Wildcard Weekend Fantasy TE Breakdown: Eric Ebron, Always

Read the full version of this piece on FantasyLabs.

The regular season is over, but that’s no reason to stop playing daily fantasy football. Wildcard weekend brings a wonderful four-game slate that kicks off on Saturday at 4:35 p.m. ET.

In this positional breakdown, I’m looking at one tight end at the top of the individual Pro Models that Jonathan Bales, Peter Jennings (CSURAM88), Adam Levitan, Sean Koerner, Chris Raybon, Kevin McClelland (SportsGeek) and I have constructed.

If you want more information on the rest of this week’s tight ends, subscribe to FantasyLabs, where you can access the large suite of analytical DFS tools I use to research every player.

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Model Tight End

This week, one tight end stands out above the rest in our Pro Models. In the words of Helena Ravenclaw, "If you have to ask, you'll never know."

• Eric Ebron: $5,200 DraftKings; $7,600 FanDuel

Eric Ebron: Indianapolis Colts (+1.5) at Houston Texans, 48.0 Over/Under

UPDATE (1/5): Wide receivers T.Y. Hilton (ankle) and Dontrelle Inman (shoulder, finger) are questionable but expected to play.

The Texans opened as -2.5 favorites, but the line has moved toward the Colts. On the Wednesday edition of The Favorites podcast, bookmaker Bob Scucci noted that the public and the wiseguys are both backing the Colts, which in theory bodes well for Ebron.

Additionally, professional bettors have targeted the over throughout the week, which makes sense: It’s winter, and the Texans-Colts game will be played indoors. Over the past 15 years, domed games have a postseason over/under record of 28-9-0, good for a magnificent 49.8% return on investment (per Bet Labs). For comparison, outdoor postseason games are 53-70-4 with a -15.5% ROI.

The game environment is definitely in Ebron's favor: The Colts and Texans are both top-10 in situation-neutral pace and should combine to have the week’s fastest-paced matchup. Unsurprisingly, this game has a slate-high pass funnel rating of 76.2.

On the Wednesday edition of The Action Network NFL Podcast, we talked about Ebron as a strong play in both cash games and guaranteed prize pools. Although Eagles tight end Zach Ertz leads the position with his median and ceiling projections, Ebron's projections aren't far behind, and he's significantly cheaper, offering a reasonable combination of upside and value.

Ebron can certainly be frustrating to roster. In Weeks 15-16, he turned eight targets into a 4-36-0 letdown. Even so, Ebron finished the year as the No. 5 fantasy tight end with 11.8 FanDuel points per game, and from a salary-based perspective, he offered the most value at the position with his +4.81 Plus/Minus. After scoring yet another touchdown last week, Ebron enters the playoffs trailing only wide receiver Antonio Brown among non-running backs with his 14 scrimmage touchdowns (13 receiving, one rushing), and on the Colts he trails only wide receiver T.Y. Hilton with his 110 targets, 66 receptions, 750 yards receiving and 1,020 air yards.

As has been the case since Week 13, tight end Jack Doyle (kidney, injured reserve) is out, and in his absence Ebron has seen a dramatic increase in his per-game usage (even though he exited Week 16 early with a concussion).

• Without Doyle (10 games): 64.3% snaps played, 34.2 routes, 8.8 targets
• With Doyle (six games): 40.5% snaps played, 16.8 routes, 3.7 targets

Of course, usage is not always the same as production, and Ebron has amazingly been more productive with Doyle than without him.

• Without Doyle (10 games): 10.9 FanDuel points, 4.8 receptions, 0.2 rushes, 51.2 yards, 0.6 touchdowns
• With Doyle (six games): 16 FanDuel points, three receptions, 0.2 rushes, 38.3 yards, 1.33 touchdowns

While Ebron’s splits and touchdown-driven production might be a little fluky, his high-leverage usage certainly is not. Ebron is first among all players (not just tight ends) with nine touchdowns on passes into the end zone. He trails only Antonio Brown and Texans wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins with his 17 end-zone targets. He’s second with 11 red-zone touchdowns (not counting his two-yard rushing score). And he’s top-10 with 21 red-zone targets.

Read the full version of this piece on FantasyLabs.

Wildcard Weekend Positional Breakdowns

Be sure to read the other wildcard weekend positional breakdowns.

• Quarterbacks
• Running Backs
• Wide Receivers

For more in-depth NFL analysis information, check out The Action Network.

Matthew Freedman is the Editor-in-Chief of FantasyLabs. He has a dog and sometimes a British accent. In Cedar Rapids, Iowa, he’s known only as The Labyrinthian.