Who Should I Start? Cade Otton or Jeremy Ruckert

Friday, October 31, 11:02 AM

With his team dealing with multiple wide receiver injuries, Tampa Bay Buccaneers tight end Cade Otton seemingly had a golden opportunity to emerge as a heavy target-earner in Week 8 against the New Orleans Saints. Instead, Otton turned in a modest performance, recording four catches for 40 yards on five targets. Tampa Bay will remain without Mike Evans (collarbone) following its Week 9 bye, but wide receiver Chris Godwin (leg) could make his return in Week 10 against the New England Patriots. Star running back Bucky Irving (shoulder, foot) could also be back in the mix, which would likely take some short-area targets away from Otton. Otton should still provide a relatively stable floor for fantasy managers when Tampa Bay returns from its bye, but he may have missed his highest-upside window of the season.

Monday, June 9, 12:26 PM

The Athletic's Zack Rosenblatt writes that New York Jets tight end Jeremy Ruckert has shown progress as a pass-catcher this offseason. Ruckert was teammates with new quarterback Justin Fields in college at Ohio State, so he's been seeing a heavy workload during organized team activities. Still, Ruckert has plenty to prove coming off three disappointing seasons to start his NFL career, including regressing as a run-blocker last year. "I think he can help us in the passing game, he'll be a really good blocker," had coach Aaron Glenn said. "There's some technical things he can improve on." The 24-year-old former third-rounder (101st overall) in 2022 is still searching for his first NFL touchdown and has caught just 35 of 52 targets for 264 yards in his three seasons. With the Jets taking Mason Taylor in the second round of this year's draft, Ruckert's path to fantasy value is even more of an uphill battle.