Double Elite TE Strategy 2026: Should You Draft Two Elite Tight Ends?

There are times when your league mates must be punished for their hubris. Sometimes leagues get a little too “sharp,” a little too overconfident. That especially goes for the singular positions like quarterback and, especially, tight end. They think they can just pass on all the elite tight ends? They all think they can just skate by with their late-round tight end strategy? Even worse, they think they can work in unison and let ALL the tight ends slide? Well, in that case, we must discipline them with the double elite tight end strategy. A little Bully Tight End, if you will.

Now, this might sound counterintuitive to the advice we’ve given throughout most of the draft. Because we prefer to just draft one elite guy or wait and draft two later options when possible. But value is value, and sometimes you need to put your foot down if your league is being weird. So today we are talking Bully Tight End and how/when to deploy it.

What Is The Double Elite TE Strategy (Bully Tight End)?

The strategy is exactly what the title implies. Some folks say you need to draft the first two tight ends; others say it's the two top five guys; others will say anytime you take two top ten tight ends that is still “bully” tight end. For me, it’s when you draft two guys who you BELIEVE are both standalone, every-week starters. 

The reason I feel that way is that ADP rarely matches up with our rankings. So you aren’t just going to take the TE1 and TE2 in ADP if you have the TE2 in ADP ranked as your TE6. Let’s say, for instance, you rank Brock Bowers TE1 but have Kyle Pitts ranked TE3 despite him going off the board as the TE7. To me, if you take both Bowers and Pitts, that is still double elite TE, as you are taking two tight ends that you believe will have elite value in fantasy. 
 

When To Use The Double Elite TE Strategy (Bully Tight End)?

Punishing your league mates is fun and all, but there are basically three reasons where I will go Bully Tight End. One of those reasons is the one implied in the intro - you simply believe that your league mates are leaving value on the table and you are getting the best player available even if you already have a tight end. This reasoning works best in leagues where trading happens regularly. 

The first format-related reason is obvious - tight end premium leagues. That means that the tight end gets extra points compared to WRs and RBs, usually in the form of an extra half or full point per reception. Formats like FFPC are a good example, as a tight end can actually be the top-scoring RB/WR/TE, something that has never happened in a normal PPR league. In that format, TEs are much more viable at the flex, which leads us to our second point.

The second format-related reason is less obvious, but it’s related to the number of flex spots. I am much more likely to draft multiple tight ends in a league with multiple flex spots vs. one. Why? In a single flex league, you are committed to starting one guy at the TE spot and one guy in the FLEX. Not only is there no positional scarcity at the flex spot, but you lose all flexibility for lack of a better word. If you already have 2 RBs and you find a breakout RB, that means you have to bench that second TE. Travis Kelce was the TE3 last year, but he finished as the 48th-ranked FLEX player, so odds are, you have better players to start in that spot. With multiple flexes, you likely started Kelce every week. 

Why The Double Elite TE Strategy Works?

The main reason it works is that value is value. There is SO much uncertainty in fantasy football that, if you can accumulate value by any means necessary in your drafts while avoiding land mines, good things can happen. We mentioned this earlier, but it really helps if your league is active trading because positional scarcity carries more value via trades than it does actually starting the player at the flex. But a healthy Brock Bowers and Trey McBride are probably better flex plays than a lot of guys out there regardless.

This strategy often works best in leagues where folks think they are smarter than everyone else. Look at any expert mock and see how far the QBs and TEs fall. Everyone, including me, thinks they are just going to wait and figure out TE later. That leaves room for someone to swoop in and control the TE market while everyone else is drafting some loser WR5. 

Which Tight Ends Qualify As "Elite"?

We did a full write-up on Where and When To Draft Elite Tight Ends already. So make sure you check that article out for the full info. Our Dynamic Tier Tight End rankings also break down exactly how we are handling the position with color-coded names. But why not give you an idea of where we might consider picking these guys as part of a Bully Tight End Strategy?

Keep in mind, we are already generally against overspending on tight end - even reaching on just one elite player. Positional scarcity doesn’t really make up for the ~70-100 point difference we see between the top RBs and WRs vs. the top tight ends (the best EVER PPR season was around 330 PPR points by Rob Gronkowski while we see guys like Christian McCaffrey, CeeDee Lamb, Ja'Marr Chase, etc. scoring over 400 PPR points. With Bully Tight End, we are almost certainly only doing it if players fall to us past ADP, with a few exceptions as you will see below.

We broke the table down into the list of players we consider “elite”, their current ADP round, and the pick round range we would consider taking them. 

As of right now, the injuries to Tucker Kraft and George Kittle have them outside the “Bully” tight end range, as they might be more of stashes early on. And any player beyond that is not currently elite enough to warrant the label. 

How To Use The Second Tight End

This is where format is absolutely crucial. If it’s tight end premium, then great, just start them. If it’s normal scoring, you HAVE to make sure the second tight end you are picking is better than whatever flex options are likely available to you. Positional scarcity only exists with the TE spot because you cannot start WRs or RBs there. At the FLEX, that advantage is gone, so they need to flat-out score more points.

As I’ve mentioned, I’m not super prone to using this strategy unless things get ridiculous in the draft with players sliding. That said, I’ve had my most success TRADING one of the tight ends. That’s where positional scarcity does still come into play. And often I’m willing to trade whichever tight end brings back the better return, as that player will be going into my flex. You need to make sure you are getting back a player who will actually outscore the TE you are trading because, if they score the same number of points, you have lost value-wise due to positional scarcity. 

Biggest Double Elite TE Strategy Advantages

The biggest advantage in this strategy is value-based. The entire fantasy football community is pushing the idea that you can wait on tight end in your drafts. That could see some great players slide to the point where they are flat-out outsouring the WRs and RBs going in a similar range. Not only does that give you a great flex option, but you can then turn around and potentially benefit from positional scarcity via trade.

As we’ve mentioned, the fact that everyone sleeps on tight ends becomes even more valuable in the deeper leagues. That’s especially true when you have multiple flex spots to fill. In single flex leagues, tight ends often are not viable there, but once you enter the realm of 2-3 flex spots, the later RBs and WRs are overvalued vs even the high-end TE2s. 

Biggest Double Elite TE Strategy Risks

Drafting elite tight end in general is already risky. That’s especially true if you are taking one in the first or second round, as even with positional scarcity, you are basically betting on them to have a top 5-10 season of all time. Trey McBride just had a top five season ever at the position, and he scored 100 fewer PPR points than Christian McCaffrey, for instance. So betting that you can correctly pick two elite tight ends is an even more difficult task.

We’ve harped on this along the way, but we also don’t love the flexibility issues that come with bully TE. Let’s say you are in a league where you start 2 WRs, 2 RBs, 1 TE, and 1 Flex. If you draft 3 WRs, 3 RBs, and 1 TE, you should be able to fill your 2 WR and 2 RB spots easily, then start whichever of the extra RB or WR is best at the flex. Now picture a draft where you start by picking 3 WR, 2 RB, 2 TE. What if one of your RBs busts? Now you have no backup. And, if the third WR hits, now you need to take the 2nd TE out of the flex to put in the WR. So you might have a bad RB2 and a good TE on your bench, giving you a suboptimal lineup.

And that brings us to the third point - opportunity cost. To draft the extra tight end, you are pushing another position down the board. And that second TE needs to flat out outscore the rest of your guys because you get no positional advantage at the flex. It’s a tough balance. 

Biggest Double Elite TE Strategy Draft Mistakes

The three biggest mistakes with this strategy are reaching for the tight ends, not creating a balanced build, and not trading.

This strategy really works best when you are generating value because tight ends often slip in the draft. You are taking advantage of the market. If you reach for the tight ends, you are losing all advantage there. 

When you draft multiple tight ends early, you need to be extra careful to make sure you are balanced with the rest of your team. If you spend up on QB too, that’s three early picks that didn’t go to RB or WR. Whatever position you leave thin, you really need to load up with your later picks to fix those issues.

And, as we mentioned, trading is the best way to capitalize on this strategy. That second tight end is actually more valuable to other people than it is to you. Why? Because they will be starting them at a TE spot while 

Bully TE Draft Example

To give you an example of how this build works, I jumped into the brand new Fantasy Alarm Mock Draft Simulator to run through a draft. It took me a couple of tries to find one that I felt good about, which speaks to how the draft really needs to fall to you for this strategy to work. Here is how the draft went with my thoughts below. 

Tight End - Normally I don’t take tight end in the second, but for this exercise, I took Brock Bowers a couple picks after ADP. I was then able to get Kyle Pitts later, right around his ADP. If things break right, I could just start these two all year long, but as I mentioned, trading one for a WR or RB who scores more raw points is the optimal play. 

Running Back - I played it safe at running back since I knew I’d be using multiple early picks on tight end. Josh Jacobs and David Montgomery are both starters for offenses who should be at least middle of the pack. Even if Rachaad White isn’t the starter, he will have standalone value. Then I took the handcuffs for both of the top two backs off the board to give me upside if one of Jahmyr Gibbs or Bijan Robinson goes down.

Wide Receiver - Amon-Ra St. Brown and Ladd McConkey should be in my lineup every week. Michael Pittman Jr offers a decent floor as my WR3, though this is a position I will likely focus on upgrading. Jayden Reed, Jayden Higgins, and Stefon Diggs offer enough upside to compete for that WR3 or at least settle into my flex.

Quarterback/Kicker/DST: Since I got a reasonable price on Dak Prescott, I didn’t feel the need to draft two quarterbacks - he has the latest bye week of any QB in Week 14, so that’s a bridge we don’t need to cross for a long time. After that, I just took my best available DST and K with my last two picks, as is tradition.