2026 Fantasy Football Rankings - Standard - TE

McBride's 2025 campaign was about as dominant as a tight end season gets. He finished as the overall TE1 for the second consecutive year at 15.2 points per game—up from 11.9 per game in 2024—with 126 receptions, 1,239 yards, and 11 touchdowns on 163 targets. The underlying metrics back up every bit of it. McBride ranked in the 93rd percentile in PFF pass route grade and 88th in yards per route run (1.78 YPRR) among tight ends with meaningful playing time. He ran 62.8 percent of his routes from the slot—95th percentile—which explains the volume; he's a mismatch nightmare in the middle of the field. His ESPN OVERALL score (86th percentile) confirms the production, even if his OPEN score (45th percentile) suggests he's not consistently beating coverage so much as leveraging his positioning and Jacoby Brissett's trust to generate catches. He also did damage with the ball in his hands, avoiding tackles at an 88th percentile rate. The one area that doesn't pop is YAC per reception (50th percentile), but with 126 catches, he doesn't need to be a run-after-catch threat to dominate fantasy. He's going as a top-two tight end and has every metric to justify being the consensus TE1.

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.

LaPorta's underlying metrics in 2025 were some of the best in the tight end sample despite playing just nine games—his 93rd-percentile YPRR (2.00), 92nd-percentile route grade, and 90th-percentile YAC per reception all reflect a player operating at a high level when healthy. He caught every contested target thrown his way and didn't drop a single pass. The per-game production tells the same story. He was theTE7 on a per-game basis in both 2024 and 2025, at 9.0 and 9.7 points respectively. The Lions' spread-it-around offense limits how high his ceiling goes. Detroit leans heavily on Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jahmyr Gibbs, and the rushing game, which means LaPorta operates in an environment where targets are shared and touchdowns are the primary path to big weeks. He's going as the TE7, and the value proposition is a player who has been quietly elite from a per-game standpoint in limited action and should be fully healthy entering the season. LaPorta is a midrange TE1 with enough upside to function as a weekly starter when the Lions give him opportunities in the red zone.

Kincaid's per-game profile in 2025 was legitimately elite. In 11 games, he averaged 9.1 points while posting a 100th-percentile YPRR (2.79) and 95th-percentile PFF route grade–the best YPRR in the entire tight end sample. His ESPN OVERALL score (98th percentile) and OPEN score (95th percentile) are both at the top of the position. When Kincaid was on the field with Josh Allen, he was one of the most productive receiving tight ends in the league. The rub is the 12 games in 2025 and 13 in 2024–he hasn't yet strung together a full healthy season, and the Bills' offense is a little more crowded with D.J. Moore now in the room alongside Khalil Shakir. Kincaid is going as the TE13, and that price represents a bet on a player with the efficiency markers of a top-five tight end who hasn’t recently been able to stay healthy long enough to prove it over a full year. If Kincaid plays 15-plus games in 2026, his underlying metrics suggest he could run away with a top-10 season. Discount accordingly for the health risk, but don't lose sight of the fact that the production when healthy has been exceptional.