If you haven't caught on by now, our team at Fantasy Life is slowly releasing our way-too-early positional tiers for our 2026 fantasy football rankings.

On tap today? My 2026 Tight End Tiers.

ICYMI:

• Dwain's 2026 WR Tiers For Fantasy Football
• Freedman's 2026 QB Tiers For Fantasy Football
• Ian's 2026 RB Tiers for Fantasy Football

Way-Too-Early Tight End Tiers For Fantasy Football 2026

Tier 1 Tight Ends: Two Studs Lead The Way

Trey McBride | ARI

Let's just call this tier what it is: the studs tier. No one is going to need to convince you to draft Trey McBride in 2026; it's just going to depend on whether you're willing to pay such a high draft price. We can't underscore just how good he was last season for fantasy managers—he scored over 100 additional PPR points than any other player at the TE position.

Most PPR points per game in a single season in NFL history by a TE (min. eight games):

• 2020 Travis Kelce (20.9)
• 2011 Rob Gronkowski (20.7)
• 2013 Jimmy Graham (20)
• 2025 Trey McBride (18.6)

Brock Bowers | LV

Listen, there are no questions about what Brock Bowers brings to fantasy football. He's an elite talent, has shown us insane early career production and dominates targets. Literally, he checks all the boxes for an elite fantasy tight end. The questions don't surround him but the team around him, starting with the quarterback position. It looks like the Raiders are in a prime position to snag Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza, which should be an upgrade over Geno Smith.

Here are some of the stats that paint a not great picture of how bad Smith was last season (shoutout to Ian Hartitz):

• EPA per dropback: -0.11 (34th)
• Passer rating: 84.7 (33rd)
• PFF pass grade: 58.2 (34th)
• Interceptions: 17 (last)

There's also a new sheriff in town for Las Vegas—Klint Kubiak could add talent to the wide receiver room, which would give Bowers some competition for targets, too. Overall, though, there's no need to overthink it. Bowers is just that guy. 

Tier 2 - Young, Ascending Ballers

Colston Loveland | CHI

I was so close to putting Colston Loveland in Tier 1, but I'm just not there yet. His price tag suggests that he should be in that category, and the way he finished 2025 definitely backs that up, too. He didn't have a full-time role until Week 16, but after that, he averaged 16.8 points per game (PPG) over five games and led all Bears pass catchers with a 29% target share.

This is a team that is on the rise, and the Bears will probably be one of the "trendiest" teams to target in fantasy drafts because of the potential that many (rightfully) see. Ben Johnson was the perfect head coach for this squad, and the connection with Caleb Williams will only get stronger. If Williams can put together an even better 2026, then he will elevate everyone around him, including Loveland. He is going to be a top-tier target-earner ability, and we already know how good he is at stretching the field (10.0 average depth of target). Give us more touchdowns this season, and he will be paying off his ADP in no time. I suspect he'll be inside my Tier 1 tight ends before the season starts.

Harold Fannin Jr. | CLE

The Browns are an absolute mess, but Harold Fannin Jr. will still stand tall among the wreckage. The team hired Todd Monken as its new head coach, and more questions are swirling about the team's QB1 in 2026, but Fannin's potential is hard to ignore.

This was another tight end that, when given a full-time role, dominated in 2025. According to Dwain McFarland, Fannin Jr. earned a 27% target share in nine healthy games while averaging 7.1 targets per game. To put it into perspective, that ranked second behind only Trey McBride over that period. He has the talent to excel in fantasy again in 2026.

Tyler Warren | IND

Remember the days when Tyler Warren was easily being drafted ahead of Colston Loveland? Oh, how times change. But it wasn't Warren's fault in the slightest because when Daniel Jones went down with his season-ending injury, the team's overall production fell with him.

Warren finished the season with 76 receptions on 112 targets for 817 yards and four touchdowns. A note to remember is that his 112 targets were third among all tight ends, behind only Trey McBride and Kyle Pitts. He averaged 28.6 receiving yards in the final seven games of the season and only cracked 10+ fantasy points one time in that stretch.

Tucker Kraft | GB

The injury that hurt the most for me last season was Tucker Kraft. I was pounding the table for Kraft being an underrated fantasy tight end, and while he proved that to start the 2025 season, it came crashing down when he suffered a season-ending torn ACL. Kraft was a focal point of this Packers' offense before his injury—he caught 32 passes for 489 yards and six touchdowns in the season's first eight games. At the time he went down, he led the team in every category.

I'm back in and cautiously optimistic about Kraft this season. Of course, we should temper expectations with any player coming off a major injury, but Kraft has given some pretty positive sentiments about his return. He believes that he'll start training camp on the physically unable to perform list (PUP), which we've seen him do before. Kraft also noted he'll look to be "bulletproof" by Week 1, which will be 10 months post-surgery. If the team asks more of Jordan Love in 2026, then Kraft will be an immediate fantasy riser.

Sam LaPorta | DET

We haven't seen the 2023 version of Sam LaPorta since that stellar rookie season, but that doesn't mean he's been horrible. LaPorta has been inside the top 10 in fantasy points per game in each of the last two seasons, but the target competition around him is what keeps his ceiling lower. On a team with Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jameson Williams and Jahmyr Gibbs, it's hard to carve out a true difference-maker role in fantasy football.

The Lions do have a new offensive coordinator in town who could change things for the better for LaPorta. Drew Petzing comes over from the Arizona Cardinals, and as we know with Trey McBride (as written above), he does tend to feed his tight ends. I'm not saying he's on the McBride trajectory, but adding Petzing should help his value.

Kyle Pitts | ATL

The Falcons placed the franchise tag on Kyle Pitts last week, which will keep him under contract with Atlanta for at least one more season. It was finally a year that paid off for Pitts truthers. He finished second among tight ends in receptions (88) and receiving yards (928) last season, just behind the one and only Trey McBride.

According to The Athletic, from Weeks 12-15 last season, Pitts had 31 catches for 395 yards, the best four-game stretch of his career and the most yards by any Atlanta tight end over four games. This is another team with quarterback questions entering the 2026 season, but new head coach Kevin Stefanski could unlock even more from Pitts this year. My only true concern is what actual version fantasy managers are going to get. We know the heights that he can reach, but can he do it consistently? Drake London was injured during the back half of the season, coinciding somewhat with Pitts' big games. It's just enough questions to make him my TE8 (for now).

Tier 3 - So You're Saying There's A Chance ...

Dalton Kincaid | BUF

Maybe this is the year for Dalton Kincaid? MAYBE? The frustrating thing about Kincaid is that Buffalo has had no true alpha WR1, and still, he can't carve out a full-time role. Kincaid had a 51% route rate on the season and 15% target share. It's no secret that his overall play and availability have been hindered by injuries. He played 13 games in 2024 and 12 in 2025 due to a lingering knee injury, 

General Manager Brandon Beane said last week that a priority is to keep Kincaid on the field and healthy. It's a big if, but if we do see Kincaid with a bigger role, he will be one of the later-round tight ends that pays off. Keep an eye on his offseason progress and any other coachspeak that could get us excited.

Oronde Gadsden | LAC

Mike McDaniels is the new OC for the Chargers, which could help elevate the whole offense, which includes Oronde Gadsden. He finished 2025 with 49 receptions, 664 yards and three touchdowns. His Week 5 performance against the Colts put him on everyone's radar when he notched seven receptions for 164 yards and one touchdown. There are obvious question marks here, but potential for a bigger fantasy season this year.

Jake Ferguson | DAL

We actually saw career-highs from Jake Ferguson last season, but fantasy managers might not feel like it was real. He had a career-high 82 receptions on 102 targets and 600 receiving yards, all for eight touchdowns. There's always going to be competition for targets when you're sharing a field with CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens, but Ferguson is a good low-end TE1 option on an offense that will more than likely be playing from behind most of the way. He's not a bad later-round tight end to target in early drafts.

Kenyon Sadiq | Rookie

If you need to know any rookie, just pay attention to Kenyon Sadiq. Last week at the NFL Combine he basically solidified his first-round status with an elite athleticism showing. 

According to Matthew Freedman, even though he's smaller for a tight end (6-3, 241 lbs.), he's fast (4.39-second 40-yard dash, 1.54-second 10-yard split) and explosive (43.5-inch vertical jump, 11-1 broad jump).

Travis Kelce | KC

This is a placeholder in case Travis Kelce decides to retire this offseason. I think he still has some gas left in the tank and wants to help the team redeem themselves after such a poor showing in 2025. The one thing that could make me somewhat excited about a Kelce return is that the team brought back offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy. The stats back up why this could work for the Chiefs—Bienemy was the OC before for five years beginning in 2018, where his offense led the NFL in points-per-game (30.1), yards-per-game (406.2), third-down efficiency (49%) and total touchdowns (296).

Is it enough for me to go out of my way to draft Kelce? No, not really. Plus, the status of Patrick Mahomes for Week 1 will pretty much keep Kelce outside of my top 15 for a while.

Dallas Goedert | PHI

I will probably move Dallas Goedert down my rankings after free agency is over. Matthew Berry reported during the Combine that "one player I’m told that will definitely be moving on from Philly this offseason is Dallas Goedert." He found the endzone 11 times last season (career-high), but we'll just have to see where he lands before making any cases to draft him in fantasy.

The Best Of The Rest ...

Tier 4

• Juwan Johnson
• Hunter Henry
• Brenton Strange
• Mark Andrews
• Dalton Schultz
• T.J. Hockenson
• Jake Tonges

Tier 5

• Isaiah Likely
• Theo Johnson
• AJ Barner
• Terrance Ferguson

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