Navigating the fantasy football tight end position is an annual exercise in frustration, but this season is testing managers earlier than usual.
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. With reliable options dwindling fast, managers are flooding the waiver wire searching for answers.
Rather than chasing unpredictable targets, gaining a true competitive edge comes down to defensive 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.
No team illustrates this target-rich environment better than the Bengals. Calling their tight end defense “historically bad” last season is not a clever euphemism, it is a literal fact. In NFL history, no defense allowed more receptions, receiving yards and touchdowns to opposing tight ends than the 2025 Bengals.
Though Cincinnati worked to patch up its defensive unit during the offseason, early results prove the vulnerability remains. 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.
This brings us to Steelers tight end Pat Freiermuth. Under new head coach Mike McCarthy, Freiermuth’s snap share and target volume have surged. In McCarthy’s system, the tight end acts as a safety valve and intermediate threat, a role Freiermuth is equipped to maximize.
Given his ascending usage and high-floor weekly projection, Freiermuth has transformed into a must-add waiver claim. Unless you already own an undisputed elite option, Freiermuth should be locked directly into your starting lineup this week.
Another intriguing target sitting on many waiver wires is Darren Waller of the 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.
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.
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.
Seahawks tight end A.J. Barner might not be the most glamorous name, but he commands an 80 percent snap 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.
Betting on the NFL?
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. Follow him on X @rotobuzzguy, catch him on the award-winning “Fantasy Alarm Radio Show” on SiriusXM Fantasy Sports Radio (Ch. 87) weekdays from 6-8 p.m. and dominate your leagues with the latest football news and advice from Fantasy Alarm.
