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.

Dalton Schultz — market ADP ~#172 overall, our board #82 (+90 picks of value)
Chig Okonkwo — market ADP ~#169 overall, our board #96 (+73 picks of value)
Travis Kelce — market ADP ~#104 overall, our board #34 (+70 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	267	116	36%	28.9	TE1
2	Kyle Pitts	ATL	222	72	29%	86.8	TE2
3	Travis Kelce	KC	210	60	30%	101.2	TE3
4	Colston Loveland	CHI	207	56	29%	45.8	TE12
5	T2Harold Fannin Jr.	CLE	204	53	33%	68.9	TE6
6	Dallas Goedert	PHI	193	42	31%	120.8	TE7
7	Tyler Warren	IND	177	26	25%	54.7	TE5
8	Mark Andrews	BAL	171	21	26%	127.7	TE17
9	T3George Kittle	SF	166	16	31%	106.1	TE13
10	Brock Bowers	LV	166	16	31%	36.2	TE11
11	Juwan Johnson	NO	163	12	22%	138.8	TE8
12	Dalton Schultz	HOU	161	11	21%	169.6	TE10
13	T4Zach Ertz	WAS	159	9	29%	—	TE20
14	T.J. Hockenson	MIN	151	0	23%	150.5	TE26
15	Chig Okonkwo	TEN	149	-1	21%	166.8	TE21
16	Hunter Henry	NE	147	-4	23%	157.6	TE9
17	T5Theo Johnson	NYG	142	-8	23%	—	TE18
18	Jake Ferguson	DAL	137	-14	21%	116.7	TE4
19	Pat Freiermuth	PIT	130	-21	22%	—	TE25
20	Oronde Gadsden II	LAC	130	-21	21%	162.9	TE15
21	T6Gunnar Helm	TEN	121	-29	19%	—	TE31
22	Colby Parkinson	LA	116	-34	19%	—	TE16
23	Evan Engram	DEN	114	-36	17%	—	TE28
24	Dalton Kincaid	BUF	113	-38	21%	133.7	TE19
25	T7Dawson Knox	BUF	112	-39	20%	—	TE29
26	Cade Otton	TB	110	-41	18%	—	TE22
27	Brenton Strange	JAX	109	-42	22%	157.9	TE23
28	AJ Barner	SEA	105	-45	21%	174.8	TE14
29	T8Mason Taylor	NYJ	103	-48	20%	—	TE33
30	Sam LaPorta	DET	101	-49	31%	69.8	TE27
31	Isaiah Likely	BAL	92	-59	23%	139.2	TE44
32	Jonnu Smith	PIT	89	-61	15%	—	TE35
33	T9Cole Kmet	CHI	87	-63	15%	—	TE37
34	Tucker Kraft	GB	85	-65	31%	73.1	TE24
35	Michael Mayer	LV	85	-66	18%	—	TE38
36	Luke Musgrave	GB	84	-67	12%	—	TE53
37	T10Tyler Higbee	LA	83	-67	15%	—	TE40
38	Mike Gesicki	CIN	83	-67	19%	—	TE41
39	Darren Waller	MIA	81	-70	24%	—	TE32
40	Elijah Higgins	ARI	81	-70	11%	—	TE46
41	T11Davis Allen	LA	79	-72	15%	—	TE45
42	Tommy Tremble	CAR	76	-75	17%	—	TE43
43	David Njoku	CLE	71	-79	23%	—	TE34
44	Greg Dulcich	MIA	71	-79	19%	—	TE42
45	T12Taysom Hill	NO	71	-80	18%	—	TE58
46	Jeremy Ruckert	NYJ	70	-80	12%	—	TE56
47	Austin Hooper	NE	69	-82	14%	—	TE48
48	Darnell Washington	PIT	69	-82	12%	—	TE39
49	T13Jake Tonges	SF	65	-85	30%	—	TE30
50	Noah Fant	CIN	62	-89	12%	—	TE36
51	Mitchell Evans	CAR	59	-91	13%	—	TE54
52	Ja'Tavion Sanders	CAR	57	-93	12%	—	TE50
53	T14Terrance Ferguson	LA	57	-93	17%	—	TE52
54	Noah Gray	KC	57	-94	11%	—	TE60
55	Daniel Bellinger	NYG	56	-94	14%	—	TE47
56	Adam Trautman	DEN	54	-96	11%	—	TE57
57	T15Josh Oliver	MIN	51	-100	16%	—	TE49
58	Jackson Hawes	BUF	47	-103	15%	—	TE51
59	Luke Schoonmaker	DAL	45	-106	9%	—	TE71
60	Elijah Arroyo	SEA	44	-107	11%	—	TE59
61	T16Drew Sample	CIN	42	-109	8%	—	TE64
62	Mo Alie-Cox	IND	41	-109	12%	—	TE66
63	Johnny Mundt	JAX	41	-110	9%	—	TE77
64	Tanner Hudson	CIN	39	-112	11%	—	TE55
65	T17John FitzPatrick	GB	38	-112	10%	—	TE72
66	Ben Sinnott	WAS	38	-113	16%	—	TE68
67	Brock Wright	DET	38	-113	18%	—	TE61
68	Julian Hill	MIA	37	-113	9%	—	TE67
69	T18Connor Heyward	PIT	37	-114	12%	—	TE69
70	Brevyn Spann-Ford	DAL	36	-114	7%	—	TE74
71	Will Dissly	LAC	34	-117	12%	—	TE76
72	Ian Thomas	LV	32	-119	9%	—	TE73
73	T19Cade Stover	HOU	32	-119	9%	—	TE78
74	Quintin Morris	JAX	32	-119	11%	—	TE80
75	John Bates	WAS	30	-121	8%	—	TE70
76	Hunter Long	JAX	30	-121	13%	—	TE63
77	T20Foster Moreau	NO	28	-123	14%	—	TE87
78	Grant Calcaterra	PHI	28	-123	8%	—	TE75
79	Charlie Kolar	BAL	27	-123	9%	—	TE62
80	Tanner Conner	MIA	27	-124	10%	—	TE79
81	T21Tyler Conklin	LAC	26	-124	11%	—	TE81
82	Charlie Woerner	ATL	24	-126	10%	—	TE88
83	Jack Stoll	NO	24	-127	8%	—	TE83
84	Eric Saubert	SEA	23	-128	8%	—	TE97
85	T22Nate Adkins	DEN	21	-130	12%	—	TE82
86	Kylen Granson	PHI	21	-130	6%	—	TE92
87	Josh Whyle	GB	20	-130	12%	—	TE84
88	Andrew Ogletree	IND	20	-130	10%	—	TE89
89	T23Anthony Firkser	DET	19	-132	11%	—	TE85
90	David Martin-Robinson	TEN	18	-132	7%	—	TE86
91	Stone Smartt	NYJ	18	-132	8%	—	TE90
92	Luke Farrell	SF	18	-133	6%	—	TE65
93	T24Harrison Bryant	HOU	16	-134	10%	—	TE111
94	Durham Smythe	CHI	16	-135	6%	—	TE98
95	Blake Whiteheart	CLE	16	-135	7%	—	TE114
96	Colson Yankoff	WAS	15	-135	7%	—	TE104
97	T25Feleipe Franks	ATL	15	-136	8%	—	TE124
98	Cameron Latu	PHI	14	-136	8%	—	TE127
99	Payne Durham	TB	14	-136	9%	—	TE115
100	Brenden Bates	CLE	13	-137	8%	—	TE93
101	T26Tucker Fisk	LAC	13	-138	7%	—	TE103
102	Devin Culp	TB	13	-138	9%	—	TE95
103	Ross Dwelley	DET	12	-138	11%	—	TE112
104	Josiah Deguara	ARI	12	-138	7%	—	TE91
105	T27Jelani Woods	NYJ	11	-139	16%	—	TE118
106	Tip Reiman	ARI	10	-140	10%	—	TE102
107	Ben Yurosek	MIN	10	-141	6%	—	TE107
108	James Mitchell	CAR	9	-141	8%	—	TE100
109	T28Pharaoh Brown	ARI	9	-142	7%	—	TE116
110	Brayden Willis	SF	9	-142	9%	—	TE131
111	Ben Sims	MIN	8	-142	9%	—	TE99
112	Jack Westover	NE	8	-142	7%	—	TE123
113	T29Robert Tonyan	KC	8	-143	14%	—	TE122
114	Teagan Quitoriano	ATL	7	-143	12%	—	TE128
115	Lucas Krull	DEN	7	-143	10%	—	TE106
116	Chris Manhertz	NYG	7	-144	7%	—	TE117
117	T30Ko Kieft	TB	6	-144	12%	—	TE129
118	Nick Kallerup	SEA	6	-145	7%	—	TE136
119	Cam Grandy	CIN	6	-145	7%	—	TE110
120	Giovanni Ricci	DET	5	-146	8%	—	TE126
121	T31Albert Okwuegbunam	LV	4	-146	14%	—	TE94
122	Shane Zylstra	DET	4	-146	14%	—	TE101
123	Will Mallory	IND	3	-148	9%	—	TE113
124	Marcedes Lewis	DEN	3	-148	12%	—	TE125
	TKenyon Sadiq	NYJ	—	—	—	163.0	—

Data baseline from the projection models · refreshed 16 Jul 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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Full 2026 draft board (all positions) →QB rankings →RB rankings →WR rankings →Free mock draft simulator →Player profiles: outlooks & stats →

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.