If you’re in need of a tight end streamer for your fantasy football championship game, the Saints have two good ones to choose from in Taysom Hill and Juwan Johnson. The duo is is rostered in just 55% and 31% of leagues, respectively.
Our Sean Koerner has been touting Hill all season as the highest upside play at the position outside of Travis Kelce, and he’s certainly not jumping ship now. Johnson, meanwhile, had a not-so-great Week 16 performance, but that was in a rather unfriendly game environment in Cleveland due to weather.
They’re both good plays for Week 17, read on below to find out which one is the right option for you.
Sean Koerner: I have considered Hill a must-start TE1 option for quite some time.
Unless you have a sure-fire top-five option, the position itself is low scoring and a weekly crapshoot, so why not tap into the player who has the highest upside? What I mean by that: If there were odds of which tight would have the highest score on a weekly basis, Hill would have top 3-4 odds nearly every time, even if his median projection was in the TE10-14 range.
Johnson remains a TD-dependent TE2, but the waiver wire is pretty lackluster so I consider him and Tyler Conklin to be the top streaming options for the fantasy finals. As always, be sure to check my updated rankings to see who the best available TE is in your league.
Samantha Previte: Hill saw no targets in the Saints' 17-10 win over the Browns and still finished as a top-12 tight end for the fourth time in five games. He rushed nine times for 56 yards and a touchdown and was the TE8 in Week 16.
Johnson was held to one catch for nine yards, though the entire Saints passing attack was ineffective in freezing temperatures. Prior to that, Johnson had scored five touchdowns in five games.
Hill remains one of the high-upside tight end options, and a more reliable one given his consistent usage as a running threat. He will be a TE1 in Weeks 17 and 18 against the Eagles and Panthers — both of which have below-average defenses against the run.
Johnson should bounce back and will also carry some TE1 upside.
Mike Triplett: Johnson remains just as viable as Hill as a potential top-10 TE option. In fact, Johnson might be the better choice at Philly this week in case the Saints fall behind and can’t stay committed to the run game.
Ignore Johnson’s stat line in Cleveland this past week since it was so difficult to throw in extreme weather conditions. Instead, focus on Johnson’s seven TD catches and 21 receptions over his previous seven healthy games played. His role should be even bigger if Chris Olave remains sidelined.
