Fantasy football: Turn to tight ends as wide receiver injuries pile up

For decades, the golden rule of fantasy football was simple: Wait on wide receiver because you can always mine gold off the waiver wire.Well, throw that rulebook right in the shredder for the 2026 season. Between deadline trades and a brutal wave of injuries, most recently knocking out Puka Nacua and Michael Wilson, wide receiver rooms across the league have been completely gutted.

The usual depth is gone.Right now, there are at least three NFL teams — Rams, Cardinals and Colts — that don’t roster a single wideout worth starting in a 12-team league.However, their tight end rooms? That is where you may need to look to salvage your roster. Look no further than Los Angeles.

The Rams lost Davante Adams to a hamstring injury earlier this fall, and now Nacua is on IR with lingering knee and toe issues.That leaves Matthew Stafford throwing to Konata Mumpfield, Tutu Atwell and rookie CJ Daniels.

Mumpfield has logged just 21 catches for 254 yards across 26 career games, Atwell is reduced to a part-time gadget role with seven receptions for 99 yards this year, and Daniels has zero career targets. When Sean McVay loses his perimeter stars, he shifts heavily into 12- and 13-personnel, leaning on Tyler Higbee (28 catches, 287 yards) and Colby Parkinson (18 grabs, 116 yards).With Arizona ranking 30th in DVOA against tight ends, either Higbee or Parkinson makes a solid tight end play and possibly even a sneaky-good flex play. The exact same dynamic is playing out in the desert.

Arizona placed Wilson on IR with a neck injury, leaving rookie QB Carson Beck, in his first career start, to work with Reggie Virgil, Simi Fehoko and Devin Duvernay.Virgil is a fifth-round rookie with two catches for 29 yards.

Fehoko has just 11 catches and 156 yards since, and Duvernay has totaled six catches for 48 yards over the past two seasons. Beck will obviously pepper Trey McBride with targets, but head coach Mike LaFleur often turns to multiple tight end sets when depleted.Because ...