2026 TE Rankings After Draft! Sadiq to Jets, McBride vs Bowers, Fannin Falls, Warren Rises, & More!

0:02 Last but not least, updated tight

0:04 end rankings on Fantasy Football Today Express.

0:07 All right, we've gone through the positions and we

0:10 are to the the glamour position, tight end.

0:12 How have things changed since Kanyon Sadeeq was taken in the first round

0:16 and a bunch of tight ends joined

0:17 crowded situations in rounds two, three and beyond?

0:21 I don't know if the the draft the draft shook things up too much here,

0:23 but Jamie, any major headlines for the tight end position?

0:27 Uh a couple.

0:29 Um I'll start at the top where I'm

0:32 a little torn on Trey McBride versus Brock Bowers.

0:36 Um you know, Bowers was obviously amazing as a rookie and still very good

0:42 despite the injuries and poor quarterback play

0:44 and really poor offense in year two.

0:47 McBride just had an amazing season.

0:49 But, you could see if they decide

0:53 or Jacoby Brissett decides to play out this holdout

0:56 and they pivot to Carson Beck and then

1:00 you give Brock Bowers an improved offensive line,

1:04 I think improved quarterback play with the duo of Mendoza and Kirk Cousins,

1:08 that he can easily get back to being on an even playing field with McBride,

1:12 if not better than McBride.

1:13 So, that's one that I'm struggling with a little bit and we just had

1:16 our mock draft on Thursday's episode where I

1:18 took McBride early round three ahead of Bowers,

1:21 but uh as I said, I was going to see Jake Ciely was uh

1:25 from The Athletic was picking in front of me uh with the first pick.

1:29 I had the second pick.

1:29 I was curious to see what he was going to do.

1:31 He passed on both tight ends,

1:32 so I took McBride, but that's something I may change.

1:35 The other part of this is really who

1:37 got competition and who did not get competition.

1:40 And in the case of a guy that at times

1:44 at the beginning part of the um rankings process for me,

1:48 Gerald Everett Fannin was tight end four uh behind

1:51 Dalton Kincaid and got as much competition as almost

1:54 anybody with a first round wide receiver and a second

1:57 round wide receiver in Casey Concepcion and Denzel Boston.

2:00 So, there's a lot of targets now that I

2:05 think will get fed by comparison to last year,

2:07 where Fant had almost no competition

2:10 with Jerry Jeudy as the second-best receiver there,

2:12 and Jeudy's still on the roster.

2:13 So, it's uh he fell the most.

2:17 Tyler Warren, great situation for him.

2:21 I think you look at the coaching changes,

2:23 which we can talk about after the break if you want,

2:24 but in terms of the draft, uh and who, you know,

2:29 benefits or loses, it was Fant, I think, lost the most.

2:33 Warren did not get anybody.

2:35 You know, the So far, the Colts, they traded Michael Pittman Jr.

2:38 this offseason, and all they added was Nick Westbrook-Ikhine as a free agent,

2:43 and drafted Deon Banks-Burks um with a seventh-round pick,

2:49 uh a a rookie wide receiver on day three.

2:52 So, it just looks great for Tyler Warren.

2:55 It looks great still for Dalton Kincaid.

2:57 I think you look again at the coaching changes benefit Sam LaPorta.

3:01 Um so, the the biggest the biggest shakeup

3:05 really from a draft perspective was was Fant.

3:08 Okay, yeah, and we weren't really talking that much about Juwan Johnson,

3:11 but he was a guy who was was pretty solid last year,

3:14 and I think you could have made the case he was a borderline top 12 guy,

3:17 but with them drafting Jordan Addison in round one,

3:20 I don't think that's going to be the case anymore.

3:22 But how about Dallas Goedert, right?

3:23 Dallas Goedert in four seasons with A.J.

3:25 Brown, Dallas Goedert's been the number five, number 12,

3:28 number 10, and number six tight end per game.

3:31 He is 31 years old, though, and not a big yards guy,

3:35 and and honestly, the touchdowns last year were 11 touchdowns 15 games.

3:39 They were probably a little fluky, but you know,

3:42 the the boost that we give to DeVonta Smith,

3:44 I know I I just brought this up on our previous show,

3:46 so I apologize for that, but um the fact that they drafted Quez Watkins,

3:50 I think, and then there was there was also a report about A.J.

3:52 Brown getting traded.

3:53 Just It just seems like all signs are pointing to A.J.

3:55 Brown being gone.

3:56 Uh so I would say Quez Watkins is less than A.J.

3:59 Brown.

4:01 So, that is Dallas Goedert a riser for you?

4:04 Well, I mean, if we're going to talk about Juwan Johnson getting competition,

4:07 you can't overlook the fact that they drafted Eli Stowe in Philadelphia as well,

4:11 you know, so that's another play making tight end.

4:13 I don't know.

4:13 I mean, to me that's almost like a Ben Sinnott that I just No, I I agree.

4:17 I agree, but I I think just you have to factor that in a little bit.

4:20 But yes, you're right.

4:21 So, I look at it this way and I'm actually, you know,

4:24 I I know we kind of fall for this every year,

4:26 but we started to see this last year, especially with the influx of the young

4:28 tight ends that I actually think that there's

4:31 12 pretty solid players here assuming that you have George Kittle back at 100%,

4:38 Tucker Kraft back at 100%, Kraft coming off the ACL tear,

4:41 Kittle coming off the Achilles injury.

4:43 Um and I've been doing sleepers, breakouts, and busts,

4:45 so I've kind of been living in the Fantasy

4:47 Pros ADP um as as a guide for those categories.

4:51 Um if you look at the top 12 tight ends, just to run through the names quickly,

4:54 you have McBride, Bowers, Loveland, Warren in whatever order.

4:59 LaPorta, Kraft, Fannin, Pitts, Likely, Kittle, Kelce,

5:07 and Kincaid are the 12 tight ends on the Fantasy Pros ADP.

5:10 I'm going to throw Kincaid out.

5:11 I'm going to put Gaston in the top 12 because I

5:14 think he's got top 12 upside as long as Njoku's not there.

5:17 After those 12 guys,

5:19 I think there's a handful of tight ends that could push for the top

5:21 12 if you want to make a case that they are top 12.

5:25 To me, Goedert's at the top of the list and just

5:27 for the reasons you alluded to because there is no A.J.

5:29 Brown at least after, you know, June.

5:32 Um I think that that's still a guy that Jalen Hurts will lean on.

5:34 I do think that there are a lot

5:36 of moving parts in this Philadelphia offense after DeVonta Smith,

5:39 Watkins being the headliner.

5:41 Then you have the addition of all these wide receivers that will play a role.

5:44 They never had a depth chart like this from just

5:47 a resume standpoint headlined in that group by Marquise Brown.

5:51 So, you have Brown, you have Don Tavion Wicks, you have Elijah Moore,

5:54 you have Sowers now as a guy that they could

5:55 be a little bit more creative with with 12 personnel.

5:58 So, I think you're looking at just a lot of moving parts here,

6:01 but again, Jalen Hurts, the two guys that he should rely on the most at least

6:04 on paper will most likely be Devonta Smith and Dallas Goedert.

6:08 Okay.

6:09 We're going to take a break and finish up

6:10 our tight end discussion after this on Fantasy Football Today Express.

6:14 So, we've talked about Dallas Goedert, obviously.

6:16 We talked about the guys at the top,

6:18 Brock Bowers and Trey McBride or McBride and Bowers.

6:22 Um you mentioned Kittle.

6:23 And we've had recently some encouraging reports

6:26 about him perhaps being ready for week one, which would be amazing.

6:28 And Tucker Kraft being ready early in the season.

6:32 Uh you know, I think always remember being

6:34 100% isn't necessarily being back to 100% performance level.

6:40 So, it'll be a tough call with those guys for sure.

6:43 Um but let me you know, we are talking about updated rankings.

6:46 Like where did you put Kony Ealy as a tight end?

6:48 So, Ealy is at 16.

6:50 Um you know, in that group of guys that you can say borderline tight end one.

6:56 I don't think it was the best landing spot for him for two reasons.

6:59 One, you have Mason Taylor there.

7:00 Two, you have Geno Smith at quarterback.

7:02 Three, they have Garrett Wilson.

7:03 They add Omar Cooper Jr.

7:05 They seem to like and hard not to from some

7:07 of the things that we saw Adonai Mitchell.

7:09 So, it just feels like not the most pass friendly environment

7:15 because of the quarterback plus a lot of mouths to feed.

7:19 So, I think Ealy obviously is going to end up being tight end one.

7:21 I don't think Mason Taylor holds him back.

7:23 But Omar Cooper, first round wide receiver.

7:26 Garrett Wilson, you know, I still think borderline star.

7:28 Uh I don't see the path to targets as easily

7:31 as it is for some of these other tight ends, you know.

7:33 So, we talked about Jake Ferguson for example.

7:36 Right now I have Ferguson ranked ahead of Ealy.

7:37 That might be a mistake just because Ferguson's ceiling is a little bit limited.

7:40 I have a little bit different take on the Cowboys

7:41 receivers than what you guys were talking about

7:43 because I'm nervous about George Pickens with the contract

7:45 situation being what it is that he may hold out.

7:47 You know how I feel about holdouts,

7:48 so I'm kind of just towing the line a little bit that Ferguson may be

7:51 better than we expect because as you

7:52 alluded to, when everybody was there, he sucked.

7:55 When there were guys missing, he was better.

7:57 Ferguson

7:58 And I would not be surprised if we see some absences from Pickens at some point,

8:01 maybe early in the season.

8:03 Uh but in any event, Can he do that though on the franchise tag?

8:06 Cuz at some point they can't give him a long-term deal, right?

8:10 I mean it's like But he could still express his unhappiness.

8:13 So He could.

8:14 I don't Yeah, okay.

8:15 Yeah.

8:16 I mean I agree if he if he holds out

8:17 then or holds in, that's a bad thing for sure.

8:19 Correct.

8:20 You know, so it's just it's just playing

8:22 out a scenario that I I could see unfolding.

8:23 But I again, those those number two tight ends and you know,

8:26 we could start and I'll just throw in Tucker Kraft,

8:29 a guy that didn't get competition as well.

8:31 I think that benefits him because they lose Dobbs, they lose Wicks.

8:34 You know, Kraft was a guy that could easily

8:37 be first on the team in targets if he's healthy.

8:40 Um but you look at that that group of number

8:41 two tight ends and I think that's where Sed belongs.

8:43 Obviously Ferguson's there.

8:44 We talked about Goddard.

8:45 Uh Mark Andrews, you know, losing Isaiah Likely this offseason,

8:48 can he get back to being you know,

8:50 that type of player that for for six seasons was 11.1 PPR points or more.

8:55 Uh interesting note with their scenario

8:57 their uh offense coordinator, Declan Doyle,

9:01 nephew of Mike Ditka, one of the best tight ends in NFL history.

9:04 Uh tight ends coach for the Broncos for two seasons

9:08 before going to be the offensive coordinator for Ben Johnson,

9:11 very tight end friendly coach.

9:12 And then goes now as the offense coordinator in Baltimore.

9:15 They lose Isaiah Likely.

9:16 They gave Andrews that three-year contract extension.

9:19 He's one of my favorite tight end twos just

9:21 because of the I think path to you know, targets.

9:24 They drafted, you know, um Tycobee Lane, they drafted Elijah Serratt.

9:28 There's two new mouths to feed there, but once you get past really Zay Flowers,

9:32 I think Andrews is in the conversation to be second

9:34 on the team in targets with the two rookies in and Rashod Bateman,

9:37 but Chigo Okonkwo, another guy that I'm moderately excited about.

9:41 You know, we've seen flashes from him.

9:42 This Washington receiving core, I know a lot of people,

9:44 myself included, excited about Antonio Williams.

9:47 I think you can see a path for Okonkwo being a guy that Jayden

9:50 Daniels leans on, and we know how much Zach Ertz meant to this offense.

9:53 Ertz, you know, still may come back,

9:56 but guy that's a free agent coming off an ACL tear.

10:00 There's a wild card in all this, and that's David Njoku.

10:03 Has he yet to sign?

10:04 We never really covered this, so for anybody that watched both of our shows,

10:07 the draft and mock draft that we just did in in FFT Express,

10:11 Jake Seely waited till the end of the draft to take his tight end.

10:14 He actually took David Njoku.

10:15 So, we'll see, you know, if he ends up somewhere and that matters.

10:20 And then one guy that's I don't currently have him in my top 24,

10:24 but I probably will find a way to get him there.

10:26 Is Greg Dulcich.

10:27 You know, you you talk about um the Dolphins receiving core right now,

10:32 or maybe lack thereof.

10:34 Can you name the top three receivers for the Dolphins, Adam?

10:37 No.

10:39 I don't know who it would be.

10:40 And and I know the names, I don't I don't know the order.

10:44 So, you have Jalen Tolbert, Malik Washington, Tutu Atwell are the veterans.

10:48 Then they drafted three rookies.

10:49 Chris Bell's coming off an ACL tear.

10:51 Caleb Douglas that.

10:52 I don't know who the who the three would be, right.

10:54 Right.

10:55 No, I know.

10:55 Caleb Douglas is a rookie that everybody thought they reached for.

10:59 And Kevin Coleman Jr.

11:00 is a guy that is more of a slot receiver

11:02 that may or may not have an impact in his rookie season.

11:05 Dulcich has been a guy that we've talked about, thought about, mentioned before.

11:11 He's just in a good spot.

11:13 So, I'm just talking late round dart throw, may matter.

11:17 That's a great call.

11:18 I love that.

11:19 Let's do a tight end premium draft right now.

11:22 All right.

11:23 Thank you.

11:23 Thank you, Jamie.

11:24 Thank you all for watching and listening.

11:26 Talk to you next time on Fantasy Football Today Express.