NFL Fantasy 2026

TE Fantasy Rankings 2026 — Draft Tiers, Projections & ADP

Tight end is the most top-heavy position in fantasy: a handful of every-week difference-makers, then a wasteland of touchdown-dependent dart throws. That shape makes value over replacement (VOR) spike for the elite tier — a top TE beats the streaming pool by more than most 'higher-scoring' players at other positions beat theirs — and collapse fast right after it. The classic draft decision follows directly from the table below: pay up for one of the few elites while their tier lasts, or punt the position entirely and stream matchups off the wire.

Scoring:PPR Half-PPR Standard

Biggest ADP values at TE

Players our board ranks meaningfully higher than the market drafts them — the gap between VOR-based rank and public ADP is where draft value lives.

Hunter Henry — market ADP ~#178 overall, our board #87 (+91 picks of value)
Travis Kelce — market ADP ~#120 overall, our board #32 (+88 picks of value)
Dalton Schultz — market ADP ~#189 overall, our board #102 (+87 picks of value)

Tier breaks (T2, T3, …) mark real drop-offs in projected value — players inside a tier are close; between tiers the gap is big enough to change your pick.

#	Player	Team	Proj pts	VOR	TD%	ADP	’25 finish
1	T1Trey McBride	ARI	206	86	36%	38.3	TE1
2	Colston Loveland	CHI	168	49	29%	61.3	TE12
3	Brock Bowers	LV	167	47	31%	43.2	TE10
4	Travis Kelce	KC	165	46	28%	119.9	TE4
5	T2Harold Fannin Jr.	CLE	164	45	33%	81.7	TE5
6	George Kittle	SF	162	43	31%	103.9	TE13
7	Kyle Pitts	ATL	155	36	29%	85.0	TE2
8	Dallas Goedert	PHI	152	32	31%	96.2	TE3
9	T3Mark Andrews	BAL	147	27	26%	124.8	TE17
10	Tyler Warren	IND	144	24	25%	72.1	TE6
11	Zach Ertz	WAS	139	20	29%	—	TE21
12	Juwan Johnson	NO	124	5	22%	160.8	TE9
13	T4Hunter Henry	NE	120	1	23%	165.9	TE8
14	Sam LaPorta	DET	120	0	31%	124.6	TE27
15	T.J. Hockenson	MIN	117	-2	23%	172.9	TE26
16	Pat Freiermuth	PIT	117	-3	22%	—	TE24
17	T5Dalton Schultz	HOU	116	-4	21%	175.9	TE11
18	Chig Okonkwo	WAS	111	-9	21%	—	TE22
19	Jonnu Smith	PIT	109	-11	15%	—	TE34
20	Theo Johnson	NYG	107	-13	23%	—	TE19
21	T6Oronde Gadsden II	LAC	106	-14	21%	164.4	TE16
22	Jake Ferguson	DAL	105	-15	21%	139.2	TE7
23	Tucker Kraft	GB	105	-15	31%	95.0	TE20
24	Evan Engram	DEN	99	-21	17%	—	TE29
25	T7Isaiah Likely	NYG	98	-22	23%	135.7	TE45
26	Cade Otton	TB	97	-23	18%	—	TE25
27	Gunnar Helm	TEN	96	-24	19%	—	TE33
28	Dalton Kincaid	BUF	93	-27	21%	149.5	TE18
29	T8Mike Gesicki	CIN	85	-34	19%	—	TE40
30	AJ Barner	SEA	85	-35	21%	—	TE14
31	Brenton Strange	JAX	84	-36	22%	172.5	TE23
32	Cole Kmet	CHI	84	-36	15%	—	TE37
33	T9Taysom Hill	NO	83	-37	18%	—	TE55
34	Colby Parkinson	LA	82	-38	19%	—	TE15
35	Mason Taylor	NYJ	81	-39	20%	—	TE35
36	Dawson Knox	BUF	79	-41	20%	—	TE28
37	T10Tyler Higbee	LA	76	-44	15%	—	TE38
38	David Njoku	LAC	75	-45	23%	—	TE32
39	Austin Hooper	ATL	67	-53	14%	—	TE47
40	Darren Waller	MIA	66	-54	24%	—	TE30
41	T11Tommy Tremble	CAR	65	-55	17%	—	TE44
42	Noah Gray	KC	63	-57	11%	—	TE62
43	Noah Fant	NO	61	-59	12%	—	TE36
44	Elijah Higgins	ARI	59	-61	11%	—	TE50
45	T12Michael Mayer	LV	57	-63	18%	—	TE41
46	Davis Allen	LA	57	-63	15%	—	TE43
47	Luke Musgrave	GB	57	-63	12%	—	TE56
48	Tyler Conklin	DET	54	-66	11%	—	TE81
49	T13Will Dissly	LAC	53	-66	12%	—	TE77
50	Jake Tonges	SF	53	-67	30%	—	TE31
51	Greg Dulcich	MIA	52	-68	19%	—	TE42
52	Ja'Tavion Sanders	CAR	51	-69	12%	—	TE52
53	T14Foster Moreau	HOU	50	-69	14%	—	TE88
54	Darnell Washington	PIT	50	-70	12%	—	TE39
55	Mitchell Evans	CAR	48	-72	13%	—	TE53
56	Terrance Ferguson	LA	47	-73	17%	187.1	TE49
57	T15Josh Oliver	MIN	46	-73	16%	—	TE48
58	Jeremy Ruckert	NYJ	45	-75	12%	—	TE58
59	Daniel Bellinger	TEN	43	-77	14%	—	TE46
60	Luke Schoonmaker	DAL	43	-77	9%	—	TE71
61	T16Adam Trautman	DEN	41	-78	11%	—	TE57
62	Jackson Hawes	BUF	38	-81	15%	—	TE51
63	Johnny Mundt	PHI	36	-84	9%	—	TE76
64	Elijah Arroyo	SEA	35	-85	11%	—	TE59
65	T17Connor Heyward	LV	34	-86	12%	—	TE65
66	Grant Calcaterra	PHI	33	-87	8%	—	TE74
67	Tanner Hudson	CIN	32	-88	11%	—	TE54
68	Drew Sample	CIN	32	-88	8%	—	TE66
69	T18Mo Alie-Cox	IND	32	-88	12%	—	TE67
70	Brock Wright	DET	31	-89	18%	—	TE61
71	Brevyn Spann-Ford	DAL	31	-89	7%	—	TE72
72	Cade Stover	HOU	30	-90	9%	—	TE79
73	T19Ben Sinnott	WAS	30	-90	16%	—	TE68
74	John FitzPatrick	GB	30	-90	10%	—	TE73
75	Josh Whyle	GB	29	-91	12%	—	TE84
76	Charlie Kolar	LAC	27	-92	9%	—	TE60
77	T20Nate Adkins	DEN	26	-94	12%	—	TE80
78	Quintin Morris	JAX	26	-94	11%	—	TE78
79	Julian Hill	NE	25	-94	9%	—	TE70
80	Ian Thomas	LV	23	-97	9%	—	TE75
81	T21John Bates	WAS	23	-97	8%	—	TE69
82	Eric Saubert	SEA	20	-99	8%	—	TE97
83	Tanner Conner	NYG	20	-99	10%	—	TE82
84	Hunter Long	JAX	20	-100	13%	—	TE63
85	T22Kylen Granson	TEN	20	-100	6%	—	TE92
86	Payne Durham	TB	20	-100	9%	—	TE114
87	Stone Smartt	PHI	20	-100	8%	—	TE91
88	Andrew Ogletree	IND	18	-101	10%	—	TE86
89	T23Jack Stoll	CLE	18	-102	8%	—	TE83
90	Lucas Krull	DEN	16	-104	10%	—	TE106
91	Charlie Woerner	ATL	16	-104	10%	—	TE90
92	Luke Farrell	SF	16	-104	6%	—	TE64
93	T24Anthony Firkser	WAS	15	-105	11%	—	TE89
94	Blake Whiteheart	CLE	14	-106	7%	—	TE115
95	David Martin-Robinson	TEN	14	-106	7%	—	TE85
96	Harrison Bryant	SEA	14	-106	10%	—	TE112
97	T25Devin Culp	TB	13	-107	9%	—	TE93
98	Durham Smythe	BAL	13	-107	6%	—	TE98
99	Colson Yankoff	WAS	13	-107	7%	—	TE104
100	Cameron Latu	PHI	12	-108	8%	—	TE127
101	T26Feleipe Franks	CAR	11	-108	8%	—	TE124
102	Tucker Fisk	LAC	11	-109	7%	—	TE103
103	Brenden Bates	CLE	10	-110	8%	—	TE94
104	Ross Dwelley	DET	10	-110	11%	—	TE113
105	T27Josiah Deguara	ARI	9	-110	7%	—	TE87
106	Jelani Woods	NYJ	9	-111	16%	—	TE118
107	Pharaoh Brown	ARI	9	-111	7%	—	TE117
108	Tip Reiman	ARI	9	-111	10%	—	TE102
109	T28Ben Yurosek	MIN	8	-112	6%	—	TE107
110	Chris Manhertz	NYG	7	-112	7%	—	TE116
111	James Mitchell	CAR	7	-112	8%	—	TE100
112	Ben Sims	MIA	7	-113	9%	—	TE99
113	T29Jack Westover	NE	7	-113	7%	—	TE123
114	Brayden Willis	SF	7	-113	9%	—	TE131
115	Robert Tonyan	PIT	6	-114	14%	—	TE122
116	Teagan Quitoriano	ARI	6	-114	12%	—	TE128
117	T30Cam Grandy	CIN	5	-114	7%	—	TE111
118	Ko Kieft	TB	5	-115	12%	—	TE129
119	Nick Kallerup	SEA	5	-115	7%	—	TE136
120	Will Mallory	IND	4	-116	9%	—	TE109
121	T31Giovanni Ricci	DET	4	-116	8%	—	TE126
122	Albert Okwuegbunam	LV	4	-116	14%	—	TE95
123	Shane Zylstra	BUF	3	-117	14%	—	TE101
124	Marcedes Lewis	DEN	2	-118	12%	—	TE125
	TKenyon Sadiq	NYJ	—	—	—	175.4	—

Data baseline from the projection models · refreshed 30 Aug 2026.

Per-game projections from prior-season form, usage and opponent strength — a data baseline, not a betting edge. Rookies without NFL production are placed by market ADP, not model-projected. For entertainment / draft research — 18+.

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TE fantasy rankings — FAQ

Should I draft an elite TE or wait?

Both are defensible — what loses is the middle. The elite tier's VOR justifies a genuinely early pick because the weekly edge over a streamed TE is large and repeatable. Once that tier is gone, the projected gap between TE8 and TE18 is often smaller than one bench RB's upside, so spending a mid-round pick there is the worst of both worlds. Our tier breaks show exactly where the cliff is; after it, wait and stream.

Why is TD% so important for tight ends?

Because TE scoring is the most touchdown-dependent of any position. Outside the elite target earners, most TEs project for 3–6 targets a game — the difference between a usable week and a zero is usually one red-zone throw. The TD% column (the model's anytime-TD probability) flags which TEs get real red-zone routes rather than just snaps, which is the stickiest part of their role year over year.

What does 'streaming' a tight end mean?

Playing the position week to week off the waiver wire instead of rostering one starter: each week you pick the available TE with the best matchup — a bad opposing defense against TEs, a projected shootout, or an injury that funnels red-zone targets his way. Because replacement-level TEs are close together, a well-picked stream loses surprisingly little to a mid-tier 'set-and-forget' TE and costs you a roster spot instead of a draft pick.