Who Should I Start? Darnell Washington or Tyler Warren

Tuesday, December 30, 1:20 PM

Pittsburgh Steelers tight end Darnell Washington (forearm) had surgery on his broken forearm on Tuesday morning and will not play in the Week 18 regular-season finale against the division-rival Baltimore Ravens on Sunday, according to Mike DeFabo of The Athletic. Head coach Mike Tomlin said he has "some level of optimism for everyone else." The expectation was that Washington would not play after he broke his arm in the Week 17 loss to the Cleveland Browns on Sunday. Not only will the 24-year-old not be available for the winner-take-all game this Sunday night against the Ravens, but Washington is unlikely to be able to return for the playoffs if the Steelers take care of business this weekend. It means that Pat Freiermuth will become a slightly more attractive TE streamer in fantasy, as will Jonnu Smith. Washington's third season in the NFL will finish with 31 catches for 364 yards and a touchdown in 16 games.

Sunday, January 4, 2:01 AM

Indianapolis Colts tight end Tyler Warren presents as a low-upside option for Week 18's road clash with their division-rival Houston Texans. For all intents and purposes, Warren has had an excellent rookie campaign, hauling in 71 passes for 791 yards and four touchdowns on 104 targets -- all second-best on the team. That said, the Penn State alum's production has slowed following the team's Week 11 bye, as he's surpassed 30 receiving yards just twice on six occasions. It's a stark contrast to the first ten weeks of the year, when he failed to do so just once. Favorably, Warren has remained a featured part of the offense with veteran signal-caller Philip Rivers at the helm. Still, he'll carry a less-enticing ceiling than usual when they face off with the best defense in the league on a yards-per-game basis (274.4). Warren ranks as RotoBaller's PPR TE14 ahead of this weekend's games.