3. In Week 4, Will Dissly caught seven of eight targets for 57 yards and a score. He now ranks sixth among tight ends in fantasy points scored. He’s only played in six full games across his career, but across those games is averaging 15.5 fantasy points per game (would rank top-four in any season this past decade).
Dissly has seen at least five targets in five of these six games but has mostly been reliant on touchdowns for his fantasy production, averaging a touchdown per game over this stretch. That’s typically a red flag, and this is an unsustainably high number, but really, we should be viewing this as a positive — it seems Dissly has assumed the Jimmy Graham role in the offense. In 2017, with the Seahawks, Graham led the position in touchdowns (10) and saw 14 targets inside the 5-yard line (the most by any player this past decade). Like Graham, Dissly has been a focal point near the end zone, drawing three targets inside the 10-yard line (no other Seattle receiver has more than one) and four end-zone targets this year. With this sort of usage, Dissly has easy TE1 upside.
While Dissly did benefit from an ideal matchup — Arizona came into the week surrendering 29.3 fantasy points per game to opposing tight ends (11.0 more than the second-worst team) — his Week 4 usage is more meaningful to me than his production. Dissly ran a route on just 45% of Russell Wilson’s dropbacks through the first three weeks of the season (compared to 43% for Nick Vannett). In Week 4, immediately following Vannett’s departure (traded to Pittsburgh), Dissly ran a route on 68% of Wilson’s dropbacks.