It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood. A beautiful day in the neighborhood. Won’t you be…….SMASH! BAM! PUKE! SLAM! Unless you drafted Travis Kelce, George Kittle, Mark Andrews, or Darren Waller, the tight end position has likely caused you to throw remotes at the television or sulk, cry, assume the fetal position, then cry some more. But have no fear. Rather than wandering aimlessly in a GTA-esque fashion, there may be a short-term alleviation of your pain, as Richard Rodgers has entered the neighborhood and is prepared to throw a block party. Wait, bad choice of words. A catch party is more like it, but in this Rona world, that could be a troublesome phrase.Â
Rodgers is 28 years old, 6′ 4″, and 257 pounds. He played his college ball at the University of California Berkeley and was selected by the Green Bay Packers in the third round of the 2014 NFL Draft. During his four year stint with the Packers, he played in 63 games and received 181 targets and caught 120 for 1166 yards and 13 touchdowns. In 2018, he was signed by the Philadelphia Eagles. Unfortunately, the next two years were mired by multiple injuries resulting in only eight games played, 1 reception, and injured reserve settlements. He signed with the Washington Football Team in 2020, was released, then ended up back with the Eagles.
Entering the 2020 season, Rodgers was third on the tight end depth chart behind Zach Ertz and Dallas Goedert. As a result, he did not play a snap in the first two games, but then Goedert went down with an injury in Week 3 and Rodgers proceeded to receive 2, 4, 1, and 3 snaps over the next four games. Whoop de doo I hear you saying. Yeah, I’m with you. Kind of yawnstipating, as our illustrious leader at Razzball, Grey, so eloquently puts it. But, but, but….Ertz injured his ankle in Week 6 and was unable to play in Week 7. As a result, Rodgers caught 6-of-8 targets for 85 yards in the Thursday Night game against the New York Giants.Â
Now, Ertz will likely be out four-to-six weeks. Goedert has been progressing, but he’s slated to return in Week 10, which leaves two weeks of Rodgers to dominate the tight end snaps for the Eagles.Â
When I look up Rodgers at PlayerProfiler, it’s meh. 4.87 40-yard dash and no other metric above the 35th percentile. Yuck.
But fantasy football is all about opportunity. And Rodgers should receive all that he can handle over the next two weeks and the matchups are good. Next week, the Eagles play the Cowboys, who are middling against tight ends, then in Week 9, the Eagles play the Giants again.
Through Week 6, the Eagles had a total of 227 targets on the season, with 74 of those going to the tight end position for a 32% share. That rate is good for third behind the Raiders and Titans. As the number one tight end, Ertz received 7, 7, 10, 5, 6, and 10 targets. Rodgers garnered 8 targets when he was thrust into the alpha role.
Rodgers is rostered in than less than 10% of leagues, so grab him if you need tight end help over the next two weeks, and welcome him to your neighborhood.
