It's never too soon to look ahead to the next fantasy football season! Here's my Fab's Five top five fantasy tight ends for 2026 ... did Kyle Pitts Sr. make the list? Find out! @SInow pic.twitter.com/QJSQyOpoSe
— Michael Fabiano (@Michael_Fabiano) January 22, 2026
Tight end was a complete dumpster fire in fantasy football this past season, at least as it pertained to the top players. Based on the average draft position data of the top 12 tight ends selected, only five finished the fantasy season ranked in the top 12. That’s 42 percent. By comparison, 75 percent of running backs based on ADP hit that level.
The best player at the position was Trey McBride, who scored 302,4 fantasy points. That was 103.4 more points than the next-best tight end (Kyle Pitts Sr.). The position also saw some new blood in the top 12, including two rookies (Tyler Warren, Harold Fannin Jr.) and Juwan Johnson. Hunter Henry was also among the top players.
Looking ahead to 2026, there are plenty of questions that need to be answered at the position. The NFL offseason has been far more active in recent years, so we’re in for a treat with future trades and player movement via free agency. (You will see an asterisk next to the runners who will be free agents, at some level, during the offseason).
There are also several players who went down due to injuries whose recovery we’ll be monitoring, maybe none more important than George Kittle (Achilles) and Sam LaPorta (back). Also, will Travis Kelce come back for his 14th NFL season or ride off into the sunset with fiancée Taylor Swift? And of course, we’ll be watching the scouting combine and the 2026 NFL Draft to find who could be useful fantasy options as rookies.
With that being said, here are my initial 2026 fantasy football tight end rankings. I’ll be updating these often throughout the offseason, so keep checking back!
All Positions: Quarterbacks | Running Backs | Wide Receivers
2026 fantasy football tight end rankings
| RK | Player | Pos | Team |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Trey McBride | TE1 | ARI |
| 2 | Brock Bowers | TE2 | LV |
| 3 | Colston Loveland | TE3 | CHI |
| 4 | Tyler Warren | TE4 | IND |
| 5 | Harold Fannin Jr. | TE5 | CLE |
| 6 | Kyle Pitts Sr.* | TE6 | ATL |
| 7 | Tucker Kraft | TE7 | GB |
| 8 | Sam LaPorta | TE8 | DET |
| 9 | Travis Kelce* | TE9 | KC |
| 10 | Jake Ferguson | TE10 | DAL |
| 11 | Oronde Gadsden | TE11 | LAC |
| 12 | Dallas Goedert* | TE12 | PHI |
| 13 | Juwan Johnson | TE13 | NO |
| 14 | Hunter Henry | TE14 | NE |
| 15 | Dalton Schultz | TE15 | HOU |
| 16 | Dalton Kincaid | TE16 | BUF |
| 17 | Brenton Strange | TE17 | JAC |
| 18 | Colby Parkinson | TE18 | LAR |
| 19 | Mark Andrews | TE19 | BAL |
| 20 | Jake Tonges* | TE20 | SF |
| 21 | AJ Barner | TE21 | SEA |
| 22 | T.J. Hockenson | TE22 | MIN |
| 23 | David Njoku* | TE23 | CLE |
| 24 | Theo Johnson | TE24 | NYG |
| 25 | Mason Taylor | TE25 | NYJ |
| 26 | Terrance Ferguson | TE26 | LAR |
| 27 | Cade Otton* | TE27 | TB |
| 28 | Evan Engram | TE28 | DEN |
| 29 | Pat Freiermuth | TE29 | PIT |
| 30 | Chig Okonkwo* | TE30 | TEN |
| 31 | Isaiah Likely* | TE31 | BAL |
| 32 | Mike Gesicki | TE32 | CIN |
| 33 | Gunnar Helm | TE33 | TEN |
| 34 | Darnell Washington | TE34 | PIT |
| 35 | Ben Sinnott | TE35 | WAS |
| 36 | Elijah Arroyo | TE36 | SEA |
| 37 | Jonnu Smith | TE37 | PIT |
| 38 | Noah Gray | TE38 | KC |
| 39 | Michael Mayer | TE39 | LV |
| 40 | Taysom Hill | TE40 | NO |
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Fab's Way-Too-Early 2026 Fantasy Football Tight End Rankings.
