Fantasy Football Week 10: Antonio Gates and Fantasy Tight Ends Ready to Explode

The 2011 fantasy football season is already in Week 10, and it’s time to make sure you have the key players in your lineup for big weeks.

Not only am I telling you to start the following tight ends this week, I would go as far as saying that you can drop your backup tight ends because they should start as long as they’re healthy.

The following ends are bound for a big days yardage-wise, and I expect each one of them to find the end zone at least once.

Antonio Gates—This may be the week that Philip Rivers and his old best friend just go to work together and take the game over.

There was talk around the Chargers team this week that people were calling Gates fat and slow, but the health of his foot has been excellent and he is rounding into playing shape nicely.

Since returning three weeks ago, Gates has not only been able to practice consistently, but his catches have increased to eight last week against the Green Bay Packers. Expect more of the same against division foes the Oakland Raiders.

Aaron Hernandez—While it is still Rob Gronkowski as the primary tight end during the drives that the New England Patriots engineer, Aaron Hernandez is the main red-zone target.

Hernandez has a touchdown in each of the last three games, and he has become a staple of the end zone game plan this season when he has been healthy.

With teams focusing more on Wes Welker and Gronkowski, you will see Tom Brady depend more on Hernandez and that starts this week.

Jermichael Finley—While Finley has been frustratingly inconsistent this season with the Green Bay Packers, he is still getting looks, and every week, Aaron Rodgers gets more comfortable with him catching passes.

Finley has a touchdown in each of his last two games, and his eight targets against the Chargers shows the team’s new-found dedication to him in the pass game.

The matchup this week against the Minnesota Vikings will be tough for Finley, but you can always expect to see him as a target in the red zone.

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