How to Treat Bengals TE Hayden Hurst as Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Target

Bengals tight end Hayden Hurst is one of the top guys at the position to target on the waiver wire for Week 6 — and for good reason. He’s scored in back-to-back games and he’s also seeing a fair amount of targets.

Our experts dish below on what they think of Hurst both this week and going forward.

Sean Koerner: I have been banging the table for Hurst all offseason and in-season. We are finally seeing him come into his own in this offense as he is essentially a more talented version of C.J. Uzomah.

With teams opting to go with two-high safeties against the Bengals to take away downfield throws, it will be critical for Joe Burrow to target Hurst underneath.

Hurst will be a TE1/2 option going forward. In weeks where either Ja’Marr Chase, Tee Higgins or Tyler Boyd miss time, he might even enter the mid/low-end TE1 discussion.

Chris Raybon: Hurst will be on the TE1 borderline for the rest of the season. His route participation rate percentage tops out in the mid-80s, which is strong for the position.

He is also being targeted on 16% of his routes — not great, but more than No. 3 WR Boyd (11%).

Hurst is on the fringe in Week 6 due to a tough matchup against a Saints defense tied for both the fifth-fewest receptions (3.4) and receiving yards (31.2) per game to TEs.

Samantha Previte: Hurst had yet another nice fantasy day for during the Bengals’ 19-17 primetime loss to the Ravens on Sunday Night Football. Hurst, Baltimore’s first-round pick in 2018, caught 6-of-7 targets for a team-high 53 yards and a touchdown.

His role may have been expanded with Higgins clearly activated to be a decoy and nothing more. That said, it is his second game in a row finding the end zone and third game this year with at least seven targets.

I like Hurst as a Week 6 streamer for T.J. Hockenson or Darren Waller managers.