In July, Dave Richard, Jamey Eisenberg, and I are all releasing our Fantasy Football Tiers for quarterback, running back, wide receiver, and tight end. To try to make mine a little bit different, my tiers are based almost exclusively on my 2026 projections. I say almost, because at tight end I could resist putting Travis Kelce, George Kittle, Dallas Goedert, and Mark Andrews in the old borderline TE1s tier. There are a couple of other tweaks, but for the most part I will tell you below where these guys project and when I would draft them. Let’s jump right in.
Jamey and I broke down our tight end tiers with Adam Aizer on Fantasy Football Today. Check it out:
Tier 1
Brock Bowers
Trey McBride
Colston Loveland
The first surprise comes right off the top. Why in the world is Loveland already in Tier 1? Mostly because I didn’t want to put him in a tier of his own and he’s closer to Bowers and McBride in my projections than he is to the guys in Tier 2. Loveland averaged 14.2 PPR Fantasy points per game from Week 9 through Week 18 last year. He averaged 18.6 PPR FPPG in his two playoff games. I have the tier 1 tight ends projected between 13.7 and 14.6 PPR FPPG, though I expect one of them beats those projections by at least a full point.
Tier 2
Sam LaPorta
Kyle Pitts
Tyler Warren
This is the tier I draft from most often. That’s because I have all three of these guys projected for 12.5 to 13.5 PPR FPPG and worth a pick in Round 5 but Warren is the only one who is consistently drafted that early. I often find LaPorta and Pitts in Round 7 or later. I expect both to benefit from new tight end friendly offensive coordinators but that is not all. LaPorta’s rookie year was better than Warren’s and Pitts was better than Warren last year. In other words, they are very talented tight ends who also get a boost because their new offensive coordinators have a long history of throwing more than 25% of their team’s passes to tight ends. While I don’t project it, I would not be surprised if one of the tight ends in this tier finishes the year as TE1.
Tier 3
Harold Fannin
Tucker Kraft
Isaiah Likely
A year after being the Fannin guy, it hurts me to have him a tier behind Warren and two tiers behind Loveland. My main concern is that Deshaun Watson is going to win the QB battle and the pass offense is going to be anemic. The other big difference is that Loveland lost DJ Moore as target competition, Warren lost Michael Pittman, and Fannin gained a pair of talented rookie receivers while losing tight end whisperer Kevin Stefanski. I would give Fannin a small boost, perhaps into Tier 2, if Shedeur Sanders wins the job. Kraft could also move into Tier 2 if he’s a full go at some point in training camp, while Likely could fall to Tier 4 if Malik Nabers is 100% before the start of the season. For now, view these as Round 7 or 8 picks. Likely is the only one in the tier who is consistently available after that.
Tier 4
Travis Kelce
Mark Andrews
George Kittle
Dallas Goedert
This is how deep the position is that we have future Hall of Famers who project for double-digit Fantasy points per game, available in the double-digit rounds. Andrews and Goedert are TD-dependent, but they play on great offenses and they lost target competition this offseason. Kittle would be higher if he wasn’t coming off a torn Achilles; you definitely want to draft a second tight end if you pick him. Kelce, well, you’re probably forgetting how good he was last year. He was a top five tight end, averaging 13.4 PPR FPPG, through Week 13, before Patrick Mahomes got hurt. But a full season of Rashee Rice could really limit Kelce’s upside.
Tier 5
Dalton Schultz
Brenton Strange
Dalton Kincaid
Hunter Henry
For the most part, these are streamers that you can count on for nine or ten points per week. They are nice options to pair with Kittle or Kraft if you want some stability while they work their way back from injury. The one exception may be Kincaid. He led all tight ends in yards per route run last year and certainly has more upside than anyone else in this tier. He’s actually healthy right now as well. The question is whether he can stay healthy and whether Joe Brady sees a healthy Kincaid as a full-time player. If the answer to both of those questions is yes, then I am at least a tier too low on Kincaid.
Tier 6
Juwan Johnson
Greg Dulcich
T.J. Hockenson
Chig Okonkwo
Oronde Gadsden
Tier 6 guys are both more exciting than Tier 5 and less reliable. Johnson has to deal with Jordyn Tyson and Chris Olave, Gadsden has to deal with David Njoku and Charlie Kolar at his own position, and Dulcich has never been a full-time player for a full season. It is worth saying that Dulcich is somewhat of a discount Kincaid; he was second in YPRR at tight end last year, but didn’t run enough routes to qualify by most standards. Okonkwo will definitely move up at least one tier if the Commanders stand pat at receiver, but I still expect they will add a veteran before the season starts.
