Thursday fantasy flier, Semifinal Week: Jacob Tamme

The fantasy playoffs are upon us, and losing is not an option.

At times like this, I rarely like to roll with a flavor-of-week pickup, unless it's out of necessity. I'm not benching Frank Gore for Toby Gerhart, I'm not sitting Matt Ryan in favor of Kirk Cousins, and I'm not demoting Vincent Jackson for Cordarrelle Patterson. Maybe that makes my Week 15 ranks a little boring, but I tend to worry about the substantial downside of unproven and/or lower-tier talents.

But hey, it's your team. You made it this far. Manage as you see fit. If you're part of the Ogbonnaya Army, I wish you well.

The point of this preamble — which obviously has little to do with Thursday night's matchup — is that I don't really think you should be looking for many fliers this time of year. Clearly your lineup was good enough to get you to December. This is no time to bail on your stars.

However, several thousand of you lost a star of the highest magnitude last weekend, when Rob Gronkowski suffered a season-ending knee injury (ACL, MCL). In your case, a flier is the only course of action. And since there's only so much Pitta to go around, several of you will be looking to Denver...

TE Jacob Tamme, Den (12 percent owned, 5 percent started) – As you might have noticed last Sunday, Tamme basically fell into an every-down role after Wes Welker left the field (concussion). Tamme saw 48 snaps according to Pro Football Focus, running 23 routes from the slot.

Interested? Well, if you're Gronkless, you probably should be.

Tamme isn't necessarily the flashiest pass-catching tight end, but he's a trusted target for an all-world QB, plus he's tied to an offense that averages 39.6(!) points per game. Welker has already been ruled out for Thursday's tilt, for the record, so Tamme should see plenty of work. He'll coexist just fine with Orange Julius; he figures to fill a different role. Tamme hauled in four catches for 47 yards on five targets in Week 14. Consider him approved for use in all formats.