Fantasy Football Tight End Tiers: Kyle Pitts Falls Short Of Tier 2 With Four Breakout Candidates

When ranking fantasy football stars prior to your draft process, sometimes some players are so close in the rankings that it's still tough to decide which one is better. That's when you should group players into tiers. It allows you to see how many high-caliber players, or lack thereof, are still available at a position in your draft, and shows you that this group of players is all on the same level.

Here we are setting our ranking tiers for the tight ends. The position has more talent and is deeper than it has ever been. Which makes these tiers even more important in 2026 than in years past.

Tier 1

These are the two elite studs, who will be the top two tight ends off the board in almost every draft. How you rank them depends on preference, but they are both in the same tier.

Trey McBride, Arizona Cardinals
Brock Bowers, Las Vegas Raiders

Tier 2

This group is an impressive group of up-and-coming stars. They all have TE1 overall upside. There is a ton of talent here, and these guys are in the same position as McBride two seasons back.

Tyler Warren, Indianapolis Colts
Harold Fannin Jr, Cleveland Browns
Colston Loveland, Chicago Bears
Tucker Kraft, Green Bay Packers

Tier 3

There is a clear drop-off from Tier 2 to Tier 3. While this group doesn't have near the upside of anyone ahead of them, these guys could all be strong weekly starts and potential TE1s this season.

Kyle Pitts, Atlanta Falcons
Dallas Goedert, Philadelphia Eagles
Chig Okonkwo, Washington Commanders
Travis Kelce, Kansas City Chiefs
Jake Ferguson, Dallas Cowboys
Brenton Strange, Jacksonville Jaguars
Isaiah Likely, New York Giants
Sam LaPorta, Detroit Lions

Tier 4

The name that stands out here is obviously Kittle. If healthy, he could easily climb into Tier 2 or potentially even Tier 1. Nevertheless, he will be 33 this season and ruptured his Achilles in January. Until he proves that he's fully healthy, we can't put him any higher than this.

George Kittle, San Francisco 49ers
Juwan Johnson, New Orleans Saints
Mark Andrews, Baltimore Ravens
Hunter Henry, New England Patriots
AJ Barner, Seattle Seahawks
Gunnar Helm, Tennessee Titans

Tier 5

There is a lot of sneaky upside in this group. There is a legitimate shot that Gadsden ends up being a breakout star if things break right for him, and Dulcich has an outside shot to lead all Dolphins' pass-catchers in targets this season.

Oronde Gadsden II, Los Angeles Chargers
Greg Dulcich, Miami Dolphins
Dalton Schultz, Houston Texans
Pat Freiermuth, Pittsburgh Steelers

Tier 6

You don't want to draft any of these players, but they are worth monitoring on the waiver wire.

Kenyon Sadiq, New York Jets
Ja'Tavion Sanders, Carolina Panthers
Cade Otton, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
David Njoku, Los Angeles Chargers
Evan Engram, Denver Broncos
Terrance Ferguson, Los Angeles Rams
Jake Tonges, San Francisco 49ers
Colby Parkinson, Los Angeles Rams
Theo Johnson, New York Giants
Elijah Arroyo, Seattle Seahawks
Darnell Washington, Pittsburgh Steelers
Eli Stowers, Philadelphia Eagles
Oscar Delp, New Orleans Saints

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