Rob Gronkowski, fantasy football wrecker
Welcome to what we call, The Gronk Chronicles.
This is where we show you we’re not above the proverbial “I told you so.” We told you not to take a tight end early. We advised against investing a second-round pick in Rob Gronkowski, or a third-round pick in Jordan Reed, or a fifth-round pick in Tyler Eifert.
You can lead a horse to water … yada, yada, yada … but ultimately, it’s your team and the final decisions are made by you. But some of you didn’t listen, and now you’re running back to be rescued from a problem we spent months trying to help you avoid.
Though you might have thought you were gaining an advantage over your competition by owning one of these “top-tier” tight ends, each had numerous red flags heading into the season and all three have now burned their owners for the exact reasons we told you not to draft them.
When the Patriots declared Gronk inactive for Thursday night, it marked the third week of this short season in which he failed to deliver on his draft price. He did have two weeks with at least 85 yards and a touchdown and even had a 100-yard effort once, but even that game he left injured. The rest of the time, he has been outscored by numerous tight ends who either were late-round picks or waiver claims. Now, looking ahead, we have questions about his health again.
When the top tier at a position is so thin and so marred by injuries, it makes more sense to stream in players with better matchups. It takes some added weekly research, but the payoff is significantly better. Austin Hooper was a Week 1 darling, and the subsequent weeks were highlighted by names like Eric Ebron, David Njoku and Tyler Kroft. This week, Cameron Brate was considered a top streamer and he had five catches for 68 yards and a touchdown Thursday.
Looking to the rest of Week 5, you’ll find a number of tight ends who will outproduce the top tier. Austin Seferian-Jenkins has a soft matchup — Cleveland bleeds points to the tight end position. Zach Miller should be leaned on heavily by rookie quarterback Mitch Trubisky in a surprisingly favorable match-up with Minnesota. And don’t sleep on Hunter Henry this week, because the Giants struggle mightily here as well.
Of course there will be weeks in which Gronk pays off. But how many will there be? The investment you made deserves a full 16 weeks, and that is not something he can deliver. Learn the lesson, set your sights lower at tight end and spare yourself another chapter of The Gronk Chronicles.
Howard Bender is the VP of operations and head of content at FantasyAlarm.com. Follow him on Twitter @rotobuzzguy and catch him on the “Fantasy Alarm Radio Show” on the SiriusXM fantasy sports channel weekdays from 4-6 p.m.