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2026 Fantasy Football Tight End Rankings: Top 10 TEs, Full Rankings

By DIRECTV Insider Staff
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2026 Fantasy Football Tight End Rankings: Top 10 TEs, Full Rankings

Tight end can be a tough position to draft for even the best fantasy football manager. There simply aren’t as many of them to go around as there are wide receivers and running backs, and of those players, only a handful stand to make a real, consistent impact on your score each week.

Want to make sure you secure a truly game-changing tight end for your team? We’ve stacked up this year’s available options at the position in fantasy drafts. Here’s our top 10 fantasy football TEs for 2026, plus a full ranking of all fantasy tight ends available this season.

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Top Fantasy Football Tight Ends in 2026 (July 13, 2026)

Here are the top 10 tight ends available in this year’s fantasy football drafts, plus the full fantasy TE rankings by ADP (average draft position) in 2026.

This is a consensus ranking and may differ based on your league’s specific format and scoring rulesPoints are based on PPR scoring.

1. Brock Bowers – Las Vegas Raiders (Tier 1, ADP 17)

2025 Stats: 174.2 points, 64 receptions, 680 receiving yards, 7 Rec. TD

Bowers played just 12 games in 2025 after a Week 1 knee injury lingered all year, and he still finished as a top-tier fantasy tight end. That’s the whole case for taking him near the top of the position. When healthy as a rookie he looked like the best pass-catcher at the spot, and a clean bill of health is the bet you’re making at an ADP inside the second round.

The Raiders rebuilt around him. Klint Kubiak takes over as head coach, and Las Vegas brought in Kirk Cousins and rookie Fernando Mendoza to fix the quarterback play that dragged the whole offense down last year. With no meaningful additions to the receiver room, Bowers should lead the team in targets by a wide margin, exactly the locked-in volume you want at a volatile position.

2. Trey McBride – Arizona Cardinals (Tier 1, ADP 23)

2025 Stats: 315.9 points, 126 receptions, 1,239 receiving yards, 11 Rec. TD

McBride was the overall TE1 in 2025, and it wasn’t close. 126 catches on 169 targets is wide-receiver volume coming from a tight end. He got there on catches and yards rather than a fluky touchdown spike, which is exactly the profile you can trust from one year to the next. That kind of usage is the safest floor at the position.

The questions for 2026 are around him, not about him. Arizona has a new staff in head coach Mike LaFleur and coordinator Nathaniel Hackett, Jacoby Brissett’s contract situation clouds the quarterback picture, and a healthy Marvin Harrison Jr. plus a rising Michael Wilson could nibble at his target share. None of it should knock him far down your board. When a tight end commands this many looks, he stays elite even through a shaky supporting cast.

3. Colston Loveland – Chicago Bears (Tier 2, ADP 40)

2025 Stats: 165.1 points, 58 receptions, 713 receiving yards, 6 Rec. TD

Loveland’s rookie line undersells what happened down the stretch. From Week 9 on he was the TE2 in fantasy behind only McBride, and over Chicago’s final four games Ben Johnson turned him loose, feeding him 10-plus targets in each while he averaged 12 looks and nearly 95 yards a game. Rookie tight ends almost never finish a season trending like that.

The 10th pick of the 2025 draft, Loveland has a young quarterback in Caleb Williams whose game got steadier in Johnson’s first year, with his sack rate cut sharply. If that late-season role carries into 2026, the ceiling here is fantasy’s top-scoring tight end, which is why he’s already going as a consensus TE3. It’s an aggressive price for a second-year player, and it’s earned.

4. Tyler Warren – Indianapolis Colts (Tier 3, ADP 52)

2025 Stats: 188.5 points, 76 receptions, 817 receiving yards, 4 Rec. TD

Warren led the Colts in targets as a rookie with 112, the kind of immediate trust that usually signals a long fantasy career. He finished TE5 despite a clear second-half fade, averaging 11.1 points a game over his first ten before slipping to 5.6 over his last seven. Daniel Jones’ late-season injuries explain most of that drop-off.

Indianapolis leaned further into him this offseason. The Colts traded away Michael Pittman and didn’t replace that volume with any real pass-catching addition, which funnels more work Warren’s way. The catch is Jones, who’s rehabbing an Achilles and whose Week 1 status is worth watching. If he’s right, Warren’s target floor makes him a strong bet in the middle rounds.

5. Tucker Kraft – Green Bay Packers (Tier 4, ADP 73)

2025 Stats: 117.2 points, 32 receptions, 489 receiving yards, 6 Rec. TD

Before an ACL and meniscus tear ended his season after eight games, Kraft was the TE2 in fantasy behind only McBride. He’d become Jordan Love’s clear favorite, and he did it as a big, physical target who finishes in the red zone, six touchdowns in half a season tells you that. That’s an ascending player cut off mid-breakout.

His 2026 draft price bakes in the knee. Green Bay’s staff has him ahead of schedule, with Matt LaFleur floating a return around training camp, and Romeo Doubs and Dontayvion Wicks both left in free agency, thinning the pass-catching room. If Kraft is close to full health by Week 1, his seventh-round ADP will look like a bargain. Monitor the summer news and pounce on any discount.

6. Harold Fannin – Cleveland Browns (Tier 4, ADP 79)

2025 Stats: 186.4 points, 72 receptions, 731 receiving yards, 6 Rec. TD

The clearest path-clearing move of any tight end’s offseason belongs to Fannin. David Njoku signed with the Chargers, removing the one obstacle between him and a full-time role. As a rookie, Fannin gave us a five-game preview of what an unobstructed workload without Njoku looks like for him, averaging 15.9 PPR points.

Cleveland’s depth chart behind him is bare, with names like Jack Stoll and Blake Whiteheart unlikely to eat into his volume, and new head coach Todd Monken has a long history of feeding tight ends. The quarterback and offense carry real question marks. Even so, the opportunity here is top-five at the position if the targets show up the way the role suggests they will.

7. Kyle Pitts – Atlanta Falcons (Tier 4, ADP 80)

2025 Stats: 210.8 points, 88 receptions, 928 receiving yards, 5 Rec. TD

Atlanta kept Pitts on a three-year extension and handed the offense to Kevin Stefanski, whose tight ends finished first or second on the team in targets in four of his six Cleveland seasons. That’s the most tight-end-friendly setup Pitts has had, and he’s coming off his most productive year, 88 catches for 928 yards and a TE5 finish.

For Pitts, talent was never the question. Consistency is. He averaged 19.1 PPR points in games without Drake London last year and just 9.6 with him, a boom-or-bust split that’s followed him his whole career. The quarterback picture doesn’t help, with Michael Penix coming off a torn ACL and the starting job unsettled. Draft him for the ceiling, not for weekly peace of mind.

8. Sam LaPorta – Detroit Lions (Tier 4, ADP 84)

2025 Stats: 106.9 points, 40 receptions, 489 receiving yards, 3 Rec. TD

LaPorta’s 2025 got cut short by a herniated disc in Week 10 that cost him the final eight games, but the bigger story is the coordinator change. Drew Petzing arrives from Arizona, where he turned McBride into the overall TE1, and he inherits a tight end whose efficiency actually peaked last year with career highs in catch rate and yards per route run. The quality never slipped; the volume did.

That volume is the whole bet. LaPorta has averaged under five targets a game the last two years after seven-plus as a rookie, and he sits fourth in Detroit’s pecking order behind Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jameson Williams and Jahmyr Gibbs. If Petzing’s scheme pulls his targets back up and his three touchdowns regress toward normal, mid-tier TE1 value is on the table at his eighth-round price.

9. George Kittle – San Francisco 49ers (Tier 5, ADP 104)

2025 Stats: 161.5 points, 57 receptions, 628 receiving yards, 7 Rec. TD

Kittle tore his Achilles in San Francisco’s wild-card win in January, and at 32 that’s the shadow hanging over his draft price. He says he’s targeting the Week 1 opener against the Rams in Australia, and the tear was a clean one higher on the tendon that tends to heal faster, but eight months is a tight window for a player his age. There’s real risk he misses time or looks a step slow early.

The upside is why you stomach it. When healthy, Kittle stays absurdly efficient, with better career yards per catch and per target than Ja’Marr Chase, and Kyle Shanahan’s offense still funnels red-zone work his way. At an ADP outside the top eight tight ends, you’re buying a discount with a shot at peak Kittle by the fantasy playoffs. That’s a swing worth taking late.

10. Travis Kelce – Kansas City Chiefs (Tier 5, ADP 108)

2025 Stats: 191.2 points, 76 receptions, 851 receiving yards, 5 Rec. TD

Kelce is back for a 14th season, and the numbers say the decline is real. His 11.4 PPR points per game in 2025 were his lowest since 2015, the second straight year his average dropped, and his efficiency has slid with it, from a career 8.6 yards per target down under 7.0 the last two seasons. The Hall of Fame resume doesn’t change what the recent tape shows.

He’s still tied to Patrick Mahomes, which keeps a floor under him, though Mahomes is working back from a torn ACL and LCL suffered in Week 15 and aiming for Week 1. Treat Kelce as a low-end TE1 who now mixes boom weeks with plenty of duds. At his price he’s a fine fallback, but the days of drafting him as a set-and-forget edge are over.


Full Tight End ADP Rankings

ADP Pos Rank Player Team 10-Team 12-Team Overall Movement Position Movement
17 TE1 Brock Bowers Las Vegas Raiders 2.07 2.05 ▲ 1
23 TE2 Trey McBride Arizona Cardinals 3.03 2.11 ▼ 1
40 TE3 Colston Loveland Chicago Bears 4.1 4.04
52 TE4 Tyler Warren Indianapolis Colts 6.02 5.04 ▲ 3
73 TE5 Tucker Kraft Green Bay Packers 8.03 7.01 ▲ 1
79 TE6 Harold Fannin Cleveland Browns 8.09 7.07
80 TE7 Kyle Pitts Atlanta Falcons 8.1 7.08 ▲ 1
84 TE8 Sam LaPorta Detroit Lions 9.04 7.12 ▲ 1
104 TE9 George Kittle San Francisco 49ers 11.04 9.08
108 TE10 Travis Kelce Kansas City Chiefs 11.08 9.12 ▼ 1
114 TE11 Jake Ferguson Dallas Cowboys 12.04 10.06
115 TE12 Dallas Goedert Philadelphia Eagles 12.05 10.07 ▲ 1
117 TE13 Dalton Kincaid Buffalo Bills 12.07 10.09
121 TE14 Isaiah Likely New York Giants 13.01 11.01
125 TE15 Mark Andrews Baltimore Ravens 13.05 11.05 ▲ 1
138 TE16 Oronde Gadsden Los Angeles Chargers 14.08 12.06 ▲ 1
139 TE17 Brenton Strange Jacksonville Jaguars 14.09 12.07 ▲ 2
144 TE18 Juwan Johnson New Orleans Saints 15.04 12.12
146 TE19 Chigoziem Okonkwo Washington Commanders 15.06 13.02 ▲ 2
149 TE20 Hunter Henry New England Patriots 15.09 13.05
150 TE21 Kenyon Sadiq New York Jets 15.1 13.06
154 TE22 T.J. Hockenson Minnesota Vikings 16.04 13.1 ▲ 1
165 TE23 Dalton Schultz Houston Texans 17.05 14.09 ▲ 1
168 TE24 AJ Barner Seattle Seahawks 17.08 14.12 ▲ 5
171 TE25 Terrance Ferguson Los Angeles Rams 18.01 15.03 ▲ 10
184 TE26 Mason Taylor New York Jets 19.04 16.04 ▲ 44 ▲ 8
194 TE27 Pat Freiermuth Pittsburgh Steelers 20.04 17.02 ▲ 9 ▲ 1
208 TE28 Eli Stowers Philadelphia Eagles 21.08 18.04 ▼ 19 ▼ 2
214 TE29 Jake Tonges San Francisco 49ers 22.04 18.1 ▼ 21 ▼ 2
219 TE30 Darnell Washington Pittsburgh Steelers 22.09 19.03 ▲ 14 ▲ 5
232 TE31 Cole Kmet Chicago Bears 24.02 20.04 ▲ 17 ▲ 6
233 TE32 Dawson Knox Buffalo Bills 24.03 20.05 ▲ 13 ▲ 4
234 TE33 Greg Dulcich Miami Dolphins 24.04 20.06 ▼ 26 ▼ 4
238 TE34 Gunnar Helm Tennessee Titans 24.08 20.1 ▼ 29 ▼ 4
242 TE35 Cade Otton Tampa Bay Buccaneers 25.02 21.02 ▼ 28 ▼ 4
249 TE36 Colby Parkinson Los Angeles Rams 25.09 21.09 ▲ 9 ▲ 2
250 TE37 David Njoku Los Angeles Chargers 25.1 21.1 ▼ 35 ▼ 5
257 TE38 Evan Engram Denver Broncos 26.07 22.05 ▼ 35 ▼ 5
258 TE39 Mike Gesicki Cincinnati Bengals 26.08 22.06 ▲ 7
286 TE40 Ja’Tavion Sanders Carolina Panthers 29.06 24.1 NEW NEW

Looking to win your Fantasy Football league in 2026? Find even more stats, tips and tricks right here: 


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Frequently asked questions

Who are the top fantasy football tight ends in 2025?

Brock Bowers, Trey McBride and George Kittle are the best tight end options for fantasy football in 2025.

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