Best 2026 NFL Draft Tight End Landing Spots for Fantasy Football

Tight end. It’s the trickiest of the positions in fantasy football. That goes double for your dynasty fantasy football leagues. And triple when we're talking about rookies. Simply separating out who will be pass-catching tight ends vs. blocking tight ends at the next level can be a tall order (look at you, Michael Mayer). So we need to explore every angle when we evaluate the prospects for the 2026 NFL Draft.

We often talk about draft capital (the other guys are drafted in) and the statistical hit rate for players drafted earlier. But it’s also important to understand the schemes, depth charts, and organizations that these players are joining. Specifically, how they fit within that ecosystem and what their path is to fantasy relevance. The right offense can do wonders for certain players while, on others, they can be trapped for years (like Evan Engram). 

So that’s what we are going to do today to wrap up this series. So far, we have covered wide receiver, quarterback, and running back. Today, we’ll identify the best possible landing spots for 2026 rookie tight ends so that, next week, we can “fantasy wish” our favorite prospects to those spots! If you’d like to see how those prospects are viewed going into the draft, use this link here. Below are the links to our favorite landing spots for the other positions. 

• Best Running Back Landing Spots for the 2026 NFL Draft
• Best Wide Receiver Landing Spots for the 2026 NFL Draft
• Best Quarterback Landing Spots for the 2026 NFL Draft

When And Where Is the 2026 NFL Draft?

The 2026 NFL Draft kicks off on Thursday, April 23rd, with the first round at 8 PM ET. The main event is set in Acrisure Stadium, home of the Pittsburgh Steelers in Pennsylvania. Then round 2-3 will be on Friday, April 24th, at 7 PM ET. The rest of the draft will start on Saturday at noon ET and finish off the last four rounds. Obviously, Thursday and Friday are the most important for fantasy football. 

With tight end, draft capital can be tricky. Folks will point to some anecdotal first-round busts, yet the data still tells us that being drafted earlier gives our guys a better shot to succeed. We’ll consider the entire narrative of the draft in terms of how many guys are selected in each round, how close together, and to what teams, but, for the most part, we are rooting for our favorite prospects to be picked on those first two days of the 2026 NFL Draft. 

Best Tight End Landing Spots For Fantasy Football

Tight end is a tricky position. You need to understand the passing tree, the run blocking scheme, and, in most cases, the pass blocking scheme. You need to be the best pass-catching tight end on your team. In fact, to truly have upside in fantasy, you also need to be a top two target on the team. It would also help if the scheme is tight end-friendly and the quarterback can actually deliver the football. That’s a tall order. 

Best Pass-Catching Tight End On Team - We have a number of guys who started their career as the inline blocking tight end, while an incumbent got the pass work. Literally the top pass-catching tight end in fantasy, Trey McBride, started out that way behind Zach Ertz. That’s a crucial part of the landing spot. For the sake of this discussion, we at least want to be able to predict that the spot opens within the first two years, but, ideally, it’s open now.

Top Two Target -  We broke it down statistically in our What Makes an Elite Tight End? article for fantasy football. The short and sweet is that the number one barrier for entry for upside for elite tight ends is being a top two target on the team. If your TE isn’t in the top five on paper, he needs some injury help like Jake Ferguson last year. 

Friendly Scheme - Not every team runs the same scheme. Some teams, like last year’s Cardinals or Raiders, will use an inline blocking tight end, then basically use their pass-catching tight end as their top receiver. Others, like last year’s Buccaneers or Jets, will use heavy three WR sets and leave their tight end inline, where it’s harder to succeed. We must always be wary of the scheme, especially if it’s just generally a low-volume pass attack. 

Good Quarterback - The quarterback doesn’t necessarily need to be “great”. But they need to be able to competently deliver the ball. Some of these teams practically have a QB change at some point during the season schedule in advance, and that kind of uncertainty can pull the rug on us at the worst possible time. 

Which NFL Teams Need A Tight End In The 2026 NFL Draft?

We are going to break this into two categories. The first few teams will offer immediate production THIS season under the right circumstances. The next few are looking more at future value. So let’s first dive into the best immediate landing spots for 2026, then we’ll look at the solid future landing spots. 

Top Overall Tight End Landing Spots For 2026 Production

Miami Dolphins

Let’s get the most obvious part out of the way - the Dolphins don’t have any high-end pass-catchers. The best on the roster are guys like Malik Washington, Greg Dulcich, Tutu Atwell, and Jalen Tolbert. Any pass-catcher they select with either of their two first-round picks would immediately be the top guy on the team.

Bobby Slowik is also from the Kyle Shanahan tree and runs a similar scheme to Mike McDaniel before him. So the offense should be pretty friendly to the tight end, as we’ll discuss in the next section. The one question mark is the quarterback. They are betting a lot on Malik Willis, though we’ve seen an extremely small sample size of starts from him so far. That’s the one box here that isn’t a definitive check mark, and it’s more of a question mark than an X, so this is still a great landing spot. 

Besides the lack of WRs, the reason this team is the Top Overall Landing Spot is that we’ve seen it successfully deployed with multiple types of tight ends. In Miami, over the last couple of years, they have used Jonnu Smith and Darren Waller as “big slot” wide receivers. But we also have seen George Kittle in SF, Dalton Schultz under Slowik in 2023 in Houston, and AJ Barner in Seattle under Klint Kubiak. So they can basically just draft the best available tight end and figure it out from there. Unless the tight end they draft is a known inline blocker, they should be interesting for your dynasty rookie drafts. 

• Top Option(s): Kenyon Sadiq, Eli Stowers, Max Klare, Eli Raridon

For access to our 2026 rookie Tight End prospect rankings, tiers, classifications, and breakdowns, become a Fantasy Alarm member to access our 2026 Pre-Draft Tight End Breakdown!

Los Angeles Chargers

Folks might be shocked by this. Because I have made it clear that I’m a big Oronde Gadsden fan. I will tell you right now that, for my personal fantasy leagues, I am actively rooting against the Chargers drafting a tight end. But that doesn’t change the fact that this landing spot checks virtually every box we look for.

Let’s assume the current regime does believe that a fifth-round Gadsden is replaceable if a high-end TE like Kenyon Sadiq or Eli Stowers is available. The scheme that Mike McDaniel deploys uses a fullback and blocking tight end, which consolidates the snaps and targets among the top WRs, the RB, and the pass-catching TE. They brought in both Alec Ingold and inline tight end Charlie Kolar, making it clear that they are embracing what McDaniel does. Over the last two seasons under McDaniel, tight ends Jonnu Smith and Darren Waller have run 70% of their routes from a WR spot - including a lot fully out wide at split end, not just slot. That could potentially see the tight end on this team being a top two target. Oh, and the quarterback is superstar Justin Herbert.

There are a number of “big slot” tight ends in this draft, though we won’t be too nervous unless they spend up on one of the top ones. Not to mention, Darren Waller and Jonnu Smith are both floating around out there in free agency. If Oronde Gadsden can survive all of that, he has BIG upside in fantasy. But the road is full of dangers. 

• Top Options: Kenyon Sadiq, Eli Stowers

For access to our 2026 rookie Tight End prospect rankings, tiers, classifications, and breakdowns, become a Fantasy Alarm member to access our 2026 Pre-Draft Tight End Breakdown!

New York Jets

The entire draft process in the NFL is designed to hurt some feelings. With the constant influx of players, someone’s job or role gets put at risk. It’s the nature of the system. In this case, that player would be Mason Taylor.

If the Jets DON’T draft a tight end, Taylor is in a good spot. We obviously know that, after Garrett Wilson, they really don’t have a threatening WR2. And offensive coordinator Frank Reich has a few feathers in his cap in fantasy football at the tight end position. Here are some notable tight end seasons under him in terms of usage as a wide receiver and fantasy finish.

Last year, Mason Taylor was asked to play inline for a good chunk of snaps and also pass block on nearly 10% of his snaps, something that carried over from college. If they draft a tight end, they could easily make Taylor the inline tight end with the new guy in a “big slot” role, as the Raiders did with Michael Mayer and Brock Bowers. That would be bad news for Taylor, but good news for whoever they draft. Obviously, quarterback play is a question, but the targets would be there. 

• Top Option(s): Kenyon Sadiq, Eli Stowers, Eli Raridon, Michael Trigg, Justin Joly

For access to our 2026 rookie Tight End prospect rankings, tiers, classifications, and breakdowns, become a Fantasy Alarm member to access our 2026 Pre-Draft Tight End Breakdown!

Honorable Mentions:

New England Patriots - Josh McDaniels has run a two-tight end system in the past with Rob Gronkowski in-line and Aaron Hernandez as the “move” tight end. With Stefon Diggs gone, there are also targets available in the short to intermediate area. Obviously, given what they paid Romeo Doubs, they expect him to contribute on the outside, but a WR or TE in the slot could thrive in New England with Drake Maye. Hunter Henry is also an unrestricted free agent next year, adding a little extra appeal. 

Seattle Seahawks - They seem to like their combination of in-line tight end AJ Barner with “move” tight end Elijah Arroyo. But there is a chance maybe they are willing to give up early on Arroyo, in which case a “big slot” tight end could take that role and run with it. After Jaxon Smith-Njigba, it’s not clear who the second target is. 

Carolina Panthers - Jalen Coker fans might not want to hear it, but he is an undrafted free agent, so, after Tetairoa McMillan, there’s room for someone to come in and steal some targets. The scheme that Dave Canales runs is not particularly tight-end friendly, however, as he likes using an inline tight end with three wide receiver sets and, recently, has deployed a rotation. In all his stints as pass game coordinator, offensive coordinator, and head coach, his two highest finishing TEs were Cade Otton at TE19 and Gerald Everett at TE21. 

Best Tight End Landing Spots For 2027 Production And Beyond

Kansas City Chiefs

This is an obvious one. But it’s obvious for good reason. The Kansas City Chiefs have made a living off targeting Travis Kelce out of the slot with Noah Gray as the inline blocking tight end. It’s been their bread and butter. Kelce is back for 2026, but we know that the end is within reach.

Rashee Rice has emerged as a top target and, assuming he stays out of trouble, that probably won’t change. But they mostly have field stretchers like Xavier Worthy and Tyquan Thornton next to him, so the Chiefs could simply draft the heir to Travis Kelce now and keep the good time rolling. 

• Top Option(s): Kenyon Sadiq, Eli Stowers, Michael Trigg, Oscar Delp, Eli Raridon

For access to our 2026 rookie Tight End prospect rankings, tiers, classifications, and breakdowns, become a Fantasy Alarm member to access our 2026 Pre-Draft Tight End Breakdown!

Atlanta Falcons

This one obviously comes with a massive caveat - that the Falcons decide against retaining Kyle Pitts long term. Right now, Pitts has been franchise tagged, which pays him a lot of guaranteed money but also makes him an unrestricted free agent next year.

The other caveat that comes with this is that the franchise tag isn’t necessarily prohibitive to a Kyle Pitts trade. We’ve seen multiple players on the tag get traded to teams that then signed them to a long-term deal. After Drake London, the Falcons aren’t exactly loaded with pass-catchers, so this is an intriguing landing spot if a tight end is the best available player when the Falcons are on the board. If they extend Kyle Pitts, though, it immediately becomes one of the worst landing spots. 

One thing we really want to avoid is a situation where Kevin Stefanski drafts an inline blocking tight end with plans on keeping Kyle Pitts in the role Harold Fannin was in. So the top options for this team are going to exclude any tight ends who could end up as in-line guys like Sam Roush. 

• Top Option(s): Kenyon Sadiq, Eli Stowers, Eli Raridon, Michael Trigg, Justin Joly

For access to our 2026 rookie Tight End prospect rankings, tiers, classifications, and breakdowns, become a Fantasy Alarm member to access our 2026 Pre-Draft Tight End Breakdown!

Philadelphia Eagles

As the Atlanta Falcons pick above, this one does have a path to appeal in 2026. And that would be via an AJ Brown trade. If they were to draft someone like Kenyon Sadiq and trade AJ Brown, now Sadiq is basically playing wide receiver with Dallas Goedert as the inline tight end, like the Zach Ertz days. That would be nice.

The more realistic path is that they play out this year and then both AJ Brown and Dallas Goedeert are gone next year. That could open up a world of opportunity in 2027 if the Eagles are revamping the offense completely. And really, just having AJ Brown gone would be enough to make this a solid landing spot for 2027. 

• Top Option(s): Kenyon Sadiq, Eli Stowers, Justin Joly, Oscar Delp, Eli Raridon

For access to our 2026 rookie Tight End prospect rankings, tiers, classifications, and breakdowns, become a Fantasy Alarm member to access our 2026 Pre-Draft Tight End Breakdown!

Honorable Mentions:

San Francisco 49ers - I know George Kittle is going to be hurt to start the season. And he could potentially fall off at his age. But the contract he signed makes it very difficult to move on from him until 2028. In fact, they would actually LOSE cap space if they cut or trade him in 2027. So this landing spot could take some time. 

Baltimore Ravens - Like George Kittle, the Ravens rewarded Mark Andrews with a contract that makes it very difficult to move on from him in 2027. He could be released in 2028, but we really don’t like sitting on players with no major production for two years. We just did that for four years with Isaiah Likely.  

Tennessee Titans - The idea here is that Calvin Ridley is gone after this year, and then there’s room for a top-two target along with Wan’Dale Robinson. The problem is that Brian Daboll’s offense really has not been particularly friendly to tight ends with their inline deployment. Plus, the QB might not be able to support multiple high-end fantasy options. The tight ends on the depth chart now are pretty much replacement value, though, which makes it a spot to mention.