Fab's Way-Too-Early 2026 Fantasy Football Tight End Rankings

The position was a complete dumpster fire this past season, at least as it pertained to the top players.

2026 Fantasy Football Tight End Rankings | Sports Illustrated

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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