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Kendall Blanton

Young tight end will replace Tyler Higbee in lineup

I’m putting in a late prop bet. Kendall Blanton. I think he’s going to go over 28.5 receiving yards.

The Rams placed Tyler Higbee (knee) on injured reserve Friday, so they’ll be starting Blanton at tight end. He’s their guy, and he looked just fine last week, catching all 5 of the passes thrown his way, for 57 yards. The previous week (while on the field for only 8 plays) Blanton caught both of the passes thrown his way (for 18 yards).

To me, it seems like Blanton is coming on and should perform well in that tight end role. He caught only 4 passes in the regular season, but that’s because he wasn’t playing much.

Blanton also wasn’t a big factor as a pass catcher at Missouri, catching only 22 passes in 10 games in his final season, but he was similarly underused there – stuck behind Albert Okwuegbunam (who’s been a nice second tight end for the Broncos alongside Noah Fant).

Blanton will get the chance to play now, and he’s been with the Rams for three years, practicing in their offense. I think he knows what he’s doing. He’s caught a couple of touchdowns in preseason games – seems to move pretty well. He caught 44 passes for 476 yards and 6 TDs at Missouri.

With Higbee out, I think Blanton will be on the field for pretty much every play. That’s the way it tends to play out in Sean McVay’s offense. There have been only 20 games this year where a tight end has been in a game for all of his team’s offensive plays, and Higbee is the only guy who’s done it six times. Blanton will be that guy.

As for the prop bet, I don’t consider it to be a slam-dunk gimme. I haven’t looked at all the different wagering sites (I’m in Washington State, so some of the sites I can’t even see), but one I saw had Blanton at 3.5 catches for 28.5 yards. That’s in line with how Higbee has performed. In 18 games, Higbee has averaged 3.9 catches for 37.5 yards. He’s gone over 28.5 yards in 12 of his 18 games, and he’s gone over 3.5 catches in 11 of 18.

A two out of three success might not get you excited, but keep in mind also that the Rams have been using their tight end more recently. Higbee had gone for 40-plus yards in six straight games before getting hurt against the 49ers (and in that game, Blanton went for 57, keeping the streak alive – I think he’ll get used).

I guess in general, I consider Blanton to be a little bit more similar to Higbee than most others.

TIGHT ENDS WHO DON'T LEAVE THE FIELD
PlayerOppResultTgtRecYdsTDPlaysPct
Dawson Knox, Buff.at NEW 33-213211179100%
Ricky Seals-Jones, Was.at GBL 10-247651072100%
Logan Thomas, Was.NYGW 30-297545071100%
Ricky Seals-Jones, Was.at DENL 10-174212070100%
George Kittle, S.F.at PHIW 17-114417070100%
George Kittle, S.F.GBL 28-309792070100%
Tyler Higbee, LARat NYGW 38-115536066100%
Austin Hooper, Cle.BALW 24-226530165100%
Tyler Higbee, LARDETW 28-198546065100%
Tyler Higbee, LARat GBL 28-36513062100%
Tyler Higbee, LARARIW 34-114346060100%
Tyler Higbee, LARat INDW 27-24118059100%
John Bates, Was.at NYGW 22-7215059100%
George Kittle, S.F.at TENL 17-203221059100%
Ricky Seals-Jones, Was.KCL 13-316458159100%
David Njoku, Cle.LVL 14-165329056100%
Logan Thomas, Was.LACL 16-203330155100%
Logan Thomas, Was.at BUFL 21-434442154100%
Tyler Higbee, LARCHIW 34-146568052100%
George Kittle, S.F.at LARL 17-205227151100%
Ricky Seals-Jones, Was.NOL 22-33954108299%
John Bates, Was.at CARW 27-21332306699%
Dalton Schultz, Dall.at KCL 9-19865306699%
Dawson Knox, Buff.at KCL 36-4242906398%
Cole Kmet, Chi.DETW 24-1431605798%
Dawson Knox, Buff.INDL 15-411068005598%
Tyler Higbee, LARat SFL 10-31532015498%
George Kittle, S.F.at GBW 13-10646305398%
Tyler Higbee, LARTENL 16-281055107697%
Tyler Higbee, LARat TBW 30-27745107097%
Rob Gronkowski, T.B.LARL 27-301148507097%
Mike Gesicki, Mia.at BUFL 11-26434806797%
George Kittle, S.F.at DALW 23-17311806397%
Zach Ertz, Ariz.INDL 16-221385406397%
Tyler Conklin, Min.LARL 23-30544406197%
Noah Fant, Den.at PITL 19-27432005897%
Tyler Higbee, LARat BALW 20-19966905697%
Dawson Knox, Buff.NEL 10-14621405697%

—Ian Allan

Fantasy Index