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5 must-have tight ends (2026 fantasy football)

FantasyPros · Jul 21, 2026 11:38 · 5 min read

5 Must-Have Tight Ends (2026 Fantasy Football)

When preparing for your fantasy football drafts, knowing which players to target and which to avoid is important. The amount of information available can be overwhelming, so a great way to condense the data and determine players to draft and others to leave for your leaguemates is to use our expert consensus fantasy football rankings compared to fantasy football average draft position (ADP). In this way, you can identify players the experts are willing to reach for at ADP and others they are not drafting until much later than average. Let’s dive into five tight ends fantasy football expert Pat Fitzmaurice is targeting in each and every draft this year.

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2026 Fantasy Football Draft Advice: Must-Have Tight Ends

Here are five tight ends Pat Fitzmaurice is targeting in each of his fantasy football drafts.

Brock Bowers (LV)

There are great expectations for Brock Bowers in his third NFL season following an injury-plagued Year 2. Bowers had five catches for 103 yards in the Raiders’ 2025 season opener against the Patriots, but he sustained a PCL injury and bone bruise to his left knee in that game, was clearly hampered over his next three games (with under 50 receiving yards in each) and was shut down for three games. Upon his return, Bowers scored seven touchdowns in eight games before the Raiders, looking to protect their star TE and also secure the No. 1 pick in the draft, placed Bowers on injured reserve, keeping him out of their last two contests. Widely considered one of the best TE prospects to ever enter the league, Bowers had 112 catches for 1,194 yards and five touchdowns on 153 targets as a rookie. With better health in 2026, he has a chance to match or exceed his rookie numbers. The Raiders are talent-starved at wide receiver, so Bowers is poised to be their alpha pass catcher. New head coach Klint Kubiak has been entrusted to repair the Las Vegas offense. No. 1 overall draft pick Fernando Mendoza offers hope at the QB position, and the Raiders also have TE-friendly QB Kirk Cousins, who was quarterbacking the Falcons last year in Week 15, when TE Kyle Pitts had 11 catches for 166 yards and three TDs. Bowers is worth a look in the back half of the second round or early in the third round of 12-team fantasy drafts.

Colston Loveland (CHI)

The 10th overall pick of the 2025 NFL Draft, Colston Loveland put together an impressive rookie season that got better and better as it wore on. Loveland finished TE12 in half-point PPR scoring as a rookie with 58 catches for 713 yards and six touchdowns. From Week 9 on, Loveland was TE2 in fantasy scoring behind only Trey McBride. Over Chicago’s last four games – two in the regular season, two in the playoffs – Bears head coach Ben Johnson fully unleashed Loveland. The rookie tight end had 10 or more targets in each of those games, averaging 12.0 targets, 7.0 catches and 94.5 receiving yards over that stretch, with a pair of TDs. In the Bears’ playoff win over the Packers, Loveland was targeted 15 times and had eight catches for 137 yards. The 6-6, 241-pound Loveland is a matchup nightmare with his size and speed. Loveland is the consensus TE3 for 2026 fantasy drafts behind only Brock Bowers and Trey McBride.

Tyler Warren (IND)

Tyler Warren‘s rookie season got off to a fast start, but his production slowed down markedly late in the season, leaving us with a challenging evaluation for 2026. Over his first 10 games of 2025, Warren averaged 5.0 catches, 61.7 receiving yards and 11.1 half-point PPR fantasy points per game, with four touchdowns. Over his last seven games, Warren averaged 3.7 catches, 28.6 receiving yards and 5.6 half-point PPR fantasy points per game, with one touchdown. The net result: 76 catches for 817 yards and four touchdowns (plus one TD run) and a TE5 fantasy finish. Daniel Jones‘ late-season injuries might partly account for Warren’s late-season slowdown, and Jones’ health status might still be an issue early in the 2026 season. But the Colts traded away WR Michael Pittman in the offseason and didn’t make any significant pass-catching acquisitions in free agency or the draft, bolstering Warren’s 2026 target outlook. Warren might not be one of the elite fantasy TEs in 2026, but he should still be one of the first five tight ends off the board in this year’s drafts.

Tucker Kraft (GB)

Tucker Kraft is coming back from an ACL tear and small meniscus tear that ended his 2025 season after eight games and torpedoed what was shaping up to be a monster season. After a breakout 2024 season in which he had 50 catches for 707 yards and seven touchdowns, Kraft was off to a torrid start last year, with 32 catches for 489 yards and six touchdowns before getting hurt against the Panthers in Week 9. Kraft was TE2 in fantasy scoring behind only Trey McBride when he went down. If Kraft is fully healthy, he could produce big numbers in 2026. The Packers have parted ways with WRs Romeo Doubs and Dontayvion Wicks, and they didn’t add any notable pass catchers in the offseason. Kraft averaged an astounding 2.33 yards per route run last season. He’s a beast after the catch who’s averaged 8.8 yards after catch per reception over his three-year career. Monitor the news on Kraft’s recovery over the summer and be prepared to pounce if he comes with an injury discount in 2026 fantasy drafts.

Kyle Pitts (ATL)

Kyle Pitts entered the 2025 season with the reputation of being a perennial fantasy tease. The former No. 3 overall draft pick tried to rehabilitate his image with 88 catches for 928 yards and five touchdowns last year, good for a TE2 finish in half-point PPR fantasy scoring. Pitts scored three of his five touchdowns and had his only 100-yard game of the season in Week 15, when he erupted for 11 catches, 166 yards and three scores vs. the Buccaneers. It was Pitts’ best season since his 1,026-yard rookie campaign in 2021. The Falcons don’t have a lot of firepower at wide receiver beyond Drake London, so Pitts could very well be Atlanta’s No. 2 target earner this season. And while the QB duo of Michael Penix and Tua Tagovailoa doesn’t seem very appealing, it’s worth remembering that Mike Gesicki and Jonnu Smith had the best fantasy seasons of their careers with Tua as their primary QB.

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