target Towards End of Mid Rounds CURRENT ADP: Overall #178 / TE #22 ANALYSIS: Eifert is a guy I’ve talked about before, but he is worth writing about again. Despite the fact that I have seen some buzz around Eifert in the fantasy community and that his Fantasy Pros consensus rank is TE11, Eifert’s ADP remains surprisingly late. Eifert is extremely athletic; see for yourself on Player Profiler. He was supposed to be a big part of the Bengals offense last season and while injury got in the way, that plan is in place once again for 2015. Eifert picked up right where he left off last year. Before dislocating his elbow late in the first quarter of the first game in 2014, Eifert already had three catches for 37 yards. In the first preseason game of ‘15, Eifert had two catches for 30 yards on just 15 snaps. It’s obviously a very small sample size but it’s a very promising sign that Eifert is set to deliver on the expectations many have had for him since he was drafted. As I wrote previously about Eifert, I expect 90+ targets for him. This number was based on the fact that the less talented receiver Jermaine Gresham saw 78 targets last year and Gresham and Eifert combined for 119 in 2013 in a more pass happy offense where the receivers were healthy. With the health of the Bengals receivers back again and Eifert uncontested as the primary tight end, 90 targets seems like a safe bet. That would have put him in the top ten targeted tight ends last season. Given Eifert’s athleticism and the pass catching ability he has flashed in limited action thus far in his career, I’m willing to bet that leads to a breakout season. That makes him a fantastic bargain. If you wait at TE, Eifert should be the number one guy you target.

Richard Rodgers (TE, GB) – 2015 Fantasy Football Sleeper

BALLER MOVE: Target In Last Rounds or as Waiver Pickup CURRENT ADP: Overall #298 / TE #29 ANALYSIS: I was pretty bummed when Jordy Nelson went down with a torn ACL. He is a fantastically productive receiver that was Aaron Rodgers’s favorite red zone target. With a QB as talented as Rodgers though, nearly all of the production is likely to get absorbed by other receivers. Davante Adams and Jeff Janis are receiving most of the hype so very little attention is going to another potential benefactor, tight end Richard Rodgers. The second-year tight end saw a decent amount of playing time last year as the second tight end behind Andrew Quarless. Rodgers started to get some attention in the offense down the stretch, receiving more targets than Quarless over the final seven games including playoffs. It’s not just that he saw more targets, but he was also more efficient, recording a better catch rate and getting two touchdowns to Quarless’ one during that span. Rodgers is expected to be the top tight end this year and could actually cut into some of Adams’ targets. Adams was incredibly inefficient down the stretch. In the second half, and during the playoffs, Davante Adams recorded an abysmal 51.2% catch rate. That was lower than any other Packers WR or TE that saw at least 10 targets during that span by 14%. Meanwhile Richard Rodgers’ catch rate was 75%. Aaron Rodgers took notice and even prior to the Jordy injury, he had talked up the tight end as a red zone threat. In one of the best offenses in the game, I’d rather spend a late round pick on this guy than watch him become a TE1 for another team. Davante Adams and Jeff Janis may still get most of Jordy’s targets, but in the red zone don’t be shocked if it’s Richard Rodgers grabbing the touchdowns.

Charles Clay (TE, BUF) – 2015 Fantasy Football Sleeper

BALLER MOVE: Target as a low-end TE2. CURRENT ADP: 176 STD, 205 PPR ANALYSIS: Rex Ryan, the head coach for the Buffalo Bills, has already made a name for himself in the league as a coach that likes to run the ball. With the likes of Lesean McCoy, Fred Jackson, Anthony Dixon and Bryce Brown, the Bills will be running a lot. But, with quarterbacks like Matt Cassell, Tyrod Taylor and E.J. Manuel, the team is going to need a reliable short option to throw to. Enter Charles Clay. With any one of these quarterbacks, the team may have to rely on the middle of the field more often. This is the area of the field where Clay made a name for himself as a member of the Miami Dolphins and this is an area where he should be most effective as a member of the Buffalo Bills. Two years ago, after a position change to tight end, Clay finished with the seventh-most points for a tight end, ahead of big names like Greg Olsen, Antonio Gates and Martellus Bennett. He finished that season with 69 receptions for 759 yards and six TDs. He even added a rushing TD. This year, Clay joins a team where Fred Jackson led the team with 66 receptions and Watkins led the team with 982 receiving yards and six TDs. This is not to say that Clay will lead the team in each of these categories, but it would be fair to expect him to be second on the team in each of them. Watkins, the former fourth-overall pick, should eat up a lot of target and big plays on the outside, while Clay will do his work in the middle of the field, something the team has lacked the past few seasons. Expect him to reach low-TE1, high-TE2 numbers, probably around 60 catches for 700 yards and five TDs.