Tight End Sleepers, Values & Breakouts (2026)

Aug 12, 2026

IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

As I outlined in Strategery, I’m a longtime advocate of drafting a Stud TE, and Brock Bowers, Trey McBride, and Colston Loveland are certainly worthy of picks in the first few rounds. But sometimes draft position doesn’t lend itself to drafting an elite tight end, and if I miss out, there are good options as the draft wears on.

Last year’s version of this article—well, let’s just say it was a very good year:

My values delivered: Tucker Kraft was the overall TE1 on a per-game basis before his Week 9 ACL tear (drafted TE11), and Dallas Goedert finished TE3, thanks largely to 11 touchdowns (drafted TE15).
The breakouts mostly hit: Tyler Warren finished TE7 (TE9 ADP), Colston Loveland’s TE14 finish doesn’t tell the whole story—he was the TE4 in the second half (TE12 ADP)—and Brenton Strange was the TE8 over the final seven weeks after returning from injury (TE21 ADP).
The sleepers delivered in a big way: Hunter Henry finished TE9 (TE18 ADP), and Kyle Pitts finally delivered on his draft pedigree as the overall TE2 (TE16 ADP).
Two deep sleepers paid off from TE34+ ADPs: Juwan Johnson finished TE10, and Theo Johnson finished TE15.

Let’s see who’s popping this season.

Values

Tucker Kraft, Packers

Kraft was one of my favorite middle-round values last year, and if his ADP lingers in the sixth or seventh round, he’ll be an auto-pick at that point in the draft. Before the ACL tear ended his season in Week 9, he was averaging 14.0 points per game—the overall TE1 on a per-game basis—with a 99th-percentile YPRR (2.33) and 100th-percentile YAC per reception at his position. He’s on track to return for Week 1, and if he’s near full health, you’re getting TE1 per-game production for a fraction of the price of the tier above him.