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Fantasy Football Playoffs: Start or Sit Martellus Bennett In Week 14

By @bradberreman24

Martellus Bennett, Chicago Bears, Fantasy Football Start or Sit

Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports

Chicago Bears tight end Martellus Bennett started the season with four touchdowns over the first three games, confirming his status as an underrated player in fantasy football circles. Bennett has just one touchdown since then, but he does have at least four receptions in 10 of 12 games this season and he’s coming off an eight-catch, 109-yard effort against the Detroit Lions on Thanksgiving Day.

With a Thursday night matchup coming against the Dallas Cowboys, is Bennett a solid starting option for his fantasy owners in Week 14?

Dallas allowed six touchdowns to tight ends over their first four games this season, but they’ve allowed just three touchdowns to the position over their last eight games and they allowed just one catch for seven yards to the Philadelphia Eagles’ tight ends in Week 13. After it all the Cowboys enter the week allowing the fourth-most fantasy points to tight ends (9.3 per game; ESPN scoring), including the most receptions (73; 6.1 per game) and targets to the position so far (101; 8.4 per game).

Bennett has been targeted at least six times in 10 of 12 games this season, and he is the second-most targeted tight end in the league at this point (94 targets; 7.8 per game), so that alone raises the floor for his fantasy owners in a critical week. He is also the sixth-highest scoring tight end in ESPN standard leagues (99 points; 8.3 per game) right now, which is a testament to his weekly consistency despite going without a touchdown since Week 8.

Bennett is a solid TE1 regardless of matchup, and those that own him would need a clearly superior second option to consider benching him. It’s fair to think December weather will be a factor in Chicago on Thursday night, which could put Bennett in line for double-digit targets from Jay Cutler. If you have Bennett start him and don’t think twice about it this week, as long as the foot issue that has limited his practice participation early this week does not keep him out of the lineup, with the only (rare) exception being if you also have Rob Gronkowski.

Brad Berreman is a Columnist at Rant Sports.com. Connect with him on Twitter or Google +.

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