Fantasy Football Week 9 Start or Sit: Niles Paul

By Sean Cordy @SicEm18 on October 31, 2014

Fun fact: Washington Redskins tight ends have a single touchdown this season. That sole tight end score came from Niles Paul in Week 2 right after he assumed the starting role when Jordan Reed went down due to injury for four games. Reed has since returned, and neither tight end has had much success. Of course, much of their lack of success is also due to Robert Griffin III missing games since Week 3. Now Griffin returns behind center against the Minnesota Vikings looking to move the offense in full swing, but there’s no guarantee of his tight ends producing, let alone Paul.

Paul’s targets have steadily decreased since his highlight Week 2 performance with 99 yards and a touchdown on 11 targets. Since then, his games have mostly consisted of two and three targets, even with Reed being sidelined. Meanwhile, Reed as the starter usually sees over six targets a game. Yet, even with his quantity of looks, he hasn’t seen much production either. All in all, Redskins tight ends haven’t been overly successful for quite some time. In fact, aside from Paul’s touchdown this season, the last touchdown pass to a Redskins tight end was Week 13 last season to Logan Paulson.

That doesn’t build to much confidence for me. With Griffin returning to a lineup chock full of downfield targets like DeSean Jackson, he’ll be excited to look their way once again, overlooking his big men like Paul and Reed. They’re also facing a tough tight end defense in the Vikings who have stunned even the likes of Rob Gronkowski and Jimmy Graham, allowing eight points between them.

Precedent needs to be broken at some point, but until I start seeing the Redskins leaning on their tight ends more often, it seems their mediocrity will continue for the foreseeable future. Paul was a smart move to have on your roster when Reed was injured and didn’t quite pan out, but now that Paul is back at the TE2 position, there’s no real need to have him on your roster. If you must keep him, leave him on the bench this week.