Who Should I Start? Will Dissly or AJ Barner

Saturday, January 11, 11:47 PM

Los Angeles Chargers tight end Will Dissly struggled his way through a rough loss in the Wild Card Round of the playoffs against the Houston Texans. Dissly was targeted five times, making two catches for 16 yards total. He dropped a pass while completely wide open and also was unable to catch a rather easy pass that he batted and turned into an interception instead. Dissly came on as a solid and reliable high-floor fantasy tight end in the second half of the season, but he was almost solely responsible for a 14-point swing in the most important game of the season for the Chargers. Dissly signed a three-year deal before the season, so he should be expected back with the Bolts, but they'll likely look for a more traditional pass-catching tight end either in free agency or in the draft.

Friday, September 12, 3:21 PM

Seattle Seahawks tight end AJ Barner had a quiet game in Week 1 against the San Francisco 49ers. He will look to bounce back in Week 2 when Seattle visits the Pittsburgh Steelers. Barner caught one of two targets for zero yards in the season opener. That stat line is completely unusable in fantasy, but his 85% snap share was telling. The Seahawks clearly view Barner as their current No. 1 tight end, and no one behind him did anything to threaten that position in the short term. In Barner's defense, only seven of Sam Darnold's 16 completions went to anyone not named Jaxon Smith-Njigba. There was not much to go around in a passing game that was clearly still working through the kinks. Offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak is good at featuring his tight ends. It is only a matter of time before one of the tight ends on this team emerges. With Barner's considerable playing time, he could start to find himself in fantasy relevance. For now, take a wait-and-see approach with Barner remaining on the waiver wire.