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0:45Exclusion Supply. For licenses, see homedepot.com slash live. Today, we are ranking and tiering the top 24 tight ends in fantasy football for 2026.
0:52There is always elite round tight end that shakes up the fantasy football season, and we're going to break down a few
0:58players who have a very good chance at doing just that.
1:01Let's go. Welcome into the live fantasy football show.
1:03I'm Mitch Anderson. I'm Justin Mello. And Mello, our final player rankings episode is here as we wrap up July and head into August.
1:10We have a huge guest next episode. We're going to be doing some draft strategy rankings, which is so fun.
1:15But let's jump into this and let's talk about our top 24 tight ends.
1:19I think for the most part, we really love the guys at the top.
1:23And then we're going to name a few guys that are like more sleeper type names that we do really believe have
1:29like high end tight end one upside. Yeah. Starting with the obvious though, Brock Bowers here is one.
1:34I'm pretty noncommittal between McBride and Bowers, honestly. Like you really could go switching back and forth.
1:39Yeah. Ray Allen tweet again. I know you're a Bowers guy, so I'll let you really get into him.
1:44But the one thing I will say is just Bowers and a Clint Kubiak offense with no good receivers has me dreaming huge.
1:51Like this could be a historic season. Lordy. Michael Wilbon tweet.
1:54Obviously, if you drafted Bowers last season, you were as disappointed as I was when I drafted him.
1:59He was hobbled. He missed time due to the PCL injury they sustained against New England in week one.
2:04But as far as tight ends go, the ceiling is the roof here.
2:07He's now healthy. You replace Geno Smith with a combination of Kirk Cousins, who absolutely just spammed Kyle Pitts last season.
2:13Plus the number one overall pick in Fernando Mendoza.
2:16They shore up the offensive line in free agency.
2:18And then they bring in the genius offensive mind of Clint Kubiak, as you mentioned, as the new head coach, who just
2:24this offseason called Brock Bowers a football robot from heaven.
2:27I would love for my employer to call me anything like that.
2:30But this was 2024's tight end one overall record breaking rookie.
2:33He is my zero hesitation tight end one. I have more hesitation than you, but I also do have him as my tight end one.
2:40But the reason I have hesitation is for the guy you're going to talk about here next.
2:45Let's talk about number two, Trey McBride. I feel like the Bart Simpson meme in the classroom when they're all like, say the stat.
2:52There was a bigger difference in points last year between Trey McBride, the tight end one, and Kyle Pitts, the tight end
2:58two, than there was between Kyle Pitts and the tight end 27 Sam Laporta.
3:02To put that in layman's terms, Trey McBride was playing his own position in fantasy football.
3:06He was in a true league of his own.
3:09He was literally a wide receiver one. As I think in Arizona, he is going to be the wide receiver one.
3:14I'm sorry to Marvin Harrison Jr. But the reason why I feel so confident putting Brock at number one is I just
3:21expect this passing volume to go down a little bit.
3:23One, because I just think that was unsustainable what they did last year.
3:27And then you introduce Jeremiah Love to this offense.
3:29I don't think you spend a number three overall pick on a guy like that without the intention of giving him a good amount of carries.
3:37Plus, you've got Tyler Algier to feed. So I think this is just a different passing environment that we're going to see here in Arizona in 2026.
3:44It will be. But with that said, another fun Trey McBride stack.
3:47Oh, here we go. He was the tight end one last year, obviously, but he was the tight end three all time.
3:53The third highest scoring season by a tight end ever.
3:56So that makes it hard for me to not put him at one.
4:00But I agree with everything you said, which is why I do have Bowers just slightly ahead of him.
4:05The good news for McBride, though, is even if the value or if the production decreases substantially, he still could beat the
4:11tight end one or two very easily. No, that's true.
4:14Yeah, it's like in 2022, if you remember, people weren't drafting Cooper Cup as the first receiver off the board, despite him
4:20being the triple crown winner the year before and breaking all these records.
4:24Because it was like, oh, it's not sustainable. He's not going to do it again.
4:28And I was kind of like, well, he doesn't have to.
4:31He was so much better than everyone else that he can slip and still be the receiver one.
4:36And he got hurt that year and ended up not playing most of the season.
4:40But he still was the wide receiver one in points per game in 2022.
4:44And my point isn't that Trey McBride is going to get hurt like Cooper Cup did, obviously.
4:49And it's not even that Trey McBride is still going to be the 10 and one in points per game.
4:54It's just that he still could very well do it, which is why he is still worthy of a top 25 pick
5:00and should be in that conversation with Brock Bowers.
5:03What I will say is as much as I'm no hesitation, Brock is over Trey McBride.
5:07They're back to back in my rankings because I just think once one guy goes off the board, you should snag the
5:13other guy because the drop off is so massive.
5:16And I don't know if we're crazy for this, but we have a tier break after S like so clearly for this
5:22next guy that everyone's hot and bothered by. Oh, I think there should absolutely be a tier break here for Colston Loveland in the next tier at three.
5:30I think the 2026 fantasy season has introduced the world to the Loveland paradox, which is that Colston Loveland is an elite
5:36tight end with a limitless ceiling while simultaneously only having three career games with 15 plus fantasy points in PPR formats.
5:42Ooh, spicy. And I certainly haven't cracked the Loveland paradox myself because on one hand, I genuinely think he has the best
5:48odds of anyone besides McBride and Bowers of being the tight end one overall.
5:51So I want to draft him. I really want him on my teams.
5:55But on the other hand, it feels like we're a little premature.
5:58Maybe it's just a little weird that we're drafting him as high as we are when he's in a crowded offense.
6:04He was the tight end 16 in points per game last year.
6:08And I think he has as low of a floor of guys going seven or eight rounds later.
6:13I love the talent and the situation. I genuinely think he should be the tight end three off the board.
6:18I'm not by no means trying to talk anyone out of that.
6:21It just feels a little paradoxical to me. He's getting propped up this much because of, and we always talk about this,
6:27like when you get a back half explosion as a rookie, people get so excited.
6:32I mean, look at his teammate, Luther Burden, except Luther Burden's was like two games.
6:36I'm with you. That's actually crazy. I didn't realize that he's only got three games with 15 plus PPR points.
6:41I think he deserves this spot. I won't lie to you.
6:44I am just about an inch away from flipping him and this next guy, which, um, shoot.
6:49Sorry. Do you have, um, do you have a bowl?
6:52I'm just starving and I'm ready to talk about my favorite value.
6:55Kraft mac and cheese, Tucker craft, little craft joke for the mac and cheese heads out in green Bay.
7:00But last year's tight end one before the ACL injury, there's now even less target competition than last year after they let
7:07Romeo Dobbs, their target leader walk away here in free agency plus Dontavian Wicks.
7:10And I have a confession, Melo. I felt a little bit lame, not putting him at three.
7:15I felt the pressure of the consensus and the ADPs and the best ball rankings not to do it, but I kind
7:21of really feel like he should be the tight end three and dynasty.
7:25I'm still a Colson Loveland guy through and through.
7:27It's not close to me, but this season I kind of like craft as my three.
7:32I'm glad. Cause I have the same intrusive thought.
7:34But it's the ACL is all it is because if you told me right now, he was magically healed snap of a finger.
7:41Like it never even happened. I think he would not only be above Loveland in my rankings.
7:45I think he'd be closer to the McBride and Bowers tier than he would be to Loveland.
7:50Like that is how high I would have him.
7:53And if I see just one camp video of him looking agile and explosive, we might be on an island as the
7:59only guys that have them as our tight end three in 2026.
8:02I know. I feel like I'm willing to get on that island, but like just to illustrate this, like he got injured.
8:08We talk about like games with 15 plus PPR points.
8:11Like he played eight games and he had two of them already before he got hurt.
8:15He was the tight end one or tight end two, depending on what format you play in a, he was that good before he tore his ACL.
8:23Last guy, I think, or at least one of the last guys in this tier, Tyler Warren coming in at the tight end five though.
8:30He was the tight end two overall for week 10 last year, which just doesn't feel real.
8:34We feel so far removed from that. And we give Emeka Ibuka a pass as we absolutely should for the second half
8:40of the year regression that he had as a rookie.
8:43But we don't extend the same grace to Warren, which kind of makes me a little bit worried that I'm being a
8:49hypocrite as someone who hasn't been super into Tyler Warren.
8:52I still think there is plenty of great upside though.
8:55I love him as a player, like a real life tight end.
8:58I think he is phenomenal. I'm just really worried about this Colts offense as a whole.
9:03I'm worried they will not be close to the same level of productive as they were for the first few months of last season.
9:09And that's why I struggle to rank Tyler Warren a little bit higher compared to a guy like Tucker Craft.
9:15I think that's a very good checking ourselves a little bit on the Emeka Abuka comparison because I feel the same way.
9:21I think he's kind of been the disrespected man in this A tier in terms of like how much we've talked about him on our show.
9:28But I think he does absolutely belong with these guys in terms of the conversation of high upside elite tight ends.
9:34Like you talk about like the Michael Pittman situation where he leaves and that vacates 111 targets.
9:39And last year, Tyler Warren was second on the team and first read target share behind Michael Pittman.
9:44Now you remove him. And I think we've been so excited about Josh Downs.
9:47And we talk about, OK, if Alec Pierce isn't fully healthy going into the year, this should be great for Josh Downs.
9:54Should also be great for Tyler Warren. And he finished last year as the tight end seven, but he was the tight
10:00end four before the Daniel Jones ACL tear all as a rookie.
10:03And so something even crazier. He only had four touchdowns last season.
10:06If he tacks on a few more, like what kind of finish could you see?
10:10I feel like he is a great candidate for a true sophomore breakout and a guy that I think we need to
10:17put a little respect on his name. Yeah, I probably should.
10:20I don't think I'm going to move him above five, but I think in terms of like aggregate ranking, I could see myself moving him up.
10:27Yeah. Yes, that's right. I don't think he moves up these rankings anytime this summer, but I think where I'm actually drafting him goes up.
10:34And this is just like such a clean tear break to me before this next guy.
10:38And that's Sam Laporta, who I've mentioned as a potential bust this season.
10:42This is actually where I'd put my friend Kyle Pitts, but I suppose we'll talk about him later because someone had him lower in our consensus rankings.
10:49I'm just think there's a lot of mouths to feed here.
10:52And since that rookie season where he finishes a tight end one, like you've got Jamison Williams carving out a bigger role.
10:58They draft Tesla, who we've seen carving out a bigger role.
11:01And Jamo doesn't exactly provide like a threat to the red zone work as much as a guy like Gibbs does or a guy like Tesla does.
11:09But he only had 42 targets during that rookie breakout from Laporta.
11:12And then we've kind of seen Jamison Williams get out of the doghouse.
11:16And then he built up to 91 targets and then 102 targets last year.
11:20And so then you look at the red zone work, which Sam Laporta had 10 touchdowns that rookie year, which is a
11:26huge thing that propped him up to that tight end one finish.
11:29You've got Isaac Tesla carving out this role that they were using him so much in the red zone.
11:34And we've seen some of the coach speak coming out of Dan Campbell that they're really impressed with the steps he's taken
11:40this offseason and that he should get more opportunities.
11:43And I'm like, OK, so you're trying to feed Amin Ra, who's an absolute red zone machine.
11:48He like led the NFL in red zone targets last year.
11:51Then you've got Isaac Tesla, who could be working in.
11:53Jamison Williams is getting more and more targets, even if it is more work between the 20s.
11:58And then you've got Jameer Gibbs, who I think all of us, it's like if you want to take a bet on
12:04someone scoring a touchdown in the red zone on any team in the NFL, I kind of want Jameer Gibbs.
12:10And I just I have a hard time seeing the elite upside for Sam Laporta.
12:14And I feel like you're drafting him in a spot where you kind of need him to have that upside.
12:20As someone who likes Laporta more than you, I do agree with pretty much everything you just said.
12:25And the one thing I will say with the Mouths to feed is if there's any offense where there's plenty to go
12:31around, it's Detroit Lions who have the highest point total going into 2026.
12:34So there's going to be a lot of scoring.
12:37I mean, every year they have multiple super relevant fantasy assets.
12:40Like you mentioned, he's had the tight end one finish before.
12:43So we've seen the ceiling. I agree that he won't get back to that for the reasons you mentioned.
12:48But he's got a great floor to his worst finish in points per game throughout his career is tight end nine.
12:54So yes, he doesn't have that elite ceiling, but I feel super safe about Sam Laporta to be a tight end one,
13:00which is why I personally like him a little bit more than you.
13:04And we have him at six here in our rankings.
13:06But with all of that said, I'm still not really targeting Laporta in drafts because you mentioned that tier drop off into our B tier here.
13:14This is a tier. I'm just not taking any of the tight ends that cost.
13:18I'm either. Yeah, that's the real. I want to say I have him as my tight end seven.
13:23I just have Kyle Pitts above him. It's more so a philosophy around almost every player in this range.
13:28Yeah. I'm not taking unless one of them like falls away below ADP or, you know, something like that happens.
13:33Yeah. I'm just not taking these tight ends at cost because I like the cheaper guys later.
13:38Right. And that brings us to another tight end in this tier, Harold Fannin Jr.
13:42of the Cleveland Browns. I really like him as a player.
13:45I really like what he can do a lot.
13:48He's a big wide receiver more than a tight end, which for fantasy sounds great in theory.
13:53And it was great in practice as a rookie at 107 targets.
13:56The problem is he's still in this murky middle that we talked about where I'm really not drafting tight ends, you know, like we talked about with Laporta.
14:04I just don't want him at cost. And I've been pretty vocal about my fears for Fannin already on this show before.
14:10I'm not as confident in him as a lot of people because he's on the Cleveland Browns and because Stefanski's out the
14:16door who loved Fannin and built the offense around him in a lot of ways through the air.
14:21And then also you draft two pass catchers in the top 40.
14:24So the target share might not be quite the same.
14:27I'm a huge fan of the talent and I like him enough to even have him at as our tight end seven on these rankings.
14:34I'm just not actually interested in drafting him with where he's going in ADP.
14:38You mentioned Stefanski's departure. You mentioned spending a first round pick on Casey Concepcion, a high second on Denzel Boston.
14:43We're now in the middle of a conversation of his quarterbacks going to be Shador Sanders or Deshaun Watson.
14:49I just, I can't envision why we would be drafting him as the tight end six.
14:53Like the thing I love, like he led all tight ends in 0.24 targets per route run as a rookie.
14:59And that's very impressive. And he got a ton of volume.
15:02I just, it doesn't seem like he's going to be able to get as much volume.
15:06And when you're looking at drafting a Cleveland Browns pass catcher, you're talking about getting the volume because you're not going to
15:12get the same high value touches that you'd get in a real NFL offense versus a CFL one like this one.
15:18CFL derogatory. Cleveland Football League. Uh, let's talk about my darling Kyle Pitts Sr.
15:22Last year's tight end two that you can get for the low, low price of the tight end eight leapt from 74
15:28targets in 2024 to 118 targets in 2025. Uh, we mentioned this before, but I think if Tua gets the job, it's a huge bump for Pitts.
15:35We've already seen him prop up guys like Johnnie Smith to the tight end four in 2024.
15:40And I think this would obviously be the most talented guy that we've ever seen Tua play with.
15:45Um, last year, Pitts had 88 catches, 928 yards, second in both to only Trey McBride plus five touchdowns, which we know will be six this year.
15:53Cause he adds one more every season. And like all jokes aside, like I love talking up Kyle Pitts mainly because you hate him.
15:59And I just like antagonizing you. Um, but I, I do think when I look at this range, like this is one
16:05of the only guys I can get myself out of bed for and excited about having potentially high upside of the tight end position.
16:12Oh, you know what? Mitch, this episode is going too well for me to start a fight with you against.
16:17I won't do that. And also because it'd be a pointless fight because for me, it's like, yeah, I can say I
16:24like a guy like Sam Laporta or whoever else better, but I'm not drafting any of them anyways.
16:29Like for me, I'm not getting myself out of bed.
16:31He's still in the same tier where I don't really want any of these guys.
16:35And the other thing I'll add is Pitts has not been, I mean, he hasn't been consistent period, but especially when Drake
16:42London's been on the field, like, yeah, he has really struggled to be fantasy relevant as long as Drake London's healthy.
16:47So if London goes into next season healthy, it's just like, I don't really care to draft Kyle Pitts with where he's going in drafts.
16:54Next though, here's a guy we can definitely both agree on Mitch much cheaper than anyone we've talked about yet because it's all hypothetical.
17:01We really haven't seen it yet. And that is Isaiah Likely, who I will be likely to draft.
17:06Nice. I need to retire. I think we all need to retire.
17:09I think we do too. I think we've beaten that horse too many times.
17:13But it's like you said, it's a total shot on upside late in drafts, which is what I want to do, especially at tight end.
17:20I just want to shoot for upside if I've punted tight end late.
17:24And for some reason, people were really excited about Isaiah Likely when he was the second tight end on the run heavy Raidens.
17:30But now all of a sudden they have cold feet when he's in line for what could be a pretty sizable target
17:36share and what also could be a more pass happy offense.
17:39If Malik Nabors is as hurt as he seems like he could be, he could literally lead this team in targets.
17:45Isaiah Likely. Absolutely. Especially the first month or two if we're seeing Malik open the air on the pup and he's not playing.
17:51Isaiah Likely could be a huge part of this offense we've seen.
17:55I mean, we saw it with Theo Johnson last year.
17:57There's no doubt in my mind Isaiah Likely is the much better pass catcher.
18:01And that's why I like him because he has, to me, the same upside as guys going five or six rounds ahead of him.
18:08The floor is obviously lower, but he's so much cheaper, which makes more than makes up for it in my mind.
18:14Yeah. Outside of those top four guys, this is the guy I've been drafting the most.
18:18Honestly, I'd have to look at my exposures. This might be my most drafted tight end in best ball right now.
18:24He's still only 26 years old. Like you said, Dart was targeting Theo Johnson like crazy last year.
18:29Imagine what he could do with a guy like Isaiah Likely that, again, you put it so well.
18:34We were so excited for him as the tight end two in a run heavy Ravens offense.
18:39And now you move him over here to New York where he could be the lead pass catcher.
18:44And it's like none of you even care. I've said this stat before, but if you extrapolate it into a full season,
18:50Isaiah Likely's averages in games without Mark Andrews in his career, he would have been the tight end three last season.
18:56This is a screaming value. We're way above consensus, but like a serious, serious flag plant for us.
19:01I mentioned this about Brock Purdy, but another guy that's like leaning towards my, my guys right now.
19:06So he's close to there for me too. All right.
19:08We just talked about a guy who could have been the tight end three.
19:12If you extrapolated those numbers, let's talk about the guy who was actually the tight end three last year.
19:17That is Travis Kelsey. And I know the big news surrounding Travis Kelsey this summer, obviously is that he's now eligible for an AARP membership.
19:24But if you are willing to look past the advanced stage, take a look at the fact that Travis Kelsey has been
19:31in the past 10 seasons, the tight end three, five, three, one, two, and then five straight tight end ones.
19:36This guy is a top five tight end every single season.
19:39And ADP wise, you're getting him as the tight end 10.
19:42And I don't think there's a ton else. Dad.
19:45Does he get a marriage bump? I know there's like a baby bump.
19:48I recently got married and put on eight pounds.
19:51That was my marriage bump. I hope Kelsey gets it in the form of fantasy points.
19:55If you were Marvin Harrison Jr. We'd be drafting you so much higher right now for putting on those eight pounds during the summer.
20:02Yeah. It won't slow me down or anything or make me not be able to run a slant route.
20:07I do think there's a real world where Kelsey is just completely washed.
20:11Like that does exist. But like you said, he was the tight end three last year and he was playing with something
20:17called a Chris Aludekun at quarterback for multiple games, whatever that is.
20:20And on top of that, the Chiefs brought in absolutely zero pass catchers this off season.
20:25So sure, he could be washed. Sure, you might cut him by week five.
20:28But for the first time in his career, he's going super late in drafts and he still has pretty good upside.
20:34So he's someone else I'm interested in taking some shots on.
20:37Another old tight end here though, continuing this unction function, we have George Kittle at 11, who as somebody who's been a
20:43George Kittle stan throughout his career, it has made me borderline depressed that I've been pretty fully out on Kittle for most
20:49of this off season because of the terrible timing of his Achilles tear.
20:53I just didn't think he'd be ready for this season or he'd be effective this season.
20:57And I'm still not quite all the way back in, but I'm really starting to warm up, Mitch.
21:02Like I'm really warming up to the idea of taking some late shots on George Kittle because like every player, he's ahead of schedule.
21:09I can't believe it. He's ahead of schedule. He's ahead of schedule.
21:12Everyone's ahead of schedule. They're saying he's going to be good to go for week one.
21:17I'm like, damn, he tore his Achilles in fricking January.
21:20How is that possible? But I mean, it's good news to hear it.
21:23And then you think about the upside that he has.
21:26That's what I want. Laying my drops. I want that upside.
21:29He was tied for the tight end two last year in points per game.
21:33He was a tight end one in points per game in 2024.
21:36If he actually can stay healthy and a hundred percent, which I'm still kind of skeptical of, but if he can do
21:42it through 17 games, he can have a top three finish.
21:45And all of a sudden you had one of the best deals of the draft.
21:50I don't buy it. I don't buy George Kittle and I'm out.
21:53You're still out. I'm still out. I just, I don't see him coming back fully himself off of an Achilles tear in January at 32 years old.
22:00I'm 28. And if I step weird, I'm like out of commission for the next three weeks.
22:05So to me, the injury timelines, it's true. The timeline is just a little bit fishy.
22:09I think what you said though, the tight end two note is, is very key here though, that if I'm wrong, the upside's crazy.
22:16I just, I would like to put my flag on the out on George Kittle side.
22:21I agree with you. I think the timeline is super fishy.
22:24I think there's a low chance that we see that type of upside, but at least he has it.
22:29It's the only reason I'm starting to warm up.
22:31Yeah, absolutely. All right. Let's get into our final tight end one and then we're going to kind of speed through these tight end twos here.
22:39But before we do, if you haven't yet, please hit that subscribe button.
22:42It helps us so much. And you'll be notified every time we drop a brand new episode with fancy tips all summer
22:48long, plus some free fantasy tools coming soon here in August.
22:51But let's talk about the final tight end one in Jake Ferguson.
22:55I think this is a guy who's consistently underrated.
22:57I understand a lot of people want to point to the Lamb injury as to why Ferguson had such a strong stretch
23:03last season, got him to a tight end five finish overall.
23:06But I want pieces of this Dallas Cowboys offense.
23:09I don't want to have to pay the premium price for guys like Lamb and Pickens.
23:13And I think he's the perfect guy here to end the tight end one tier because I feel pretty safe that if
23:19he plays 17, he's going to end up in there.
23:22Yeah. And it's unexciting. Yeah. Like he doesn't inspire a ton of like excitement.
23:26But he's a great like spot start low end tight end one with benefits.
23:30And that's what I like about him because he has a pretty safe floor and like this past heavy Cowboys offense, like
23:36you mentioned, and they like using them in the red zone, which is great.
23:40So you feel good about starting him if you have to, but it comes with significant benefits as I referred to them earlier.
23:46If Lammer Pickens were to go down because he was the tight end two overall through week seven last year, four of
23:52those games to start the year CD was inactive.
23:55And over those four games, Jake Ferguson was the tight end one overall.
23:58So you obviously don't root for injury, but he gets a significant bump if one of those two receivers were to go down.
24:05Right. And that's not the case for most head end.
24:07So you do have to bake, bake that into the ranking.
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25:10Next guy we have here though, going into the tight end twos, Dallas Goddard was a tight and seven in point in
25:16PPR last year, tight end four and half point PPR.
25:19So from that perspective, he's a great value with where he's going.
25:23Absolutely. He stays in Philly. Jay Litt Hurts loves Dallas Goddard.
25:26You lose A.J. Brown, vacates a ton of targets.
25:28A.J. Brown has led the Eagles in targets the last four years.
25:31Sure, they drive to the Eli Stowers, but that's more of a developmental project for after 2026.
25:36So with all that said, I like Goddard as a late round flyer.
25:40I will admit he's not scoring 11 touchdowns again.
25:42That's completely unrepeatable. He had never had more than five in a season before last year, but they do like using him in the red zone.
25:49So he still definitely has tight end upside and with where he's going, I like the value.
25:54Yeah, this is all reliable and you're going to be able to get him as even more of a steal than before
26:00than we thought starting the spring because of the Stowers pick.
26:03And we're both in agreement. I don't think Stowers does a ton of damage to his target share in year one.
26:09But yeah, this is Jalen's safety blanket in the red zone and now we don't have A.J.
26:14Brown and I think we see him lean on Goddard even more.
26:17I think this is a really solid pick and a guy we are ahead of consensus on right now.
26:22I don't think you can really go wrong with this pick.
26:25It's definitely an unsexy one though. No, yeah. It's like your ugly buddy that's a good time still.
26:30All right, on to number 14. Let's talk some Dalton Kincaid.
26:33I think we've certainly been on the negative side of the Dalton Kincaid debate and I wish we weren't.
26:39Like there's a lot of things to get excited about.
26:41He led all tight ends in yards per route run last season.
26:45He's attached to Josh Allen, which is an immediate bump in fantasy football.
26:48But what bothers me is that he's going as the tight end nine, which as you can tell by our ranking, we're horribly below consensus.
26:55But since the mini breakout as a rookie where he finished as the tight end 11, he's since finished as the tight
27:01end 30 and the tight end 20. It's just a little bit rich for me.
27:06And then I think you also think about the fact they added some more passing options.
27:10They add TJ Moore and I'm just like, he's never finished as a tight end nine.
27:14So why are we drafting him there? No, I, we have them lower.
27:18Like you said. And honestly, to me, at least it feels obligatory to even have him here because of the reasons you
27:24mentioned the draft capital, the bills and the yards per route run.
27:27But like part of me thinks he should even be lower.
27:31Like he's a guy I'm willing to plan my flag on us.
27:34I just don't have interest. Yeah. And it's, it really boils down to this.
27:38He can't stay on the field. And normally when we say that about guys, it's because of injuries, but for him, it's more than just injuries.
27:45That's been part of it. But it's also that he's literally not trusted to stay on the field because he can't block
27:51and he can't play inline tight end. He's really just a big receiver.
27:55And that hurts his playing time through 12 games last year.
27:58His season high in snap percentage was just 55%.
28:00He only played over half of snaps in three games last year.
28:03He only played over 50% of snaps in three games.
28:06So when you're not playing that much, it just caps your upside.
28:10Like you can't be a top five, six, seven tight end without being on the field.
28:14So I just really don't have interest in Dalton and Kate.
28:17That's, that's a great, great group of stats to back that up.
28:20We actually do have another more wide receiver than tight end, tight end here at 15.
28:25But one I, I am getting excited about, and that's Chigakonkwo recently signed with the commanders.
28:29I'm going to give my super expedited chick pitch because I've already given it on this show.
28:34But if you haven't listened to our late round values episode, check that out.
28:38We really dive in deeper. But basically what we talked about there is his underlying metrics last year were phenomenal before, during, after the catch.
28:45We've always known he's a phenomenal athlete. He was just stuck in Tennessee.
28:48Probably didn't get the workload necessary to really break out.
28:51But now he's in a Jaden Daniels offense that made Zach Ertz look good.
28:55The oldest, most senile version of Zach Ertz. Senile.
28:57Senile. Senile. Uh, I'm trying to say reasonable because Chigak is a year four veteran.
29:02His, he's never really broken out. He's been the tight end 21 three straight years, which I don't think that's talked about enough.
29:08He's like the most horrible version of Amunra St.
29:11Brown. He's tight end 21 every year. But now he's in a much better situation.
29:15And I like the upside a lot. Super late in drafts.
29:18Yeah. We love looking for these situational changes with guys who are like proving it with the underlying metrics.
29:23Like you mentioned, like he fished fourth and yards after the catch third and contested catch rate third and average separation among
29:29all tight ends with at least 50 targets. Put him in this commander's offense with Jaden Daniels, who went healthy turned senile.
29:35As you mentioned, Zach Ertz into the tight end seven, like sign me up.
29:39I'm all in. I think this is one of my favorite values late to take a shot on a guy that also,
29:45you know, if it's not working out, you just cut him.
29:48Like you're not spending all that high of draft capital on Shigekonkwo.
29:51So let's jump into number 16, a guy we're below consensus on.
29:55And that's a Rondé Gadsden. We've joked about the Jaguars with all the pass catchers that we all want to see have
30:01a great season and we'd start projecting it. And all of a sudden you add it up and Trevor Lawrence has 6,000 yards and 70 touchdowns.
30:08And I kind of think that's happening with Justin Herbert a little bit.
30:12I personally absolutely love Lab McConkie. I think he's going to be the alpha in this offense.
30:16And I think there's still going to be the volume for Gadsden as well as QJ and even Trey Harris.
30:22I just, I think they're going to spread it out a lot and not necessarily allowing enough targets to present real upside of the tight end position.
30:29And we talk about this a lot where it's like, if they don't have a real shot at being like a top
30:36five or six tight end, then the difference isn't all that important.
30:39Not to mention, I've also said it before. I don't love the fact that they felt the need to go out and sign David Njoku.
30:46That's a big reason I'm falling on Gadsden. Not that I think Njoku is like great, but you know, the hope for
30:52Gadsden going into 2026 months and months ago is that he was going to be the clear number one tight end on
30:58this Justin Herbert and Mike McDaniel offense. And we've already seen the report between Gadsden and Herbert.
31:03He had five, six plus target games last year, but then they bring in a Joku, like you said, and it's like,
31:09all right, now there's more competition at tight end.
31:11And then all of a sudden they sign Charlie Kohler and it's like, all right, whatever, that doesn't matter.
31:17Until you hear all these reports that, you know, he was used super heavily as a blocking tight end in Baltimore.
31:22They're still going to use him like that in LA, but they're probably going to use him more in the passing game as well.
31:29He was just stuck behind Mark Andrews and Zay Lakeley.
31:32And it's like, I don't know if I fully believe that hype, but it's not a good conversation to hear.
31:37No, because now all of a sudden it goes from Gadsden being the clear number one tight end to one of the
31:43tight ends they deploy a lot of. Granted, they'll probably run a lot of two and three tight end sets, but still,
31:49it's just, you're not going to get the same fantasy upside as you were before.
31:54If that is the case, I still think the upside is there.
31:57If he can at least be the clear receiving tight end in the offense, but the floor is plummeting from beneath him.
32:03I really like we have him as our tight end 16.
32:06I really don't like the tight end 12 price tag right now.
32:09This is, this is a flag plant that I'm out.
32:12Yeah. At cost. I also am not drafting any Gadsden.
32:15Yeah. Someone I am drafting because he's so much cheaper though, is Greg Dulcich here at tight end 17.
32:20And if you had told me back in March, Mitch, that we'd have him as our tight end 17 heading into 2026,
32:26I just straight up wouldn't have believed you. I was like, that's not a possibility.
32:30This is by far our biggest, like well above consensus.
32:33Do you know what he is right now in ADP?
32:36Tight end 24? 31. 31. He is our tight end 17.
32:39You know what though? Like I get, if I'm ranking where I think guys will finish, he might be there for me
32:45too, but he at least has the upside. And that's what I want late.
32:49Like I want upside. You don't draft based on where you project guys will finish.
32:53You draft based on the expected value based on what their upside could be.
32:57And someone has to catch the ball in Miami.
33:00And I know it's Miami and no one's excited, but someone has to catch the ball.
33:04Dulcich has been the one getting the hype out of OTAs.
33:07Maybe where there's smoke, there's fire. Maybe we're just deluding ourselves into believing something that isn't there.
33:12And maybe he will be a bust, but guess what?
33:15At ADP, I mean, he's free. He is free.
33:17He's free. You can take the shot. You can see if he gets eight targets week one.
33:22And if not, you just cut him. Yeah. This is like the post, post, post, post, post, post hype sleeper in Greg Dulcich.
33:28Like the receiver room that he's competing with for targets is Malik Washington, the three rookie receivers, Caleb Douglas, Chris Bell, and Kevin Coleman Jr.
33:35And so it's like, it's not, it's a pretty fragile depth chart to be competing against.
33:39And then the camp hype has been buzzing that him and Malik Willis have had like a serious connection.
33:45And then if you're wondering like, oh, well, was he even good going into this year?
33:49Among 59 qualified tight ends in 2025, he was fifth in targets per outrun, second in yards per outrun, second in yards
33:55after the catch perception, and fifth in first downs per outrun.
33:58This guy's like Ben Elite. He just needs the target volume.
34:01And I feel like we could see Malik Willis looking to him as a safety blanket.
34:06Yeah. At cost, it's just a no brainer to me.
34:09At cost. He's free. He's totally free. All right.
34:11Let's jump to a guy who isn't exactly free, but he's still pretty cheap.
34:15And he's someone who's had some pretty high end tight end finishes.
34:18That's TJ Hawkinson. If Kyler Murray had not come to town, I would not even be entertaining this, but this is a
34:24quarterback who loves to target the tight end position.
34:27Now Hawkinson's a few years removed from those injuries that derailed him after a tight end two overall finish in 2022 and
34:33a tight end four overall finish in 2023. We're currently drafting him as the tight end 23 off the board.
34:38Is there a world, Mitch, where he just took a year or two to get better from the torn ACL and MCL?
34:45And then also you had nine last year, making every Vikings pass catcher a victim of his wrath.
34:50And who knows? Maybe that's the case. And he's poised to go back to that elite tight end he was a few years ago.
34:56No, I'm not saying that's a likely outcome because it's not.
34:59But if Doctor Strange went through every possible reality and iteration, there's at least one where that's the case, where he actually is healthy now.
35:06He's good now. He's back to what he was before.
35:09So plug your nose if you're going to take him.
35:12I know it's kind of stinky, but you can take a shot in him late.
35:16There is upside there, which is what we look for.
35:19I've really liked him. I've grabbed him a few times in best ball stacking with Kyler.
35:23Oh, Kyler stack. You don't have to convince me of that, brother.
35:26JJ, Kyler and Hawkinson. You can grab Hawkinson for so cheap.
35:29It's electric. Speaking of some cheap tight ends with upside 19 here, we have the rookie Kenyon Sadiq.
35:34Like, I'm not quite as excited as you, I think.
35:37But there is upside. I mean, we've seen these rookie tight ends be very good before in recent years.
35:42I'm just scared of the Jets. That's why I keep Sadiq buried in my rankings.
35:47I have a full-blown phobia of the Jets, I think, at this point.
35:50I think it's like clinically diagnosable. I just don't want tertiary pieces on horrible teams, especially a rookie tertiary piece on a horrible team.
35:57But the counterpoint to that is he is a specimen.
36:00And we say that all the time about professional athletes because they all are.
36:03But he's like especially a specimen. Like, I hate the cliche like built in a lab, but he might have been built in a lab.
36:10I don't think he was birthed the old-fashioned way.
36:13He can break the laws of both fantasy football and physics.
36:16That's the upside. It's just the situation is like horrific.
36:19I think for me, it's kind of the thing that you were saying with Greg Dolcich, though, where it's like, yeah, do
36:25I think that he's probably going to finish like maybe around like the tight end 20?
36:29Like, I guess that, yeah, that's possible. But like his upside is so much higher than probably like five or six of the names we just mentioned.
36:37And because we haven't seen him and I get it like the situation sucks, but we don't have the NFL numbers to go off of.
36:44What's very interesting is that we're going to see the first of him in training camp.
36:48He wasn't one of the rookies that reported to OTAs because he had the hernia issue.
36:53And so like, what if he goes to camp and he just lights it up?
36:57And all of a sudden there's like so much like hype and potential around him.
37:01I just we were so excited about him. We thought he might go to a team like Carolina.
37:06He ends up in New York and I have a full-blown phobia, too.
37:09Like I we have a Jets issue here on the lineup fantasy football podcast.
37:13But I think he is going to be a top end tight end in the NFL.
37:18I just the question is like, when does it happen?
37:20And I don't blame anyone for being like, it's probably not going to happen in his rookie year.
37:25But what if it does? We've seen crazier things happen.
37:28We've seen Sam Laporta just rise up and have a tight end one finish.
37:32And granted, Detroit's a lot better of a situation than New York.
37:35But I think that there's a ton of potential here for a guy that could theoretically be the second target earner behind Garrett Wilson.
37:42Oh, absolutely. He definitely could do that. All right.
37:45Let's speed round these last five guys. Let's talk about Gunnar Helm.
37:48This is, to me, more of a best ball play.
37:51I don't really have a huge interest in him.
37:53I think this is if you're stacking with Cam Ward.
37:56A lot of reports out of camp that they're building chemistry, making big plays.
38:00I just don't think he's a super high upside guy.
38:03I think he's more of a nice value piece.
38:05And like I said, a stacking guy in best ball versus a redraft pickup.
38:09Yeah, agreed. I don't have much more to add to that.
38:12I'm not super interested. I don't necessarily believe in the talent.
38:15There's sneaky quite a few mouths to feed all of a sudden in Tennessee.
38:19If you think this offense will take a huge step forward as a whole, sure, take Gunnar Helm and some two tight end or best ball leagues.
38:26But outside of that, I don't have much interest.
38:29Yeah. Tight end 21. We're going to get fried for this.
38:32We have Mark Andrews here well below consensus. Well below.
38:35Way below consensus. And if you're asking how we can have him this slow, it's because he's washed.
38:40He is burnt toast. He's done. I'm sorry. Mark Andrews is done.
38:43He has been done. Part of me wonders if the real Mark Andrews died in that car crash a few years ago.
38:49And my God, it's just been a body double since the deep state planted fake Mark Andrews.
38:54I don't know if I should be sharing my Mark Andrews conspiracy theories here, but he just hasn't been the same player the last few years.
39:01I don't think he has any upside anymore. Like the only upside he has is he catches like seven or eight touchdowns
39:07in the red zone in a year where he catches like 25, more than 25 passes.
39:12But you know what I'm saying? Like he's not going to be not going to get the yards.
39:17He's not going to get the receptions. He's inefficient.
39:19I just don't have any interest anymore. This is one that's either going to age so well or so poorly.
39:25This is like such an egregious flag plant where 11 spots past ADP.
39:28We're barely putting him as a tight end too when he's a lot of people's in their solid tight end ones.
39:34I just think those days are over. I agree.
39:36Can you tell me, Melo, last year where Mark Andrews ranked in yards per out rung among tight ends?
39:42It had to have been extraordinarily low because he played a lot and he wasn't catching a lot of passes.
39:47Like 40th. He was 51st. He was also 30th in targets per out run.
39:51I think the path to him like being a tight end one is the same path as 2024 when he was 28
39:57years old where he scored 11 touchdowns. I don't see that happening again.
40:01I'm sorry. I'm fully out on Mark Andrews. Yeah.
40:03And it's just not fun to play that way.
40:06I don't want to bet on my tight end catching three passes for two touchdowns and that's how I get my points.
40:12It's just not fun. Exactly. On to number 22.
40:14Let's talk some Brenton Strange. I think we're probably a little disrespectful here, but I just think we know who and what
40:21Brenton Strange is from a fantasy football production perspective.
40:23He just got the extension. And like I've been mentioning, I want cheap pieces of this Jacksonville offense.
40:28And so like I think from a I think he's a best ball guy.
40:32That's what I think it is. I think he's a best ball guy.
40:35I don't think the upside is there for him.
40:38I'm maybe being a little hypocritical here because I think that's a little how I describe Jake Ferguson, a cheap piece of a high powered offense.
40:45I just think Jake Ferguson has shown that upside that Brenton Strange hasn't.
40:49And you made a great point. Like Ferguson's a clear third in that pecking order.
40:53I don't think we know where Brenton Strange is in this like hodgepodge of talented elite wide receivers.
40:58No, and I don't think he has the same benefits because if Parker Washington or Brian Thomas goes down, like I don't
41:04know that that's going to increase Brenton Strange. I agree.
41:07Because they have a billion receivers there. Unlike Dallas, where it's a top two and a drop off.
41:12So yeah, he's a firm firmly going to be a tight end to the upside is super limited with all those mouths to feed.
41:18But he's going to be somewhere in the tight end to range season end.
41:22All right, next up, somebody has to feel pretty similarly about Juwan Johnson.
41:26He was a tight end late eight last year.
41:28So from that perspective, we have them kind of low.
41:31But last year felt pretty fluky to begin with.
41:34His previous highest finish throughout his career was tight in 15 through six seasons.
41:38So last year was a little fluky. And now on top of that, you had Jordan Tyson.
41:42You had Travis Achan. And last year feels like it has no chance of being matched again, even if he still is
41:48solid and gives you tight end two numbers. Yeah, that you want to stack with Tyler Shuck.
41:53Best ball. That's it. I don't see any upside here for Juwan Johnson, but it did feel disrespectful to take the tight
41:59end eight and not have him in our top 24.
42:02Exactly. Let's wrap it up with Dalton Schultz at 24.
42:05If you're playing redrafts, I don't care what your format is unless you're in like some disgusting like 32 person league.
42:10You should not still be drafting tight ends at this point.
42:14But we're here and we're in the top 24.
42:16So let's do the say something nice about Dalton Schultz challenge.
42:19He was sixth among all tight ends in receiving yards last season and ranked fourth among all tight ends who played 250 or more snaps in catch rate.
42:27If I'm being honest, he kind of reminds me of CJ Stroud in the way I just talked about him last episode.
42:33I think he beats his ADP. I just don't think it means anything for fantasy football.
42:37The truest thing said this whole episode is you saved it for the end.
42:41He'll be better than the tight end 24. He's been the tight end 10 two of the last three years.
42:47But a big part of it is he plays it.
42:50He's played a ton. He stayed healthy. A lot of tight ends get injured every year and that affects the season long finishes.
42:56I could not be less interested in Dalton Schultz in one tight end leagues because he just doesn't have the upside unless
43:02he somehow catches like 14 touchdown passes, which will not happen.
43:05So yes, he'll finish better than this. But if you're shooting for upside, you just don't have it with Dalton Schultz.
43:11Agreed. And those were our top 24 tight ends for fantasy football here in 2026.
43:15If you have a favorite tight end that you've been targeting all summer, let us know down below.
43:20If there's anyone that you want to hear us talk more about, also let us know down below.
43:25But Mello, before we get out of here, did we miss anything?
43:28I got nothing. All right. Thank you all for tuning in so long and we will catch you guys next episode with
43:34a very special guest for a very fun episode.
43:37We'll see you then.
