Fantasy Football Week 7 TE Waiver Wire: Kyle Pitts, Michael Mayer, and More

I often like to look ahead at bye weeks to see when a position will be heavily affected. When multiple big players are out, more owners will be looking for streamers, making it more necessary to plan ahead.

Tight end won't have many weeks that are heavily hit, though, with Week 8 (Isaiah Likely and George Kittle) and Week 13 (Tyler Warren and Brock Bowers) the only times we will be missing multiple must-start players. That's good news for fantasy owners, leaving less stress outside of the weeks when the most teams are sitting out (like Week 11, when six teams are on bye).

Let's look at four of the top tight end names on the waiver wire heading into Week 7 of the NFL season. Most stats are from NFL.com, and fantasy points and rankings are from FantasyPros.

Use FantasySP's waiver wire tool to find the players who are being added to fantasy rosters most often!

Josh Cuevas, Baltimore Ravens

A fifth-round rookie, Cuevas had caught just three passes for 40 yards prior to Week 6. Then he came out of nowhere to catch four passes for 44 yards and a touchdown against the Browns. Mark Andrews had just one reception for four yards, so it was a surprise to see the backup put up the numbers that he did.

Is this a sign of things to come? Probably not. Cuevas hasn't been on the field much, but with fellow rookie Matt Hibner out in Week 6 and Durham Smythe out for the season, Cuevas was bumped up the depth chart and took advantage of his opportunities. Maybe this earns him more time on the field, but I'm skeptical that he will keep producing.

This happens from time to time with backup tight ends; extra attention gets paid to bigger names on the field, and the lesser-known man is able to sneak away for a big play or find the end zone near the goal line. Cuevas will most likely work as a rotational player and rely on catching a touchdown to be relevant in fantasy, and that's a tough thing to count on with anyone, let alone a mid-round rookie.

Leave Cuevas on the waiver wire despite his big day, waiting for him to prove this new status over multiple weeks before trusting him for anything.

Michael Mayer, Las Vegas Raiders

With a guy like Brock Bowers in front of him, it makes it tough to trust Mayer to put up numbers on any given week. The second tight end is helped by Las Vegas' lack of wide receiver depth, though, making him a guy who is involved in the offense every week.

Over the past four games, Mayer has either scored a touchdown or topped 80 yards in three of them. He had just one catch for two yards in the other game (Week 5 against New England), but Mayer has been regularly on the field and targeted even with Bowers in the lineup.

There is always going to be a ceiling on Mayer's fantasy value, though. Bowers is the Raiders' WR1, and Mayer will always work in a secondary role behind him. He has proven that he can be productive, but Mayer won't ever be a weekly fantasy starter.

Like most tight ends, Mayer is a guy to consider with the matchups. The upcoming schedule is pretty brutal on passing games: Rams, Jets, 49ers, Seahawks, and Broncos is the slate up until Thanksgiving. I don't mind looking at him in future games against the Chargers, Titans, and Cardinals (the final two will come during the fantasy playoffs), but Mayer won't be a guy that I recommend until we are firmly into the holiday season. Leave him on the free agent market for now.

Kyle Pitts Sr., Atlanta Falcons

Pitts isn't as available as the other guys listed here, as he is owned in around 70% of leagues, but this is a guy who was drafted in essentially every fantasy league, so even some availability will bring intrigue from fantasy owners. That's even more true after he had 60 yards and two touchdowns against the Bears on Sunday.

Both those scores came in the final 10 minutes of the game when Atlanta was down by 24 prior to his TDs, so it's fair to say that work came in garbage time, which is always hard to predict. It's his third straight game with over 40 yards and his second straight getting into the end zone, though, so it's worth taking notice.

Pitts was anonymous in the first three games, combining for two receptions and 20 yards. That all came with Michael Penix out of the lineup, though, and Pitts has been much better with his starting QB on the field.

The upcoming schedule is mixed, with tougher matchups against the 49ers, Chiefs, and Vikings interspersed with easier games against the Bucs, Bengals, and (especially) Lions. There's no problem with grabbing Pitts, but keep expectations in check, as he is likely to have as many slow games as he does top-10 performances.

I'd rather play matchups or try to swing a trade for a more consistent player, but if you're in a deep league or just struggling hard at the position and can grab Pitts, it's not the worst option moving forward.

Tommy Tremble, Carolina Panthers

Tremble has played the most snaps of all the Carolina tight ends, but he's often used as a blocker more than a pass catcher, leaving him behind teammate Darren Waller in the pass-catching hierarchy. Tremble had the better game on Sunday, though, catching all four of his targets for 46 yards and two touchdowns while Waller failed to haul in either of his targets.

He also reached 40 yards in Week 3 and had four receptions in Week 4 before the bye, but Tremble is a low-floor, low-ceiling fantasy player. Waller will probably continue to be the better fantasy option, even as Tremble is on the field more often; this game was likely an aberration.

Tremble is listed here because we have to take note any time a guy finds the end zone twice. Like I said in the section about Cuevas, though, weird things happen at the tight end position, and we can't always count on one performance having any bearing on the next. Even when the matchup is right, I can't recommend picking up Tremble, instead preferring Waller (even though he is also a low-floor fantasy player, just with a higher ceiling).