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.

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.

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.

When Kittle is healthy, there's an argument he's the most complete tight end in the game. His ESPN OVERALL score (100th percentile) and PFF pass route grade (100th percentile) were both the best in the entire TE sample last season—and this was in only 10 games before a torn Achilles ended his year. In those 10 games, he averaged 12.8 points per game, TE2 on a per-game basis. In 2024, he was the overall TE1 at 13.9 per game over 14 games. His YPRR (2.15, 95th percentile) and his contested catch rate (84.6%, 92nd percentile) confirm that he's an elite route runner and a physical mismatch when the ball is in the air. The 49ers added Mike Evans and Christian Kirk to replace Jauan Jennings, and Brock Purdy's 98th percentile CPOE should give us plenty of confidence that Kittle will continue to receive quality targets. The torn Achilles recovery is the entire story. He could miss the start of the season, and the timeline matters enormously at his current TE10 ADP—a price that gives you significant upside if he plays 13-plus games and a frustrating experience if he misses the first month and/or the injury lingers deep into the season. Draft him knowing you'll need a streaming plan for the early weeks, and that you're paying a discounted price on one of the best players at the position when he's right. And he might be right by the fantasy playoffs.

Andrews' 2025 was one of the more puzzling statistical profiles at the position. He finished TE16 overall and TE23 per game at just 6.5 points per game, and ten of 16 games went under five points. And yet his ESPN OPEN score was 100th percentile, the best in the entire TE sample, meaning he was getting free against coverage at an elite rate. The disconnect traces directly to role and opportunity. Isaiah Likely's presence absorbed significant target share, Andrews never established a consistent volume baseline, and his YAC per reception (2nd percentile) tells you his role was limited to short catches with minimal room to operate after the catch. His 40th-percentile YPRR is average, and with Likely gone and Andrews as the unquestioned TE1 in Baltimore's offense, the target share could climb significantly. In the four games over the last two seasons that Andrews has played without Likely in the lineup, he has averaged an 81% snap share, 3.5 receptions, 42 yards, and 0.75 touchdowns. The 11th-round ADP is appealing for a player who finished TE5 and TE7 per game in 2024. At 31, he should still have a couple of good seasons left as tight ends tend to age gracefully. He's one of the better value plays at the position.