Fantasy Football 2026 TE Tiers: Colston Loveland Potential To Be Best Fantasy TE
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The TE position in fantasy football can often be the common denominator of having a league-winning team or one that gets bounced in the first round of the fantasy playoffs. Here are 13 TEs divided into four categories that fantasy football managers should be aware of going into fantasy drafts.
Tier 1- Best TE In Fantasy Football Potential
Brock Bowers, Trey McBride, and Colston Loveland
Out of all the TEs in fantasy football, Arizona Cardinals' Trey McBride seems the most likely to be TE1 in fantasy football. With uncertainty at QB and the addition of Jeremiyah Love in the run game, there is a pathway where that does not happen.
Bowers is coming off a down season with injuries and bad QB play with Geno Smith as the Las Vegas Raiders signal-caller, which sums up a situation where, if he burned you once in fantasy, forgive and forget. The Raiders addressed some issues on the offensive line and improved at QB by adding veteran Kirk Cousins and rookie Fernanado Mendoza.
Few players are coming into the 2026 season with better momentum than Chicago Bears' Colston Loveland. After a slow start to his rookie season, he began to catch fire. In three of his last four games, including the playoffs, he had over 90 receiving yards. In two of those contests, he scored a TD.
Tier 2- Next Best Thing
Tyler Warren, George Kittle, Kyle Pitts, and Tucker Kraft
There are a lot of different ways to maneuver a fantasy draft other than taking a TE off the board ultra early. These three TEs should still go high in fantasy drafts, but definitely not as much so as the ones listed above them.
Tyler Warren was an absolute steal in fantasy drafts last season. He was slated as TE10 on ESPN’s PPR fantasy football cheat sheet for the 2025 season. He ended up finishing as TE4 in PPR formats. His production did drop in the back half of the season with the Colts' QB1 Daniel Jones out of the lineup. With him as the signal-caller for the whole 2026 season, Warren could have an even better season in 2026
George Kittle and Tucker Kraft are coming off seasons where they both had major injuries. Despite those ailments, they are both aiming to play in week one. These guys both have the skill sets to put up the most points of any TE any given week, and showcased that last season. Each of them had a game where they had over 100 yards receiving and a touchdown in 2025.
Kyle Pitts for the Atlanta Falcons just got a big contract extension, a three-year $ 54 million deal. It is clear Atlanta values him as a part of their future. With that, though, his fantasy outlook, even with coming off a productive season, is questionable. The main reason for that is their uncertain QB situation with Michael Penix Jr. and Tua Tagovailoa. Fantasy managers should continue to be cautious in drafting him, but it feels there is a higher chance he is successful than unsuccessful in 2026. Pitts last season had 88 receptions for 928 receiving yards and brought in five TDs.
Tier 3- New Situation
Chig Okonkwo, Isaiah Likely, and Harold Fannin Jr.
The following three TEs find themselves with new opportunities ahead of them in the 2026 NFL season.
For the Cleveland Browns, Harold Fannin Jr. will be their TE1, with Davdi Nojoku off their roster. He had great moments and displayed all the potential in the world to be a top-three fantasy football TE in 2025. Last year in PPR formats, he finished as TE5.
Isaiah Likely, a former Baltimore Raven, will be a member of the New York Giants in 2026. Playing the role of TE2 behind Mark Andrews in Baltimore, Likely will be the Giants' TE1 with a fairly talented TE2 behind him that should garner a notable amount of snaps, Theo Johnson.
Chig Okonkwo, who was on the Tennessee Titans in 2025, will be with the Washington Commanders in 2026. With now third-year QB Jayden Daniels lacking offensive weapons throughout his young career, Okonkwo should be a player that he can lean on for short passes that turn into explosive plays. Okonkwo last season had 56 receptions for 560 yards and two touchdowns.
Tier 4- Sleeper Central
Gunnar Helm, Kenyon Sadiq, and Oronde Gadsden
These are TEs that should go later in fantasy drafts, but have high upside.
Gunnar Helm of the Titans, with Okonkwo gone, will be their TE1. He had limited production in his rookie season, but has had several positive notes on him this offseason. He should be viewed as a potential breakout fantasy player.
Drafting anyone from the New York Jets offense in fantasy football is always a risk. Especially with their QB for the upcoming season being Geno Smith. But a player worth taking a swing on with the dynamic skillset he showed at Oregon last season is rookie Kenyon Sadiq. He had 51 receptions for 560 receiving yards and five touchdowns last season with the Ducks.
Second-year TE for the Los Angeles Chargers, Oronde Gadsden, had some big games last season, and with that alone he is worth taking a chance on later in fantasy drafts. From weeks six through nine, he was TE1 in PPR formats in 2025. Highlighting this amazing stretch of games for him was a week seven performance against the Colts, where he had nine receptions for 164 yards and a touchdown.
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Gray Deyo is a Nashville-based sportswriter who graduated with a sports management bachelor's degree from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. He has covered prep sports, college sports, the WNBA, and the NBA for the past four years. In addition to writing for SI, Gray also currently contributes to Prep Girls Hoops