TE projections.

Machine learning tight end projections for 2026 fantasy football.

#	Player	Tm	Age	Rec	Yds	TD	QB	Proj Pts
1	Trey McBride	ARI	27	80	908	6.1	Jacoby Brissett	285.4
2	Brock Bowers	LVR	24	62	695	4.2	Geno Smith	217.9
3	Colston Loveland	CHI	22	52	583	4.9	Caleb Williams	209.0
4	Tyler Warren	IND	24	63	701	4.0	Daniel Jones	203.0
5	Tucker Kraft	GNB	26	58	695	5.0	Jordan Love	180.7
6	Sam LaPorta	DET	25	52	588	4.2	Jared Goff	178.4
7	George Kittle	SFO	33	55	602	4.8	Brock Purdy	169.4
8	Harold Fannin	CLE	22	63	706	4.2	Shedeur Sanders	169.0
9	Kyle Pitts	ATL	26	57	614	4.2	Michael Penix	160.5
10	Travis Kelce	KAN	37	58	636	4.2	Patrick Mahomes	157.1
11	Dalton Kincaid	BUF	27	47	553	4.4	Josh Allen	144.1
12	Dallas Goedert	PHI	31	51	548	4.4	Jalen Hurts	139.3
13	Isaiah Likely	NYG	26	41	456	3.1	Jaxson Dart	137.2
14	Jake Ferguson	DAL	27	55	563	4.2	Dak Prescott	137.1
15	Mark Andrews	BAL	31	50	549	3.9	Lamar Jackson	131.3
16	Hunter Henry	NWE	32	56	624	4.6	Drake Maye	129.1
17	Juwan Johnson	NOR	30	54	594	4.0	Tyler Shough	125.4
18	Oronde Gadsden II	LAC	23	44	500	4.1	Justin Herbert	120.8
19	Dalton Schultz	HOU	30	54	575	4.2	C.J. Stroud	114.0
20	T.J. Hockenson	MIN	29	44	455	2.7	J.J. McCarthy	113.2
21	Brenton Strange	JAX	26	41	431	3.3	Trevor Lawrence	109.6
22	Kenyon Sadiq	NYJ	-	-	-	-	-	103.9
23	AJ Barner	SEA	24	40	389	2.6	Sam Darnold	95.8
24	Terrance Ferguson	LAR	23	35	494	4.8	Matthew Stafford	95.6
25	Darren Waller	MIA	34	34	384	3.5	Tua Tagovailoa	90.4
26	Darnell Washington	PIT	25	35	388	2.1	Aaron Rodgers	86.4
27	Dawson Knox	BUF	30	36	375	3.1	Josh Allen	85.2
28	Cole Kmet	CHI	27	38	407	3.3	Caleb Williams	83.2
29	Evan Engram	DEN	32	42	399	2.8	Bo Nix	81.2
30	Michael Mayer	LVR	25	33	331	1.4	Geno Smith	69.8
31	Tommy Tremble	CAR	26	35	344	2.2	Bryce Young	67.7
32	Mike Gesicki	CIN	31	33	347	2.3	Joe Burrow	65.6
33	Noah Gray	KAN	27	29	273	1.6	Patrick Mahomes	65.4
34	Luke Schoonmaker	DAL	28	28	265	1.9	Dak Prescott	58.4
35	Elijah Arroyo	SEA	23	27	285	2.1	Sam Darnold	58.0
36	Tyler Higbee	LAR	33	29	288	2.5	Matthew Stafford	57.5
37	Jonnu Smith	PIT	31	40	382	2.0	Aaron Rodgers	55.1
38	Elijah Higgins	ARI	26	35	367	2.1	Jacoby Brissett	53.9
39	Ja'Tavion Sanders	CAR	23	31	277	2.0	Bryce Young	48.5
40	Cade Otton	TAM	27	54	576	3.8	Baker Mayfield	48.0
41	Brevyn Spann-Ford	DAL	27	22	200	2.0	Dak Prescott	47.6
42	Pat Freiermuth	PIT	28	48	551	3.5	Aaron Rodgers	46.4
43	Chigoziem Okonkwo	WSH	27	50	533	3.1	Marcus Mariota	45.1
44	Josh Oliver	MIN	29	24	204	1.4	J.J. McCarthy	44.6
45	Zach Ertz	WAS	36	46	505	3.3	Marcus Mariota	44.4
46	Drew Sample	CIN	30	30	248	0.8	Joe Burrow	43.3
47	Mitchell Evans	CAR	23	26	210	1.4	Bryce Young	43.3
48	Colby Parkinson	LAR	27	43	463	3.7	Matthew Stafford	43.1
49	Noah Fant	NOR	29	34	314	2.0	Tyler Shough	42.8
50	Jeremy Ruckert	NYJ	26	28	227	1.0	Justin Fields	40.5
51	Theo Johnson	NYG	25	40	413	2.9	Jaxson Dart	39.1
52	Greg Dulcich	MIA	26	36	390	2.5	Tua Tagovailoa	37.4
53	Jackson Hawes	BUF	26	32	347	3.2	Josh Allen	36.7
54	Davis Allen	LAR	25	32	304	2.5	Matthew Stafford	35.0
55	Sam Roush	CHI	-	-	-	-	-	34.4
56	Adam Trautman	DEN	29	32	302	2.4	Bo Nix	33.4
57	Gunnar Helm	TEN	24	33	301	1.7	Cam Ward	33.2
58	Austin Hooper	ATL	32	31	307	2.5	Michael Penix	33.1
59	Mo Alie-Cox	IND	33	30	313	1.9	Daniel Jones	33.0
60	Ben Sinnott	WAS	24	28	298	2.1	Marcus Mariota	31.8
61	Johnny Mundt	PHI	32	25	241	1.9	Jalen Hurts	30.7
62	Tanner Hudson	CIN	32	28	252	1.6	Joe Burrow	30.1
63	Luke Farrell	SFO	29	26	202	1.8	Brock Purdy	29.0
64	Max Bredeson	MIN	-	-	-	-	-	28.6
65	Oscar Delp	NOR	-	-	-	-	-	28.6
66	Tanner Conner	NYG	28	21	206	1.6	Tua Tagovailoa	28.5
67	Daniel Bellinger	TEN	26	25	251	1.7	Cam Ward	28.4
68	Charlie Woerner	ATL	29	26	200	1.1	Michael Penix	27.9
69	Tyler Conklin	DET	31	22	185	1.6	Jared Goff	27.9
70	Kylen Granson	TEN	28	21	178	1.8	Cam Ward	27.4
71	Taysom Hill	NOR	36	19	130	0.5	Tyler Shough	26.7
72	John FitzPatrick	GNB	26	22	154	1.0	Jordan Love	26.7
73	Brock Wright	DET	28	24	175	0.9	Jared Goff	26.5
74	Cade Stover	HOU	26	23	161	1.3	C.J. Stroud	26.5
75	Stone Smartt	PHI	28	21	175	1.3	Jalen Hurts	26.2
76	John Bates	WAS	29	21	163	0.8	Marcus Mariota	25.7
77	Hunter Long	JAX	28	17	100	1.5	Trevor Lawrence	25.6
78	Eli Raridon	NWE	-	-	-	-	-	25.5
79	Matthew Hibner	BAL	-	-	-	-	-	25.5
80	Foster Moreau	HOU	29	19	131	1.2	C.J. Stroud	25.4
81	Will Dissly	LAC	30	23	170	1.0	Justin Herbert	25.1
82	Ian Thomas	LVR	30	21	166	0.5	Geno Smith	24.7
83	Quintin Morris	JAX	27	18	125	1.4	Trevor Lawrence	24.6
84	Nate Boerkircher	JAX	-	-	-	-	-	24.4
85	Jack Stoll	CLE	28	16	79	0.5	Shedeur Sanders	21.9
86	Nate Adkins	DEN	27	12	47	0.8	Bo Nix	21.8
87	David Njoku	LAC	30	44	459	2.5	Justin Herbert	20.0
88	Mason Taylor	NYJ	22	42	408	2.4	Justin Fields	20.0
89	Jake Tonges	SFO	27	36	338	2.7	Brock Purdy	20.0
90	Charlie Kolar	LAC	27	29	315	2.6	Justin Herbert	20.0
91	Julian Hill	NWE	26	25	228	1.4	Drake Maye	20.0
92	Grant Calcaterra	PHI	28	23	192	1.6	Jalen Hurts	20.0
93	Luke Musgrave	GNB	26	20	152	1.5	Jordan Love	20.0
94	Anthony Firkser	DET	31	19	123	1.1	Jared Goff	20.0
95	Eli Stowers	PHI	-	-	-	-	-	20.0
96	Marlin Klein	HOU	-	-	-	-	-	20.0
97	Max Klare	LAR	-	-	-	-	-	20.0
98	Will Kacmarek	MIA	-	-	-	-	-	20.0
99	Justin Joly	MIA	-	-	-	-	-	20.0
100	Tanner Koziol	JAX	-	-	-	-	-	20.0
101	Riley Nowakowski	PIT	-	-	-	-	-	20.0
102	Joe Royer	CLE	-	-	-	-	-	20.0
103	Josh Cuevas	BAL	-	-	-	-	-	20.0
104	Seydou Traore	MIA	-	-	-	-	-	20.0
105	Bauer Sharp	TAM	-	-	-	-	-	20.0
106	Jack Endries	CIN	-	-	-	-	-	20.0
107	Jaren Kanak	TEN	-	-	-	-	-	20.0
108	Carsen Ryan	CLE	-	-	-	-	-	20.0
109	Dallen Bentley	DEN	-	-	-	-	-	20.0

Proj Pts is our 2026 projection: the model blended daily with live market ADP, so the order reflects both. Rec, Yds, and TD are the model's projected 2026 components; QB is the passer context it weighed. Dashes mark rookies and returning players priced from market data alone.

How we project tight end performance

Our TE projection model uses ElasticNet regression with QB context features similar to the WR model. Target share and QB quality are the primary drivers, as tight end fantasy production is heavily concentrated among a small number of elite players who command significant target shares.

The tight end position has the most severe positional scarcity in fantasy football. The drop-off from the TE1 to the TE6 is often larger in VBD terms than any other position, making elite TEs particularly valuable in TE-premium scoring formats.

Tight End projection FAQ

Who are the top fantasy tight ends for 2026?

According to our machine learning model trained on 16 seasons (2010-2025) of NFL data, the top 2026 fantasy tight ends are: 1. Trey McBride (ARI) with 285.4 projected fantasy points; 2. Brock Bowers (LVR) with 217.9 projected fantasy points; 3. Colston Loveland (CHI) with 209.0 projected fantasy points; 4. Tyler Warren (IND) with 203.0 projected fantasy points; 5. Tucker Kraft (GNB) with 180.7 projected fantasy points.

When should I draft a tight end in 2026 fantasy football?

In standard leagues, wait until round 5+ unless an elite TE is available. The TE position has extreme scarcity, with a massive gap between the top 3–5 TEs and everyone else. In TE-premium leagues, top TEs are worth a round 2–3 pick.