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	308.4
2	Brock Bowers	LVR	24	62	695	4.2	Geno Smith	289.7
3	George Kittle	SFO	33	55	602	4.8	Brock Purdy	230.8
4	Isaiah Likely	NYG	26	41	456	3.1	Jaxson Dart	223.2
5	Harold Fannin	CLE	22	63	706	4.2	Shedeur Sanders	193.8
6	Travis Kelce	KAN	37	58	636	4.2	Patrick Mahomes	190.5
7	Sam LaPorta	DET	25	52	588	4.2	Jared Goff	190.2
8	Tucker Kraft	GNB	26	58	695	5.0	Jordan Love	181.3
9	Tyler Warren	IND	24	63	701	4.0	Daniel Jones	176.6
10	Juwan Johnson	NOR	30	54	594	4.0	Tyler Shough	168.2
11	Dalton Kincaid	BUF	27	47	553	4.4	Josh Allen	163.9
12	Colston Loveland	CHI	22	52	583	4.9	Caleb Williams	161.6
13	T.J. Hockenson	MIN	29	44	455	2.7	J.J. McCarthy	161.2
14	Dallas Goedert	PHI	31	51	548	4.4	Jalen Hurts	154.5
15	Mike Gesicki	CIN	31	33	347	2.3	Joe Burrow	153.2
16	Kyle Pitts	ATL	26	57	614	4.2	Michael Penix	152.1
17	Hunter Henry	NWE	32	56	624	4.6	Drake Maye	150.7
18	Pat Freiermuth	PIT	28	48	551	3.5	Aaron Rodgers	148.1
19	Dalton Schultz	HOU	30	54	575	4.2	C.J. Stroud	146.8
20	Darren Waller	CAR	34	34	384	3.5	Tua Tagovailoa	146.6
21	Brenton Strange	JAX	26	41	431	3.3	Trevor Lawrence	143.4
22	Michael Mayer	LVR	25	33	331	1.4	Geno Smith	142.6
23	Darnell Washington	PIT	25	35	388	2.1	Aaron Rodgers	120.0
24	AJ Barner	SEA	24	40	389	2.6	Sam Darnold	116.2
25	Greg Dulcich	MIA	26	36	390	2.5	Tua Tagovailoa	113.2
26	Mark Andrews	BAL	31	50	549	3.9	Lamar Jackson	112.4
27	Tyler Higbee	LAR	33	29	288	2.5	Matthew Stafford	111.8
28	Mason Taylor	NYJ	22	42	408	2.4	Justin Fields	105.8
29	Tommy Tremble	CAR	26	35	344	2.2	Bryce Young	104.4
30	Oronde Gadsden II	LAC	23	44	500	4.1	Justin Herbert	99.7
31	Cade Otton	TAM	27	54	576	3.8	Baker Mayfield	98.8
32	Jake Ferguson	DAL	27	55	563	4.2	Dak Prescott	97.1
33	Kenyon Sadiq	NYJ	-	-	-	-	-	93.5
34	Noah Fant	NOR	29	34	314	2.0	Tyler Shough	88.5
35	Colby Parkinson	LAR	27	43	463	3.7	Matthew Stafford	84.4
36	Evan Engram	DEN	32	42	399	2.8	Bo Nix	84.0
37	Elijah Higgins	ARI	26	35	367	2.1	Jacoby Brissett	76.8
38	Gunnar Helm	TEN	24	33	301	1.7	Cam Ward	76.4
39	Noah Gray	KAN	27	29	273	1.6	Patrick Mahomes	69.8
40	Foster Moreau	HOU	29	19	131	1.2	C.J. Stroud	68.1
41	Theo Johnson	NYG	25	40	413	2.9	Jaxson Dart	66.7
42	Davis Allen	LAR	25	32	304	2.5	Matthew Stafford	65.3
43	Dawson Knox	BUF	30	36	375	3.1	Josh Allen	62.7
44	Zach Ertz	PHI	36	46	505	3.3	Marcus Mariota	57.8
45	Nate Boerkircher	JAX	-	-	-	-	-	57.7
46	Austin Hooper	ATL	32	31	307	2.5	Michael Penix	56.1
47	Max Klare	LAR	-	-	-	-	-	55.1
48	Charlie Kolar	LAC	27	29	315	2.6	Justin Herbert	54.8
49	Nate Adkins	DEN	27	12	47	0.8	Bo Nix	54.4
50	Marlin Klein	HOU	-	-	-	-	-	53.5
51	Mitchell Evans	CAR	23	26	210	1.4	Bryce Young	52.2
52	Jeremy Ruckert	NYJ	26	28	227	1.0	Justin Fields	50.0
53	Jonnu Smith	GNB	31	40	382	2.0	Aaron Rodgers	47.8
54	Eli Stowers	PHI	-	-	-	-	-	46.8
55	Chigoziem Okonkwo	WAS	27	50	533	3.1	Marcus Mariota	45.1
56	Ian Thomas	LVR	30	21	166	0.5	Geno Smith	43.4
57	Brevyn Spann-Ford	DAL	27	22	200	2.0	Dak Prescott	43.4
58	Will Kacmarek	MIA	-	-	-	-	-	43.1
59	Drew Sample	CIN	30	30	248	0.8	Joe Burrow	42.2
60	Daniel Bellinger	TEN	26	25	251	1.7	Cam Ward	41.6
61	Sam Roush	CHI	-	-	-	-	-	38.4
62	Adam Trautman	DEN	29	32	302	2.4	Bo Nix	38.1
63	Oscar Delp	NOR	-	-	-	-	-	37.8
64	Ja'Tavion Sanders	CAR	23	31	277	2.0	Bryce Young	36.5
65	Taysom Hill	NOR	36	19	130	0.5	Tyler Shough	35.4
66	Mo Alie-Cox	IND	33	30	313	1.9	Daniel Jones	34.5
67	Brock Wright	DET	28	24	175	0.9	Jared Goff	30.3
68	Jack Endries	CIN	-	-	-	-	-	29.5
69	Charlie Woerner	ATL	29	26	200	1.1	Michael Penix	29.1
70	Seydou Traore	MIA	-	-	-	-	-	29.1
71	Max Bredeson	MIN	-	-	-	-	-	28.6
72	Tanner Conner	NWE	28	21	206	1.6	Tua Tagovailoa	28.5
73	Eli Raridon	NWE	-	-	-	-	-	27.4
74	Josh Cuevas	BAL	-	-	-	-	-	27.3
75	Cade Stover	HOU	26	23	161	1.3	C.J. Stroud	27.0
76	John FitzPatrick	CLE	26	22	154	1.0	Jordan Love	26.7
77	Tyler Conklin	DET	31	22	185	1.6	Jared Goff	25.5
78	Justin Joly	MIA	-	-	-	-	-	25.3
79	Will Dissly	LAC	30	23	170	1.0	Justin Herbert	25.1
80	Carsen Ryan	CLE	-	-	-	-	-	25.1
81	John Bates	WAS	29	21	163	0.8	Marcus Mariota	24.3
82	Luke Schoonmaker	DAL	28	28	265	1.9	Dak Prescott	23.7
83	Bauer Sharp	TAM	-	-	-	-	-	23.2
84	Luke Musgrave	GNB	26	20	152	1.5	Jordan Love	22.0
85	Jack Stoll	SFO	28	16	79	0.5	Shedeur Sanders	21.9
86	Dallen Bentley	DEN	-	-	-	-	-	21.8
87	Jackson Hawes	BUF	26	32	347	3.2	Josh Allen	20.7
88	Stone Smartt	NOR	28	21	175	1.3	Jalen Hurts	20.0
89	Joe Royer	CLE	-	-	-	-	-	19.2
90	Johnny Mundt	PHI	32	25	241	1.9	Jalen Hurts	19.0
91	Ben Sinnott	WAS	24	28	298	2.1	Marcus Mariota	18.7
92	Tanner Koziol	JAX	-	-	-	-	-	17.4
93	Luke Farrell	SFO	29	26	202	1.8	Brock Purdy	16.8
94	Grant Calcaterra	PHI	28	23	192	1.6	Jalen Hurts	14.2
95	Riley Nowakowski	PIT	-	-	-	-	-	13.6
96	Matthew Hibner	BAL	-	-	-	-	-	12.8
97	Quintin Morris	JAX	27	18	125	1.4	Trevor Lawrence	7.9
98	Kylen Granson	TEN	28	21	178	1.8	Cam Ward	4.6
99	Terrance Ferguson	LAR	23	35	494	4.8	Matthew Stafford	0.0
100	David Njoku	LAC	30	44	459	2.5	Justin Herbert	0.0
101	Cole Kmet	CHI	27	38	407	3.3	Caleb Williams	0.0
102	Jake Tonges	SFO	27	36	338	2.7	Brock Purdy	0.0
103	Elijah Arroyo	SEA	23	27	285	2.1	Sam Darnold	0.0
104	Tanner Hudson	CIN	32	28	252	1.6	Joe Burrow	0.0
105	Julian Hill	NWE	26	25	228	1.4	Drake Maye	0.0
106	Josh Oliver	MIN	29	24	204	1.4	J.J. McCarthy	0.0
107	Hunter Long	ARI	28	17	100	1.5	Trevor Lawrence	0.0
108	Anthony Firkser	DET	31	19	123	1.1	Jared Goff	0.0
109	Jaren Kanak	TEN	-	-	-	-	-	0.0

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 308.4 projected fantasy points; 2. Brock Bowers (LVR) with 289.7 projected fantasy points; 3. George Kittle (SFO) with 230.8 projected fantasy points; 4. Isaiah Likely (NYG) with 223.2 projected fantasy points; 5. Harold Fannin (CLE) with 193.8 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.