Who Should I Start? Michael Mayer or Cade Stover

Sunday, January 4, 7:54 AM

Las Vegas Raiders tight end Michael Mayer should continue to operate in a high-volume role during Sunday's Week 18 contest against the Kansas City Chiefs. The Raiders recently placed Brock Bowers (knee) on injured reserve, ending his season and putting Mayer into the starting role for the final two games of the year. Last weekend, he exploded as the top target in Geno Smith's offense, catching nine of 10 targets for 89 yards. In total, throughout the three games that Bowers has missed and Mayer has played this year, the latter tight end has 15 catches, 149 yards, and one touchdown. A quarterback change is expected in Week 18, though, as Kenny Pickett steps in for the injured Smith (ankle). Pickett struggled to the tune of 64 yards and one turnover in his lone start this year, but he should still be able to support a fantasy-relevant role for Mayer on Sunday. At worst, Mayer will operate as a security blanket in case Pickett struggles to throw the ball deep or needs to get the ball out quickly. As it stands, he ranks as the overall TE8 in RotoBaller's latest fantasy football rankings for Week 18.

Wednesday, January 21, 8:44 PM

Houston Texans tight end Cade Stover's (knee) MRI exam showed no damage to his ACL, a league source told Aaron Wilson of KPRC2 Sports. Stover was unable to make much happen after fellow tight end Dalton Schultz (calf) left the Divisional Round loss to the New England Patriots before getting hurt himself in the fourth quarter. The 25-year-old caught one of his three targets for only two yards. The good news is that Stover should be a full-go for training camp in the summer and for Week 1 of the regular season in the fall. In his second year in the league, the former fourth-rounder caught just 12 passes for 76 yards and no touchdowns on 16 targets in nine regular-season games. As long as Schultz is healthy going into the start of the season, Stover won't be fantasy relevant. He had a 15-133-1 line in 15 games in 2024 in his rookie campaign.