Fantasy Football Week 14: Who’s Your Rob Gronkowski Replacement?
By Dan Salem
The best tight end is out, so who’s your Rob Gronkowski replacement in Fantasy Football Week 14? Its boom or bust as you attempt to salvage points.
The New England Patriots may be fine without Rob Gronkowski, but your fantasy football team can not survive without some semblance of production from the tight end position. Zero points is not an option, so who can you rely on in fantasy football week 14?
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The top guys will all be taken and anyone with over 50 percent ownership is likely gone as well. This leaves a smattering of boom or bust tight ends for you to pick from this week. Who’s it gonna be?
Two brothers from New York, Dan Salem and Todd Salem discuss Fantasy Football Week 14 in today’s NFL Sports Debate.
Todd Salem:
Who is your Rob Gronkowski replacement? Here are the stipulations:
1) You have to pick a tight end that ranks outside the top 12 at the position, to cover for most of the guys who will be started in a standard league.
2) You also have to pick someone who is owned in fewer than 50 percent of leagues, with the assumption that those above the line would be rostered even if they aren’t being started in Week 14.
That brings us to a group containing such names as Vernon Davis, Dennis Pitta, Dwayne Allen, Vance McDonald, Jared Cook, Hunter Henry etc. It isn’t pretty, but there are options out there.
The gutsiest move would definitely be adding and starting Vernon Davis. The reason being, he is a high-quality tight end play if Jordan Reed remains sidelined with his concussion. Reed remains questionable for Week 14 and could be a game-time decision, which means Davis’ value won’t be known until Sunday.
Davis is not a zero if Reed does play; he still offers some value as a big-play threat on limited targets. However, he drops from a possible TE1 to being borderline playable. Is that a chance fantasy owners in the playoffs want to take? It depends on your risk-taking acumen.
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The rest of the remaining guys are a mix between boom-or-bust players or consistently mediocre options. Unfortunately, the boom-or-bust options are far more likely to bust. I’d lean toward someone who is a mediocre player but has a solid chance of at least being targeted a bunch. It is unexciting, but my answer is Dennis Pitta.
Pitta actually had a big Week 13, but that wasn’t representative of his season. He scored two touchdowns, which were actually his first two scores of the year. Otherwise, Pitta has been ordinary but receives more than five targets a game. He seems like a safe bet for 4-5 fantasy points, with the chance of finding the endzone again. It isn’t Gronk’s production, but it is considerably better than a zero.
Dan Salem:
Anything is better than nothing when every point counts, especially with the playoffs on the line. Its impossible to actually replace Gronkowski’s production in your lineup, so picking a replacement tight end must be done with care. I agree that its integral to pick up a guy who will garner at least five targets, but weighing his team’s opponent is equally as important. Do they cover tight ends well? Does the defense give up a lot of red zone touchdowns? Do they stink?
I like Vernon Davis because he’s getting the targets on a consistent basis and has multiple weeks scoring five or more fantasy points. Yet Washington is facing one of the toughest defenses for tight ends to score points against. The Eagles have given up the second fewest this season. Add in the potential return of Reed, and Davis is not the best replacement for Gronkowski this week.
My pick is Dwayne Allen of the Colts. He’s coming off his best fantasy week of the season and faces a division opponent in the biggest game of the year for his team. He has at least four targets in seven of the ten games he’s played this season. All four of his targets were caught last week, three for touchdowns. Allen has put up fifty yards four times as well. Despite Houston’s stingy defense, he’s my pick to continue rolling and get the looks necessary for five or more fantasy points this weekend.
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Hunter Henry is also an intriguing play as his Chargers face a weak Carolina defense. Henry has gotten the targets this season as well, but I simply do not trust San Diego to show up on offense. Your choice of Pitta is also intriguing, but I don’t care for the Ravens matchup against New England.