Los Angeles Chargers veteran tight end Gerald Everett has had an up-and-down season. However, with quarterback Justin Herbert ruled out for the rest of the season, he was able to support backup QB Easton Stick effectively.
With the Chargers going through a ton of change recently, at both quarterback and in terms of play-calling, is Everett worth picking up off the waiver wire this week? Can he provide value to fantasy football managers for the final games of the fantasy playoffs?
Should Gerald Everett Be a Fantasy Waiver Wire Add in Week 16?
The Chargers decided to clean house on Friday after an embarrassing 63-21 defeat to the Las Vegas Raiders, who were shut out by the Minnesota Vikings just five days previously.
Head coach Brandon Staley and general manager Tom Telesco were relieved of their duties, leaving Giff Smith, the team’s linebackers coach, as interim head coach until the end of the season.
With that said, offensive coordinator Kellen Moore figures to remain a key voice in the offensive meetings, and he should provide some stability for this team as they go through significant changes.
Everett comes into Week 16 as the TE21 in fantasy football and the TE20 in fantasy points per game. However, he’s seen a season-high eight targets in each of his last two games, including last week’s game without Herbert in the lineup.
Everett is likely to be called on more by this new coaching staff given the situation they’re currently in. The Chargers are starting a quarterback who has made a total of one career NFL start. They also have injury concerns to star wide receiver Keenan Allen and are struggling to run the ball with Austin Ekeler and the committee behind him.
Everett is in the final year of a two-year, $12 million contract that is unlikely to be renewed by the new GM this offseason. Therefore, it makes sense for the interim staff to utilize Everett’s experience and continue to feed him targets underneath to assist their young and unproven QB.
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On Thursday night, that is exactly what they tried to do.
Everett led Los Angeles in targets (25.8% target share) and receptions and was second in receiving yards on the team. While that is unlikely to be sustainable should Allen return to the starting lineup this week, it’s interesting that Everett had significantly more targets than Ekeler (six).
Everett, at the time of writing, is currently ranked as the TE24 in our PFN early Week 16 Consensus Rankings. However, he has a pretty good schedule in his next two games.
The Buffalo Bills have certainly been more susceptible to passes over the middle since the injury to linebacker Matt Milano. Meanwhile, the Denver Broncos are currently allowing 13.7 fantasy points per game to tight ends, which is the most allowed by any NFL team so far this season.
Therefore, while Everett doesn’t immediately jump off the page as an asset for fantasy managers to pick up off the waiver wire, a QB change and a coaching staff change actually make him an undervalued player right now.
If Everett can find the end zone in either of the next two weeks, he will return TE1 numbers and potentially top-six production at the position.
If fantasy managers are struggling at the TE position, they could do worse than put Everett in their lineups for the next couple of weeks, seeing as he brings a safe floor and a decent ceiling if he can find the end zone.
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