The collapse of the tight end position in fantasy football leagues continued last season. Just one (Trey McBride) finished in the top 10 in PPR leagues, and the second-best player at tight end, Kyle Pitts Sr., finished 36th with around the same number of points as Stefon Diggs. The good news is that we are seeing an influx of youth, as players such as Colston Loveland, Tyler Warren and Harold Fannin Jr. emerged into startable fantasy assets a season ago.
The problem, however, is that the list of players you can depend on to be weekly starters at the position has shrunk like George Costanza after a swim in the pool. In fact, it can be argued that beyond McBride and Brock Bowers, everyone else comes with at least some uncertainty, even players we love like Loveland, Warren and Fannin Jr. Can they duplicate last year’s success?
With that said, here are my 2026 fantasy football tight end rankings … now with auction values! I’ll be updating these often throughout the summer, so keep checking back.
Note: Auction values are based on a $200 budget.
2026 Fantasy Football Tight End Rankings
|
Rk |
Player |
Team |
Bye |
Auction |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1 |
Trey McBride |
ARI |
14 |
$48 |
|
2 |
Brock Bowers |
LV |
13 |
$42 |
|
3 |
Colston Loveland |
CHI |
10 |
$21 |
|
4 |
Tyler Warren |
IND |
13 |
$19 |
|
5 |
Tucker Kraft |
GB |
11 |
$16 |
|
6 |
Harold Fannin Jr. |
CLE |
11 |
$15 |
|
7 |
Kyle Pitts Sr. |
ATL |
11 |
$15 |
|
8 |
Sam LaPorta |
DET |
6 |
$14 |
|
9 |
Travis Kelce |
KC |
5 |
$14 |
|
10 |
George Kittle |
SF |
8 |
$13 |
|
11 |
Mark Andrews |
BAL |
13 |
$12 |
|
12 |
Jake Ferguson |
DAL |
14 |
$9 |
|
13 |
Isaiah Likely |
NYG |
8 |
$8 |
|
14 |
Dalton Kincaid |
BUF |
7 |
$6 |
|
15 |
Dallas Goedert |
PHI |
10 |
$6 |
|
16 |
Juwan Johnson |
NO |
8 |
$5 |
|
17 |
Oronde Gadsden |
LAC |
7 |
$5 |
|
18 |
Chig Okonkwo |
WAS |
7 |
$3 |
|
19 |
Hunter Henry |
NE |
11 |
$3 |
|
20 |
Kenyon Sadiq |
NYJ |
13 |
$3 |
|
21 |
Brenton Strange |
JAC |
7 |
$2 |
|
22 |
Dalton Schultz |
HOU |
8 |
$2 |
|
23 |
T.J. Hockenson |
MIN |
6 |
$2 |
|
24 |
AJ Barner |
SEA |
11 |
$1 |
|
25 |
Gunnar Helm |
TEN |
9 |
$1 |
|
26 |
Greg Dulcich |
MIA |
6 |
$1 |
|
27 |
Pat Freiermuth |
PIT |
9 |
$1 |
|
28 |
Jake Tonges |
SF |
8 |
$1 |
|
29 |
Terrance Ferguson |
LAR |
11 |
$1 |
|
30 |
Eli Stowers |
PHI |
10 |
$1 |
|
31 |
Cade Otton |
TB |
10 |
$1 |
|
32 |
Evan Engram |
DEN |
10 |
$1 |
|
33 |
David Njoku |
LAC |
7 |
$1 |
|
34 |
Colby Parkinson |
LAR |
11 |
$1 |
|
35 |
Mike Gesicki |
CIN |
6 |
$1 |
|
36 |
Ja'Tavion Sanders |
CAR |
5 |
$1 |
|
37 |
Mason Taylor |
NYJ |
13 |
$1 |
|
38 |
Theo Johnson |
NYG |
8 |
$1 |
|
39 |
Darnell Washington |
PIT |
9 |
$1 |
|
40 |
Michael Mayer |
LV |
13 |
$1 |
More Fantasy Football from Sports Illustrated
Add us as a preferred source on GoogleFollowPublished | Modified 
MICHAEL FABIANO
Michael Fabiano is a fantasy football analyst for Sports Illustrated. His weekly rankings and Start 'Em, Sit 'Em articles are must-reads for fantasy players. He is also the co-host of the Fantasy Dirt Podcast on SI. Before joining SI in August 2020, he worked for CBS Sports, NFL Network and SiriusXM. He also contributes to Westwood One Radio. Fabiano was the first fantasy analyst to appear on one of the four major TV networks and is a member of the Fantasy Sports Writers Association Hall of Fame.
Share on XFollow Michael_FabianoShare on FacebookShare on XHome/FantasyOriginal Article
