CLIFF'S NOTES
- George Kittle in the 10th round is too good to pass up. You can pair him with Dalton Kincaid in the 11th and create a Frankenstein Top 5 fantasy tight end. Tucker Kraft is also a good injury discount tight end.
- Brock Bowers >>> Trey McBride - Be open to taking Bowers in the 2nd if you aren't against early tight end drafting
- Colston Loveland finished his rookie season with a four-game elite fantasy TE1 run. He is worth considering in the 4th. His chances of a big second-year leap are much higher than those of Tyler Warren or Harold Fannin Jr., if you want to spend at tight end, but not go too big.
- Make sure to take an upside tight end that you can decide to move on from if they don't pop early, as long as bench size allows, and take them over veterans who have probably already had their career year.
ELITE TE1
- Brock Bowers, LV **CONSIDER AT ADP**
- Trey McBride, ARI **AVOID AT ADP**
The Big Question: Is a tight end worth a second-round pick? If so, which one?
Bowers and McBride are the clear top two tight ends, but if you are going to go early tight end, Bowers should be the pick. McBride caught 34 balls for 357 yards and five touchdowns when the Cardinals were down by more than 16 points last season. For comparison, in 2024, he caught nine balls for 102 yards when the team was down big. Bowers had a 100-yard game to start the season, and after resting his knee, he posted a 12-127-3 game (both with Geno Smith in a dysfunctional offense) before the injury limited his production for the rest of the season. Bowers actually outscored McBride in 2024 when his quarterbacks were Gardner Minshew, Aidan O'Connell, and Desmond Ridder. This year, he'll get Kirk Cousins, maybe Fernando Mendoza, and Klint Kubiak - who set up Jaxon Smith-Njigba for a massive breakout season in 2025 Fantasy players corrected the error of McBride being ahead of Bowers to begin the offseason, but the two are close in ADP, and that's not defensible unless you think Jacoby Brissett is going to be the quarterback for the whole season and give free reign to swashbuckle in garbage time like he was last year.
My Answer: Bowers in the 2026 second round could end up being a league winner a la Jaxon Smith-Njigba in the 2025 third round.
STANDING ON THE VERGE OF GETTING IT ON
- Colston Loveland, CHI **CONSIDER AT ADP**
- Tyler Warren, IND **AVOID AT ADP**
The Big Question: Either or both of these 2025 top half of the first round NFL draft picks could make a big leap in year two. Are their ADPs too optimistic or too pessimistic?
Loveland's involvement in the offense was ramped up as his rookie season went on, culminating in a stretch of four straight games (including two postseason games) with at least 10 targets. His PPR PPG for that run was 19.45, which is over a half point per game better than Trey McBride's garbage-time-powered monster season. Loveland is going two rounds after McBride in early drafts, making him the better pick. If he emerges as the top target in Chicago, he could pass McBride, although being more valuable than a healthy Bowers will be difficult. The caliber of QB/RB/WR drops enough from the early 20s (Bowers cost) to the 40s (Loveland's cost), so Loveland could still be as good a pick as a successful Bowers. Both are viable early tight end picks. Bowers is a swing for the fences, Loveland is a swing for a double.
Unlike Loveland, Warren was a hit from day one. Then again, Warren didn't end up being the focal point of his team's pass offense by the end of the season. The bottom dropped out of Warren's value when Daniel Jones went down, and Jones may take some time to round into form coming back from a torn Achilles. Warren's target share should be helped by Michael Pittman Jr getting shipped off to Pittsburgh, but he didn't look nearly as promising as a receiver as Loveland, and the quality of his offense is more fragile.
My Answer: Loveland is the pick if you want to take a second-year breakout tight end. If you don't want to take a tight end in the second on principle, consider Loveland in the fourth.
WOUNDED WARRIORS
- George Kittle, SF **VALUE PICK**
- Tucker Kraft, GB **VALUE PICK**
- Sam LaPorta, DET **AVOID AT ADP**
- Dalton Kincaid, BUF **VALUE PICK**
The Big Question: Is it worth it to take any of these proven fantasy TE1s coming off of serious injuries that required surgeries?
On a PPR points per game basis, Kittle was the TE2, Kraft the TE4, and LaPorta the TE8 in 2025. They are TE10 (Kittle), TE5 (Kraft), and TE7 (LaPorta) in early 2026 drafts. LaPorta is coming off of back surgery for a herniated disc, which is the least troubling of the three injuries, but you aren't getting any injury discount at his current ADP. He still hasn't gotten back to his rookie year fantasy value, and this ADP assumes that he will. Kraft comes with a slight injury discount. Even if he isn't as fast in the open field as he was pre-injury early on, his demolition derby run after catch mindset shouldn't be affected too much. The Packers' target tree will also be narrower this season after Romeo Doubs left for New England. Kraft is worth taking at ADP with players like Jordan Addison, Jaylen Warren, and Michael Wilson as his closest RB/WR peers. Kittle comes with the biggest injury discount, but that's because he suffered a torn Achilles in the postseason. That injury at that time in the season usually means you have to carry a player through missed games early, then play them at a limited effectiveness level and/or snap count after that. Everything written about Kittle's recovery this offseason has been positive, and being ready to play in Week 1 - even close to full speed - appears to be in the range of outcomes. Dalton Kincaid should be essential in the 11th (TE13) if you get Kittle, as Kincaid should be at his best before the wear and tear of the season builds up on his problem knee. Kincaid was TE2 through his first five games last year and should be a target for anyone who plans to be one of the last to take a tight end.
My Answer: If you think 10th round George Kittle would be a mainstay of my draft strategies, you're damned right. Pairing him with Dalton Kincaid in the next round is even better! I won't talk you out of taking Tucker Kraft at ADP either - only Kittle is as fun to have on your fantasy team at tight end.