4 Sneaky TE1 Contenders for Fantasy Football: Tight End Sleepers to Draft (2026)

June 23, 2026

Andrew's fantasy football TE1 sleepers for 2026. His undervalued dark horse tight ends to be TE1s this season. Read the expert draft analysis with player outlooks.

Great or late. It's the tight end drafting strategy to follow.

Take 2025, for example. Trey McBride, Brock Bowers, and George Kittle were the consensus top three. The trio finished the year with the highest point-per-game averages. Of the next group (Sam LaPorta, Travis Kelce, T.J. Hockenson, Mark Andrews, Evan Engram, and David Njoku), only LaPorta (who missed half of the season) and Kelce finished with double-digit PPR points per game.

Last season, the scoring gap between the TE4 and TE11 was just 12 PPR points. Whiff on McBride, Bowers, or the two rising sophomores? Load up on the other positions and select one of these four tight ends with a late-round pick.

Isaiah Likely, New York Giants

For Isaiah Likely, the narrative was always "what if Mark Andrews wasn't in Baltimore anymore?" As it turns out, Likely was the one to depart Maryland, joining new Giants and former Ravens head coach John Harbaugh.

There's always been a lot to like (no pun intended) about Likely: top 10 in average depth of target (7.9), and top 15 in yards per target (8.3) and yards per reception (11.4) among qualified tight ends (according to PlayerProfiler) last season. He also posted an elite target separation number (2.27). The snaps (57%) and targets (2.6 per game) just weren't there.

Likely's three-year, $40 million contract signals that he's a vital piece of the Giants offense this year and beyond. As is the case with several tight ends in this article, the target competition in New York is uninspiring.

Malik Nabers has the biggest injury question mark of the offseason, so the team added veterans Odell Beckham Jr. and JuJu Smith-Schuster to compete with Darnell Mooney, Darius Slayton, Calvin Austin III, and rookie third-rounder Malachi Fields. There are some notable names on that list, but the talent doesn't match the name recognition anymore.

There are caution signs that could stop or slow Likely's breakout. Incumbent tight end Theo Johnson could be just as big a thorn as Andrews. He's a great friend of quarterback Jaxson Dart, and the then-rookie targeted Johnson at a nearly 20% clip. At the same time, it's encouraging that Dart showed a proclivity to sling passes in the middle of the field. Nearly 24% of his attempts went to a tight end.

All we need for fantasy football is consistent usage from Likely, whether that means Johnson is heavily involved or not. With his explosive playmaking abilities, he can rack up a lot of points on five or six targets per game.

Chig Okonkwo, Washington Commanders

Unfortunately, offensive coordinator Kliff Kingsbury is no longer with the Commanders; otherwise, this would be a layup of a prediction.

Tight ends have routinely scored well in a Kingsbury offense. 35-year-old Zach Ertz was a startable fantasy asset in 2024. Even in 2025, Ertz scored all four of his touchdowns when Jayden Daniels was on the field. The hope is that the new offensive coordinator, David Blough, rolls over some schemes and plays after being on the staff last season.

Ok, now to Chig Okonkwo, the new tight end atop the Commanders' depth chart. The 26-year-old has done just enough to entice the fantasy community. He was the TE4 in the 2024 fantasy postseason and has posted at least five yards after the catch per reception in every year of his career.

Okonkwo has 70+ targets and 50+ receptions in each of the last three seasons, which, if you remember those Tennessee offenses, is quite the accomplishment. His quarterbacks in that stretch? Late-career Ryan Tannehill, Will Levis, and rookie Cam Ward. The Titans averaged 17.63 points per game those years. It's a different game with Daniels under center.

Commanders TE Chig Okonkwo was asked about this offense.

He said, "just the space, man. The amount of space, I feel like a player like me who's really good with the ball in his hands is going to enjoy this offense." pic.twitter.com/EJVlpJGse0

— Scott Abraham (@Scott7news) June 2, 2026

Touchdowns have also been an issue. Okonkwo has five total since 2023, largely due to the offensive inefficiencies. It's difficult to find paydirt on just five red-zone targets.

Washington has 226 vacated targets up for grabs this year, including 72 from Ertz (5.5 per game). Rookie Antonio Williams, second-year pro Jaylin Lane, Luke McCaffrey, Treylon Burks, Dyami Brown, and Van Jefferson aren't commanding targets. As long as Washington doesn't make a late addition to the roster (i.e., Stefon Diggs or Brandon Aiyuk), Okonkwo could be the second option in the passing game behind Terry McLaurin.

Dalton Kincaid, Buffalo Bills

Dalton Kincaid is now entering Year 4 in the NFL, and it's fair to say that he's been a bust regarding his first-round draft capital. It's only gotten worse since his promising rookie season. Targets have dropped from 91 to 75 to 49, receptions subsequently declined, and he's yet to sneak into the top-12 scorers at the position on a per-game basis.

Injuries have been a big part of the problem. A PCL sprain suffered during the 2024 season hampered him throughout 2025, in addition to abdominal and hamstring issues. His snap percentage tanked all the way to 37.6% and topped out at 55% in Week 3.

For what he lost in opportunities, he gained in efficiency and morphed into one of the best red-zone threats for the Bills (seven scores, including two in the postseason).

DJ Moore was added this offseason to the Buffalo roster, in desperate need of a go-to pass-catcher. It should help the Bills offense, although Josh Allen has been just fine, especially for fantasy, without an alpha. Moore's production has been on the decline, but he does at least bring another threat to the field, giving Kincaid slightly less defensive attention. We know there will be plenty of scoring opportunities for the Allen-led offense.

Kincaid shed the protective sleeve for his knee during OTAs and says it feels great. If he can shed the "load management" plan as well, a TE1 season is absolutely in play.

Greg Dulcich, Miami Dolphins

Greg Dulcich was kind of, sort of, nearly out of the league a year ago. After being waived by the Broncos and then the Giants, Dulcich landed on the Miami practice squad and didn't get a call-up to the active roster for another two months following the (second) injury to Darren Waller.

What Dulcich did in that final stretch of games calls for some optimism heading into his fifth season. It's, of course, a small sample size: 31 targets on 127 routes run. However, per Fantasy Points Data, a 2.64 yards per route run number trailed only Kincaid among all tight ends. He was sixth in yards per target (10.81), 10th in targets per route run (0.24), and had a 14% first-read rate.

Outside of Week 18, much of the production came with an active Waller. Say what you want about his health and talent at that point in his career, but the man was still a threat, especially in the red zone. Outside of Weeks 17 (early injury) and 18, Jaylen Waddle was also on the field soaking up targets.

The state of the Dolphins wide receiver room has been very well-documented. There's Malik Washington, a trio of rookies, and a whole handful of middling free-agent acquisitions.

While I singled out Washington, as he has the most upside of the non-rookies, he still only has 72 career catches in 31 games. The other notable veterans, Jalen Tolbert and Tutu Atwell, were cast aside by their old teams after 18 and six catches, respectively, last season.

The rookies -- Chris Bell, Caleb Douglas, and Kevin Coleman Jr. -- were drafted in the third round or later. There's a lot to like about Bell's tape, but counting on a rookie coming off a torn ACL in late November to make an immediate impact feels like a lofty goal.

So, it all comes back to Dulcich. The offense may be a mess, and the Dolphins may not win many games, but someone has to catch the football, and the advanced metrics say it could be the big tight end.

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