Fantasy Football Player Outlooks for The 2026-26 Season

A knee injury sustained in Week 1 bothered Bowers throughout the 2025 season, preventing him from building on his historic 2024 rookie campaign. He suited up for 12 games and mustered a respectable 64-680-7 line on 86 targets, but Bowers’ averages dipped by 1.3 catches and 13.5 receiving yards per game compared to 2024, when he had the most receiving yards (1,194) by a rookie TE and the most receptions (112) by an NFL rookie at any position. The 2024 first-round pick’s impressive start has come despite subpar QB play, and the Raiders’ ceiling under center is now substantially higher with the additions of 2026 first overall pick Fernando Mendoza and veteran Kirk Cousins. By TE standards, Bowers has already demonstrated an elite floor when healthy, able to put up solid numbers while catching passes from the likes of Gardner Minshew, Aidan O’Connell, Desmond Ridder and Geno Smith. Trey McBride will be the first tight end off the board in the majority of fantasy drafts, but Bowers hasn’t been too far behind in per-game fantasy production since entering the league. The Raiders' offseason improvements to their QB room and offensive line could be the spark that allows Bowers to overtake McBride for the overall TE1 distinction.

McBride was the clear fantasy TE1 in 2025, outscoring second-place Kyle Pitts by 105.1 points in PPR formats. RB Christian McCaffrey’s 45.8-point edge over Bijan Robinson was the only other gap of 20-plus fantasy points between the top two fantasy scorers at a position. Arizona’s star tight end led his position across the board with 126 catches for 1,239 yards and 11 touchdowns on 169 targets. While most of those numbers represented modest improvements on his 2024 stats, McBride surged from three TDs up to 11, netting him an extra 48 fantasy points (2.8 per game) while easily leading TEs in red-zone targets (33). Ten of his 11 touchdowns came after Jacoby Brissett took over as Arizona’s starting QB in Week 6, so McBride’s lack of TDs before then -- eight through his first 54 NFL games -- may be a problem that's solved by Kyler Murray's departure. Brissett is expected to start out of the gate in 2026, and while the Cardinals should face plenty of deficits again, it'd be difficult to match last year's passing volume even if they hadn't drafted RB Jeremiyah Love. The good news for McBride's fantasy value is that he can afford to lose some of last year's volume and still be an elite TE1 for fantasy.

Loveland erupted over the final four games of his rookie season, including playoffs, with 48 targets from QB Caleb Williams resulting in 28 catches for 378 yards and two touchdowns. If Loveland were to sustain similar production for a full season, he'd almost certainly be the overall TE1, ahead of even Trey McBride and Brock Bowers. On the other hand, the 2025 first-round pick had 42 catches for 528 yards and four touchdowns on just 59 targets across his first 14 NFL games, posting strong numbers by rookie standards without helping fantasy managers much. After both Loveland and WR Luther Burden finished the season strong, Chicago traded away WR D.J. Moore this offseason and let WR Olamide Zaccheaus leave in free agency. Burden and WR Rome Odunze are now Loveland's main competition for targets, with veteran TE Cole Kmet (48 targets in 2025) and rookie TE Sam Roush (third round) potentially chipping away at Loveland's snap counts or stealing the occasional red-zone target. It’s fair to be wary of Loveland's top-50 ADP after only one month of standout production, but he's a true blue-chip prospect who can already claim one of the most productive age-21 seasons by an NFL tight end.

Warren was one of three rookie TEs who ranked in the top 10 at the position in receiving yards last season, along with Harold Fannin and Colston Loveland. Selected by the Colts at No. 14 overall, Warren paced the productive rookie trio with 76 catches and 817 receiving yards, while his 112 targets were the third-most among all NFL tight ends. He caught only four touchdown passes but added a rushing score on one of his six carries, showing some of the versatility that earned him Heisman hype at Penn State. Warren’s production sank down the stretch last year, along with the rest of the Colts offense, as he had only 26 catches for 200 yards during the season-ending seven-game losing streak. After averaging 61.7 receiving yards in his first 10 NFL games, Warren averaged a mere 28.6 yards over his last seven appearances. He should nonetheless continue to see plenty of targets, especially with WR Michael Pittman (111 targets in 2025) now in Pittsburgh, but Warren may have to rely on quantity to mask a lack of quality with QB Daniel Jones coming back from a late-season Achilles tear.

Fannin dominated the Mid-American Conference in 2024 with 117 catches for 1,555 yards and 10 touchdowns, and it turns out the jump to NFL-level competition wasn’t too much of a challenge for him. A third-round pick, Fannin earned a large role immediately and ended up leading the Browns in all major receiving categories (72 catches for 731 yards and six TD catches on 107 targets). The 6-foot-4, 241-pound rookie promptly displaced David Njoku as the team’s top pass catcher at tight end, with Njoku then released this offseason. Last year, Fannin ranked fifth among NFL TEs with 107 targets on just 417 routes run (tied for 10th-most), which speaks to the dearth of appetizing alternatives in Cleveland’s passing game. Only 10 of those targets came in the red zone, with three inside the 10-yard line, so Fannin’s scoring opportunities may remain limited even if he's the team's best receiving weapon near the goal line. The Browns did add some competition there, bolstering their WR room with top-40 draft picks KC Concepcion and Denzel Boston. Now they just need to figure out who's slinging the rock, choosing among Deshaun Watson, Shedeur Sanders, Taylen Green or Dillon Gabriel.