Trey McBride Tops 2026 Fantasy Football Tight End Rankings
Trey McBride sits No. 1 in Rich Hribar’s 2026 fantasy football tight end rankings, and the gap behind him starts with workload. He ran 121 more routes than the next closest tight end, giving drafters a clear early anchor in PPR, Half-PPR, Superflex and TE Premium formats.
McBride Sets the Pace
Sharp Football Analysis published the rankings with brief notes on every fantasy relevant player, and the list is built to be sortable on the main fantasy rankings page. Hribar’s positional tiers will come later this summer, but these notes will keep changing as player situations shift through the offseason.
McBride’s route edge is the sharpest number at the top of the board. In fantasy, that kind of separation usually matters more than a one-week scoring spike because it points to repeatable usage, not a fluke box score.
Bowers, Loveland, Warren
Brock Bowers has opened his career as the TE3 and TE2 in fantasy points per game, so he remains part of the same top tier even without the No. 1 spot. Colston Loveland also drew attention late, taking a target on 24.7% of his routes over the final nine games and posting 1.97 yards per route run in that stretch.
Loveland’s closing run got even better over the final five games. He was on the field for 80.9% of the team's dropbacks, drew a target on 30.5% of his routes and posted 2.34 yards per route run. Tyler Warren brings a different profile after catching 76 of 112 targets for 817 yards and 4 touchdowns as a rookie, while ranking third in route participation at 83.6%.
Kraft, Fannin, LaPorta, Pitts
Tucker Kraft was on his way to a breakout before a Week 9 ACL injury, and his pre-injury line still pops: third among tight ends with 469 receiving yards, second with 6 touchdowns and fourth with 14.7 fantasy points per game. He will be about 10 months into recovery at the start of the season.
Harold Fannin gives the rankings another clear data point. As a rookie, he led the team in targets, receptions, receiving yards and touchdowns with 107 targets, 72 receptions, 731 receiving yards and 6 touchdowns, while leading all tight ends with at least 100 pass routes in target rate per route at 24.7% and finishing 13th in yards per route run at 1.68.
Sam LaPorta appeared in nine games last season because of a herniated disc, but he is expected to be available for training camp as a full go. Before the injury, he averaged 2.0 yards per route run and sat as TE7 in fantasy points per game at 11.9. Kyle Pitts rounds out the relevant names with 88 catches on 118 targets for 928 yards and 5 touchdowns, including an opening 10-game stretch in which he averaged 4.7 catches.
For fantasy football managers, the practical takeaway is simple: McBride is the early top choice, Bowers stays close behind, and the rest of the tier will move as offseason health and usage notes get updated. That makes Hribar’s rankings a working draft board, not a one-time list.
