Niles Paul, Jordan Reed's Instant Fantasy Reaction After Week 8

The puzzle that is the tight end situation in Washington with Niles Paul and Jordan Reed made no headway toward a solution in Week 8 on Monday Night Football. 

Look, if there were a time one of the two tight ends was going to break out and become a fantasy must-have, it was against the Dallas Cowboys, a team that is annually miserable against tight ends and entered Monday allowing the second-most points to the position on average. 

Instead, Paul caught three passes for 27 yards and Reed caught four to total 19 yards by the end of regulation. By the end of an extensive overtime period, neither had improved on the tallies by much:

	REC	YDS	AVG	TD	TGTS	Fantasy Pts.
J. Reed	7	40	5.7	0	7	4
N. Paul	3	27	9.0	0	3	2

Remember, Reed is the guy who flashed major upside a season ago with a pair of double-digit performances, but this season he has battled injury and totaled just nine and five points in two games entering Monday.

Paul had done little in Reed's absence, with the exception being a 15-point outburst back in Week 2. There are positives, though, as Grant Paulsen of 106.7 The Fan points out:

Still, both men continue to suffer in a major way as a turnstile continues to occupy the quarterback position at the moment in Washington.

Keep in mind that this is a Jay Gruden offense, a man who struggled to get the most out of his tight ends in Cincinnati for years. Now he has wideouts such as DeSean Jackson and Pierre Garcon to utilize, so it should come as no shock that tight ends continue to get ignored, even if it makes sense to utilize the big-bodied players as safety cushions.

Until something changes, whether it is the offensive approach or a spark under center, neither player is worth owning in all leagues. If the two could not provide a strong fantasy output against one of the worst units of all, there is little reason to waste a bench slot for the time being.

All scoring info courtesy of ESPN standard leagues, as is points-against info and ownership stats. Statistics courtesy of ESPN.