2026 Fantasy Football Rankings - FFPC - TE

Bowers has the tools to be the best tight end in fantasy football. He finished TE2 in 2024 and TE4 on a per-game basis in 2025 despite missing five games. His 12.0 points per game over those 12 games were essentially identical to his rookie production. The underlying metrics are elite: 88th percentile PFF pass route grade among tight ends, 81st percentile in YPRR (1.70), and a 72nd percentile contested catch rate that reflects his physicality when the ball is in the air. His ESPN OVERALL score (89th percentile) is among the best in the sample. The limitation has always been team context. The Raiders are one of the worst offensive environments in the league, i.e. fewer touchdowns scored, and Bowers has had to absorb that drag on his production. He's going as the consensus TE1, likely due to the belief that Fernando Mendoza will turn the Raiders’ offense around.

Loveland's rookie season is a case study in talent that took a while to show up on the field. He finished TE14 overall and TE18 per game at 7.7 points per game, but his underlying metrics rank among the elite at the position. His PFF pass route grade (97th percentile) and YPRR (1.86, 92nd percentile) are both near the top of the tight end sample, and his ESPN OPEN score (68th percentile) suggests he’s able to shed coverage consistently. There’s a long list of tight ends who have broken out in their sophomore year, and the signs are there. From Week 9 on, he was the overall TE2 behind Trey McBride. He's currently going as the third tight end off the board, and the market is essentially pricing in a breakout that appears to have already begun.

Fannin's rookie season was one of the more quietly impressive debuts at the position—he finished TE5 overall in 16 games while playing for one of the least functional offenses in the league. He caught 72 of 103 targets for 731 yards and six touchdowns, and his PFF pass route grade (80th percentile) and YPRR (1.68, 78th percentile) both suggest he was doing real work as a route runner despite playing through significant QB instability. The standout metric is his avoided tackle rate—0.31 per reception, 97th percentile among tight ends—meaning Fannin is a legitimate YAC weapon who can turn short throws into meaningful gains even when the quarterback can't push the ball downfield. The issue with his profile is the ESPN receiver scores. His OPEN score (16th percentile) and OVERALL score (22nd percentile) suggest he isn't consistently winning clean against coverage. He compensates through YAC rather than pure separation. David Njoku's departure makes Fannin an every-down player, and a Browns team expected to trail most weeks means the volume should be there. The quarterback situation is the entire ceiling question. Shedeur Sanders, Deshaun Watson, and Dillon Gabriel are vying for the starting job, with Sanders in the pole position. The good news there is that Fannin’s numbers–4.7 catches for 52 yards and 0.67 touchdowns–were much better with Sanders at quarterback. Fannin should develop into an every-week weapon if the quarterback situation settles. He's going as a top-six tight end, and that price is defensible on volume alone. Whether he's an elite TE1 or a target-share mirage depends almost entirely on the passer.

Pitts finally delivered on a fraction of his draft pedigree in 2025, finishing as the overall TE2 with 88 receptions, 928 yards, and five touchdowns on 114 targets. The PFF metrics confirm the underlying talent is real: 86th-percentile route grade and 83rd-percentile YPRR among qualified tight ends. The ESPN receiver scores tell a more nuanced story—49th percentile in OPEN, 71st percentile OVERALL—suggesting that Pitts wins through size and athleticism rather than pure separation, which aligns with the trajectory of his career. The concern is the volatility that shadowed him even in a TE2 season: only six of 16 games went over 10 points, and five went under five. Both Bijan Robinson and Drake London will continue to act as a volume ceiling. In fact, Pitts’s scoring output doubled in the five games that London missed (7.4 vs. 15.5). Pitts is going as the TE7, which reflects the 2025 output without fully pricing in the inconsistency. He's a legitimate every-week starter who will frustrate you in the weeks when the touchdowns don't come.

Ferguson's TE6 finish in 2025 was driven almost entirely by volume and touchdowns. He caught 82 of 100 targets for 600 yards and eight scores, which is a productive line–but the underlying efficiency tells a more cautious story. His PFF route grade (28th percentile) and YPRR (34th percentile) are squarely below average, his YAC per reception (17th percentile) is downright bad, and his ESPN OPEN score (45th percentile) suggests he's not winning regularly against coverage. What he does is occupy the slot at a 88th percentile rate, run underneath routes, and absorb check-down volume in one of the highest-volume passing offenses in the league. Eight touchdowns in that context is a function of red zone opportunity, not individual dominance. The Cowboys' offense will keep generating targets, and Dak Prescott's trust in Ferguson as a safety valve should remain intact. He's a solid TE2 with realistic TE1 weeks when the red zone breaks right.