Who Should I Start? Michael Mayer or Elijah Arroyo

Wednesday, October 8, 3:29 PM

Las Vegas Raiders head coach Pete Carroll said that tight end Michael Mayer (concussion) has cleared the league's concussion protocol and will be a full-go in practice on Wednesday, per Ryan McFadden of ESPN. Mayer has missed the last two games with a concussion, but he appears to be on track to return this Sunday to face the Tennessee Titans in Week 6. The Raiders' TE corps was especially thin in the Week 5 blowout loss to the Indianapolis Colts, with Brock Bowers (knee) also inactive. Mayer isn't really on the fantasy radar when Bowers is healthy, but if Mayer returns this weekend and Bowers misses a second straight game, the 24-year-old would be on the TE2 streaming radar. In three games this year before suffering his head injury, Mayer was minimally involved, catching six of his seven targets for 47 yards and no touchdowns.

Saturday, October 4, 9:16 AM

Seattle Seahawks tight end Elijah Arroyo has seen his snap share increase in each of the first four weeks of the 2025 NFL season, and he could continue to get even more involved in Week 5 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The rookie is coming off the best week of his young career, in which he caught two of four targets for 44 yards on a 55 percent snap share. With that said, he's still the No. 2 tight end in Seattle behind AJ Barner, who has two touchdowns this season and has played at least 85 percent of the snaps in three of four games. Nevertheless, even with Barner present, Arroyo has shown that he can carve out a modest role for himself -- and perhaps start to generate some low-end fantasy appeal in deeper leagues, too. This could be a decent week for Arroyo as the Buccaneers' defense is merely near the middle of the league, allowing the 16th-most fantasy points to tight ends in 2025.