2026 TE Rankings After the NFL Draft! Sadiq to Jets, McBride vs Bowers, Fannin Falls, Warren Rises, & More! (05/07 Fantasy Football Podcast)

Summary

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Fantasy Football Today – 2026 TE Rankings After the NFL Draft!

Date: May 8, 2026
Host: Adam Aizer
Analyst: Jamie Eisenberg
Key Focus: Updated Tight End Rankings post-2026 NFL Draft: Rookies, Risers, Fallers, and Depth Chart Shocks

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Episode Overview

This episode offers an in-depth look at how the tight end (TE) landscape has shifted for the 2026 fantasy football season following the NFL Draft. Jamie Eisenberg breaks down the latest risers and fallers in TE rankings, digs into how team situations and coaching changes affect value, and debates hotly contested spots such as Trey McBride vs. Brock Bowers. The show provides actionable fantasy insights on rookies, new team fits, and deep sleeper targets, helping you make sense of the evolving TE tier landscape.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Elite Tier: McBride vs. Bowers

• Debate at the Top ([02:14]):
  • Jamie is “a little torn on Che McBride versus Brock Bowers,” noting both have elite upside but face uncertainty:
    • Bowers: “Obviously amazing as a rookie… still very good despite the injuries and poor quarterback play and really poor offense in year two… if you give Brock Bowers an improved offensive line... he can easily get back to being on an even playing field with McBride if not better.”
    • McBride: “Just had an amazing season.”
  • Jamie reveals he took McBride over Bowers in a recent mock but is “struggling with a little bit” and “may change” his approach soon.

2. The Biggest Shaker: Harold Fannin Drops

• New Competition Hurts Value ([03:20]):
  • Fannin, previously TE4 for Jamie, falls in the ranks due to “as much competition as almost anybody”:
    • New first and second round WRs (Casey Concepcion, Denzel Boston) create “a lot of targets now that I think will get fed by comparison to last year where Fannin had almost no competition.”
    • “He fell the most.”

3. Emerging Situations: Tyler Warren & Colston Loveland Rise

• Warren a Big Winner ([04:21]):
  • “Great situation for him. The Colts… traded Michael Pittman Jr.… all they added was Nick Wex, Rook Akine as a free agent and drafted Dion Banks Burks with a seventh round pick... Looks great for Tyler Warren.”
• Loveland Holds ([04:40]):
  • “It looks great still for Colston Loveland.”

4. Coaching Changes Impact ([04:42]):

• Jamie hints that “coaching changes benefit Sam Laporta.”
• Suggests discussing these impacts in more detail after the break.

5. Mid-Tier Analysis: Juwan Johnson & Dallas Goedert

• Juwan Johnson’s Outlook Dims ([04:56]):
  • After a solid season, the “case as a borderline top 12 guy” is undermined by the drafting of WR Jordan Tyson.
• Dallas Goedert’s Uncertain Future ([05:00]):
  • Host Adam: "In four seasons with A.J. Brown, Dallas Goddard's been... number five, number twelve, number ten, and number six tight end per game. He is 31 years old, though... touchdowns last year were probably a little fluky..."
  • AJ Brown trade rumors and drafting of Makai Lemon muddy Goedert’s value:
    • Jamie: “If we're going to talk about Juwan Johnson getting competition, you can't overlook the fact that they drafted Eli Stowers in Philadelphia as well, you know, so that's another playmaker tight end.”

6. Depth Chart and Value Tiers – The Current TE Landscape

• Top 12 Consensus ([06:03]):
  • Jamie identifies the current consensus top 12 for 2026, pulling from FantasyPros ADP:
    • McBride, Bowers, Loveland, Warren, Laporta, Kraft, Fannin, Pitts, Likely, Kittle, Kelsey, and "Kincaid” (although Jamie would swap in Gadsden).
  • “There’s 12 pretty solid players here… after those 12 guys, I think there’s a handful of tight ends that could push for the top 12.”
  • Notable mention: “Goddard's at the top of the list [of potential risers], and just for the reasons you alluded to, because there is no A.J. Brown.”

7. Rookie Watch & Team Fits: Kenyon Sadiq & Others

• Kenyon Sadiq’s Outlook ([09:02]):
  • Ranks him TE16 – “not the best landing spot… Mason Taylor there… Dino Smith at quarterback… Garrett Wilson… Omar Cooper Jr.… feels like not the most pass friendly environment.”
  • “I still think borderline star (for Wilson). I don’t see the path to targets as easily as it is for some of these other tight ends.”
• Jake Ferguson ([09:37]):
  • Still ranked over Sadiq for now, given “Ferguson's ceiling is a little bit limited,” with Jamie noting a contract situation for George Pickens may influence Ferguson’s value further.
• Tucker Kraft: “Didn’t get competition… could easily be first on the team in targets if he’s healthy.” ([10:33])

8. Deep & Sleeper TEs: Mark Andrews, Chigoziem Okonkwo, Greg Dulcich

• Mark Andrews ([10:43]):
  • “One of my favorite TE2s… as long as Najoku’s not there after those 12 guys.”
  • Notes new OC Declan Doyle is “very tight end friendly.”
• Chigoziem Okonkwo: “Moderately excited… flashes from him… could be a guy that Jayden Daniels leans on…” ([11:46])
• Greg Dulcich as a Dart Throw ([12:54]):
  • "You talk about the Dolphins receiving core right now or maybe lack thereof... Dalchich has been a guy that we've talked about, thought about, mentioned before. He's just in a good spot. So I'm just talking late round dart throw may matter."
• David Njoku’s Next Stop: “A wild card in all this…” ([12:27]) taken late by Jake Seeley in a recent FFT Express draft.

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On McBride vs. Bowers:

  “Bowers was obviously amazing as a rookie... still very good despite the injuries and poor quarterback play and really poor offense in year two... McBride just had an amazing season but... Brock Bowers... can easily get back to being on an even playing field with McBride if not better than McBride.”
  – Jamie Eisenberg ([02:14])

• On Fannin's Decline:

  "So there's a lot of targets now... Fannin had almost no competition... he fell the most."
  – Jamie Eisenberg ([03:20])

• On the 2026 TE Landscape:

  “I started to see this last year, especially with the influx of the young tight ends that actually think there’s 12 pretty solid players here... after those 12 guys, I think there’s a handful of tight ends that could push for the top 12.”
  – Jamie Eisenberg ([06:03])

• On Kenyon Sadiq:

  "Sadiq is at 16... not the best landing spot... not the most pass friendly environment because of the quarterback plus a lot of mouths to feed."
  – Jamie Eisenberg ([09:02])

• On Deep Sleepers:

  “Dalchich has been a guy that we've talked about, thought about, mentioned before. He's just in a good spot. So I'm just talking late round dart throw may matter.”
  – Jamie Eisenberg ([12:54])

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• McBride vs. Bowers debate: [02:14]
• Fannin’s fall and Warren’s rise: [03:20–04:21]
• Dallas Goedert’s changing outlook: [05:00–06:00]
• Top 12 TE consensus rundown: [06:03]
• Kenyon Sadiq’s fantasy role and Ferguson discussion: [09:02–10:11]
• Tucker Kraft’s situation: [10:33]
• Mark Andrews, Okonkwo, and deep TE talk: [10:43–12:27]
• Greg Dulcich as a sleeper mention: [12:54]

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Final Thoughts

Jamie Eisenberg and Adam Aizer deliver practical advice on reshaping your 2026 fantasy football tight end strategy. From top-tier debates (McBride vs. Bowers) through the midrange (Warren, Kraft), to late-round dart throws (Dulcich, Okonkwo), this breakdown will help fantasy players understand both immediate value and longer-term potential in the ever-shifting TE landscape.

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Transcript

[Host]

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[Host]

Last but not least, updated tight end rankings on Fantasy Football Today Express. Now we've gone through the positions and we are to the the the glamour position tight end. How have things changed since Kenyon Siddiq was taken in the first round and a bunch of tight ends joined crowded situations in rounds two, three and beyond. I don't know if that the tra the draft shook things up too much here but Jamie, any major headlines for the tight end position?

[Jamie]

A couple. I'll start at the top where I'm a little torn on Che McBride versus Brock Bowers. You know Bowers was obviously amazing as a rookie and still very good despite the injuries and poor quarterback play and really poor offense in year two. McBride just had an amazing season but you could see if they decide or Jacoby Brissette decides to play out this holdout and they pivot to Carson Beck and then you give Brock Bowers an improved offensive line. I think improve quarterback play with the duo of Mendoza and Kirk Cousins that he can easily get back to being on an even playing field with McBride if not better than McBride. So that's one that I'm struggling with a little bit. And we just had our mock draft on Thursday's episode where I took McBride early round three ahead of Bowers. But as I said I was going to see Jake Sealy was from the Athletic, was picking in front of me with the first pick. I had the second pick. I was curious to see what he was going to do. He passed on both tight ends. So I took my pride. But that's something I may change. The other part of this is really who got competition and who did not get competition. And in the case of a guy that at times at the beginning part of the rankings process for me, Harold Fannin was tight end four behind Colston Loveland and got as much competition as almost anybody with a first round wide receiver and a second round wide receiver in Casey Concepcion and Denzel Boston. So there's a lot of targets now that I think will get fed by comparison to last year where Fannon had almost no competition with Jerry Judy as the second best receiver there. And Judy's still on the roster. So it's. He fell the most. Tyler Warren, great situation for him. I think you look at the coaching changes which we can talk about after the break if you want but you in terms of the draft and who, you know, benefits or loses, it was Fannin I think lost the most. Warren did not get anybody. You know, the so far the Colts, they traded Michael Pittman Jr. This off season and all they added was Nick Wex, Rook Akine as a free agent and drafted Dion Banks Burks with a seventh round pick, a rookie wide receiver on day three. So it just looks great for Tyler Warren. It looks great still for Colston Loveland. I think you look again, the coaching changes benefit Sam Laporta. So the, the biggest, the biggest shake up really from a draft perspective was, was Fanning okay? Yeah.

[Host]

And we weren't really talking that much about Juwan Johnson, but he's a guy who was, was pretty solid last year and I think you could have made the case he's a borderline top 12 guy. But with them drafting Jordan Tyson in round one, I don't think that's going to be the case anymore. But how about Dallas Goddard? Right. Dallas Goddard. In four seasons with A.J. brown, Dallas Goddard's been the number five, number 12, number 10, and number six tight end per game. He is 31 years old, though, and not a big yards guy. And, and honestly, the touchdowns last year were 11 touchdowns, 15 games. They were probably a little fluky, but, you know, the, the boost that we give to Devonte Smith. I know I just brought this up on our previous show, so I apologize for that. But the fact that they drafted my Kai Lemon, I think. And then there was. There was also a report about A.J. brown getting traded. Just. It just seems like all signs are pointing to A.J. brown being gone. So I would say Makai Lemon is less than A.J. brown. So is Dallas Goddard a riser for you?

[Jamie]

Well, I mean, if we're going to talk about Juwan Johnson getting competition, you can't overlook the fact that they drafted Eli Stowers in Philadelphia as well, you know, so that's another playmaker tight end. I don't know.

[Host]

I mean, to me, that's almost like a Ben Senate.

[Jamie]

No, I agree, I agree, but I, I think just you have to factor in a little bit. But, yes, you're right. So I look at it this way, and I'm actually, you know, I. I know we kind of fall for this every year, but we started to see this last year, especially with the influx of the young tight ends that actually think that there's 12 pretty solid players here. Assuming that you have George kittle back at 100%, Tucker Kraft back at 100%, Kraft coming off the ACL tear, Kittle coming off the Achilles injury. And I've been doing sleepers, breakouts, and busts. So I've kind of been living in the fantasy pros ADP as, as a guide for those categories. If you look at the top 12 tight ends, just to run through the names Quickly, you have McBride, Bowers, Loveland, Warren in whatever order. Laporta, Kraft, Fannin, Pitts, Likely, Kittle, Kelsey and Kincaid are the 12 tight ends on the fantasy pros ADP. I'm gonna throw Kincaid out. I'm gonna put Gadsden in the top 12 because I think he's got top 12 upside. As long as Najoku's not there after those 12 guys, I think there's a handful of tight ends that could push for the top 12. If you want to make a case that they are top 12. To me, Goddard's at the top of the list. And just for the reasons you alluded to, because There is no A.J. brown. At least after you know June, I think that that's still a guy that Jalen hurts will lean on. I do think that there are a lot of moving parts in this Philadelphia offense after Devonte Smith, Lemon being the headliner. Then you have the addition of all these wide receivers that will play a role. They never had a depth chart like this from just a resume standpoint headlined in that group by Marquis Brown. So you have Brown, you have Don, Tavian Wicks, you have Elijah Moore, you have Stowers. Now as a guy that they could be a little bit more creative with with 12 personnel. So I think you're looking at just a lot of moving parts here. But again, Jalen hurts. The two guys that he should rely on the most, at least on paper, will most likely be Devontae Smith and Dallas Garden.

[Host]

Okay, we're gonna take a break and finish up our tight end discussion after this on Fantasy Football Today Express When

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[Host]

So we've talked about Dallas Goddard obviously we talked about the guys at the top, Brock Bowers and Trey McBride or Bride and Bowers. You mentioned Kittle and we've had recently some encouraging reports about him perhaps being ready for week one which would be amazing. And Tucker crafts being ready early in the season. You know, I think always remember being 100 isn't necessarily being back to 100 performance level. So it'll be a tough call with those guys for sure. But let me you know we are talking about updated rankings like where did you put Kenyan Sadiq?

[Jamie]

So Sadiq is at 16. You know in that group of guys that you can say borderline tight end one I don't think it was the best landing spot for him for two reasons. One, you have Mason Taylor there too. You have Dino smith at quarterback. Three, they have Garrett Wilson. They add Omar Cooper Jr. They seem to like and hard not to from some of the things that we saw Adnai Mitchell. So it just feels like not the most pass friendly environment because of the quarterback plus a lot of mouth to feed. So I think Sadiq obviously is going to end up being tight End one. I don't think Mason Taylor holds him back, but Omar Cooper, first round wide receiver, Garrett Wilson, you know, I still think borderline star. I don't see the path to targets as easily as it is for some of these other tight ends. You know, so we talked about Jake Ferguson, for example. Right now I have Ferguson ranked ahead of Sadiq. That might be a mistake just because Ferguson ceiling is a little bit limited. I have a little bit different take on the Cowboys receivers and what you guys are talking about because I'm nervous about George Pickens with the contract situation being what it is, that he may hold out. You know how I feel about holdouts. So I'm kind of just toeing the line a little bit that Ferguson may be better than we expect because as you alluded to when everybody was there, he sucked. When there were guys missing, he was better.

[Host]

Ferguson.

[Jamie]

I would not be surprised if we see some absences from Pickens at some point, maybe early in the season. But in any event, do that though

[Host]

on the franchise tag because at some point they can't give him a long term deal. Right. I mean it's like.

[Jamie]

But he could still express his unhappiness. So he could.

[Host]

I don't. Okay, yeah. I mean if he holds out then or holds in, that's a bad thing for sure.

[Jamie]

Correct. You know, so it's just, it's just playing out a scenario that I, I could see unfolding. But again, those, those number two tight ends and you know, we could start and I'll just throw in Tucker Craft, the guy that didn't get competition as well. I think that benefits him because they lose Dobbs, they lose Wicks. You know, Kraft was a guy that could easily be first on the team in targets if he's healthy. But you look at that, that group of number two tight ends and I think that's where Sadiq belongs. Obviously Ferguson's there. We talked about Goddard, Mark Andrews, you know, losing Isaiah likely this off season. Can he get back to being, you know, that type of player that for twin for six seasons was 11.1 PPR points or more. Interesting note with their scenario. Their offense coordinator, Declan Doyle, nephew of Mike Dicka, one of the best tight ends in NFL history, tight ends coach for the Broncos for two seasons before going to be the offensive coordinator for Ben Johnson, very tight end friendly coach and then goes now as the offense coordinator in Baltimore. They lose Isaiah likely they gave Andrews that three year contract extension. He's one of my favorite tight end twos just because of the I think path to, you know, targets they drafted, you know, Jacoby Lane, they drafted Elijah Surat. There's two new mouths to feed there. But once you get past really Zay Flowers, I think Andrews is in the conversation to be second on the team of targets with the two rookies and, and Rashad Bateman. But Chigo Conko, another guy that I'm moderately excited about, you know, we've seen flashes from him. This Washington receiving core. I know a lot of people, myself included, excited about Antonio Williams. I think you can see a path for Okonkwo being a guy that Jayden Daniels leans on and we know how much Zach Ertz meant to this offense. Ertz, you know, still may come back, but a guy that's a free agent coming off an ACL tear, there's a wild card in all this and that's David Najoku as he had to sign. We never really covered this. So for anybody that watched both of our shows, the draft and the mock draft that we just did in FFT Express, Jake Seeley waited till the end of the draft to take his tight end. He actually took David Najoku. So we'll see, you know, if he ends up somewhere and that matters. And then one guy that's, I don't currently have him in my top 24, but I probably will find a way to get him there is Greg Dolce. You know, you talk about the Dolphins receiving core right now or maybe lack thereof. Can you name the top three receivers for the Dolphins?

[Host]

Adam? No, I don't know who it would be.

[Jamie]

And, and I don't, I don't know the order. So you have Jalen Tolbert, Malik Washington, Tutu Atwell are the veterans. Then they drafted three rookies. Chris Bell's coming off an acl. Terry, Caleb.

[Host]

I don't know who the two, the three would be.

[Jamie]

Right? Right. No, I know Caleb Douglas is a rookie that everybody thought they reach for And Kevin Coleman Jr. Is a guy that is more of a slot receiver that may or may not have an impact in his rookie season. Dalchich has been a guy that we've talked about, thought about, mentioned before. He's just in a good spot. So I'm just talking late round dart throw may matter.

[Host]

That's a great call. I love that. Let's do a tight end premium draft right now. All right. Thank you, Jamie. Thank you all for watching and listening. Talk to you next time on Fantasy Football Today,

[Jamie]

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