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Tight End Tiers for 2026

Christian KatavicAugust 26, 20261 min read

This is the first time in quite awhile where you can comfortably wait on the tight end position until the later rounds and come out feeling confident about your tight end selection. Check out my tight end tiers to see who you should be drafting this season!

Tier 1 - The Best

Trey McBride

There is only one player in the top tier. I'm not a huge fan of going tight end in the first two rounds, but he is such an advantage at the position and he is in a league of his own. I've seen some folks rank Brock Bowers ahead of McBride in their draft rankings and I think that is absolutely bonkers. He finished as TE1 last year, scoring over 100 more fantasy points than the runner-up, Kyle Pitts. Of course, touchdown regression will be a factor, but he had 169 targets. 169!!! Let me give you the top 5 target leaders from last season: 1) Chase (185), 2) St. Brown (172), 3) McBride (169), 4) Nacua (166), and 5) JSN (163). That's great company to be in.

Sure, Arizona will be a bottom-5 team this year; but being that bad also means they will be playing from behind often and passing the ball. Do you know who they'll be throwing to? Because I do.

Tier 2 - The Next Best

Brock Bowers

Colston Loveland

Tyler Warren

Kyle Pitts

Tier 3 - Tried & True

George Kittle

Sam LaPorta

Tucker Kraft

Dallas Goedert

Jake Ferguson

Tier 4 - High-End Starters

Harold Fannin Jr.

Dalton Kincaid

Dalton Schultz

Juwan Johnson

Isaiah Likely

Tier 5 - The Veterans

Mark Andrews

Travis Kelce

TJ Hockenson

Hunter Henry

Tier 6 - The High-Upside Dart Throws

Terrance Ferguson

Kenyon Sadiq

Greg Dulcich

Tier 7 - The Streamers

Chig Okonkwo

Cade Otton

Brenton Strange

Evan Engram

AJ Barner

Pat Freiermuth

Darren Waller

David Njoku

Want to act on this?

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