Dalton Schultz Fantasy Football Outlook - Was His Big Game Legit or a Fluke?

September 24, 2026

Should I start Dalton Schultz for fantasy football Week 3? He had a huge week, was it legit or a fluke? Read Dalton Schultz's 2026 fantasy football outlook.

Houston Texans tight end Dalton Schultz went off in Week 2. After a solid Week 1, in which he caught four of his eight targets for 35 yards, he busted through the gates of fantasy football relevance with 12 catches on 14 targets for 140 receiving yards. The huge performance from Schultz made him the No. 1 fantasy football PPR TE of the week.

26.0 PPR fantasy points is nothing to scoff at. In fact, it should make you seriously consider starting him for the rest of the season, provided he continues to play well. His eight targets in Week 1 suggest he's a big part of the offense regardless of the matchup.

The Houston Texans passing offense wasn't viewed as one of the best to invest in leading up to the 2026 season, but tight ends don't need to score as much as wideouts to pay off at ADP. So why did Schultz have such a big game? Should you start him in Week 3? What's his rest-of-season fantasy football outlook? Let's dive in.

Why Did Dalton Schultz Have a Huge Game? 

There are three major driving factors here, according to my analysis. The first was the injury to wide receiver Nico Collins (hamstring), who is the team's No. 1 pass-catcher, easily. He didn't play at all in Week 2 and is set to miss more time, which is a good thing for Schultz's production.

Collins was targeted 10 times in Week 1, so he left a huge target vacuum in his absence. It seems that Schultz is the biggest beneficiary. Houston doesn't have another big-bodied target to throw to other than their backup tight ends, so it makes sense to try to get the ball to their No. 1.

What a catch by Dalton Schultz!

CINvsHOU on CBS/Paramount+
Stream on @NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/Y6HeGXkdDV

— NFL (@NFL) September 20, 2026

The second factor is that the Cincinnati Bengals struggle to stop opposing tight ends from catching passes and gaining yards. Last season, the top tight end that started each game against the Bengals was a safe bet to absolutely smash in fantasy football.

Cleveland Browns TE Harold Fannin Jr. caught seven passes for 63 yards against them. Minnesota Vikings TE T.J. Hockenson caught five for 49 yards and a touchdown. Sam LaPorta went for 5/92/1. Tucker Kraft caught two for 43 yards and a TD. And Chicago Bears tight end Colston Loveland put up 29.8 PPR fantasy points in their matchup.

COLSTON LOVELAND ARE YOU KIDDING?

📺: CBS pic.twitter.com/OMOzjsl6vC

— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) November 2, 2025

Whatever the day, Cincinnati has found a way to absolutely blow coverages against tight ends for the past season-plus now. And that doesn't seem to have changed. Schultz had caught 10 or more passes just one time in 125 career games before Week 2. It's safe to say it's an extreme outlier performance.

Will Dalton Schultz Continue to Dominate? 

He should still be a startable fantasy football tight end for the rest of the season, with spike week potential. That said, whenever Collins comes back, he'll be the clear No. 1 target for this passing offense, and should easily outproduce Schultz in nearly every game that both are healthy.

There is more season-long upside due to the season-ending injury to wide receiver Jayden Higgins (knee), who had great expectations and was set to be a big part of the offense. He likely would have been the clear No. 2 target, while Schultz would be third in line for passes.

The plan seems to have been to prioritize size at wideout so they wouldn't sacrifice a slimmer or smaller player on the outside struggling to block in the run game. Higgins was a mismatch weapon who was unironically compared to Collins in the pre-draft process. And he was very promising.

Schultz is now basically in the WR2 role. The Texans offense has been surprisingly productive through the air over two weeks. Though they've lost both games, starting quarterback C.J. Stroud is averaging over 313 passing yards per game, so there's enough to go around for fantasy football for their pass-catchers.

C.J. Stroud finds Dalton Schultz for a 35-yard first down gain!

CINvsHOU on CBS/Paramount+
Stream on @NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/6Sqe19LbQ3

— NFL (@NFL) September 20, 2026

Texans WR Tank Dell (knee) continues to work his way back from his massive knee injury two seasons ago. But he probably won't be a factor this year. Second-year slot receiver Jaylin Noel is promising, but doesn't get the ball much despite his good play this year. And WR Xavier Hutchinson doesn't have much upside at all.

That means there's not much of a threat to his role moving forward.

What Will The Rest of Dalton Schultz's Season Look Like? 

From this point, he should be a locked-in starting tight end. TEs that are the de facto WR2s on their teams are an extreme luxury in fantasy football. He's not an elite player at his position, but especially in PPR leagues, targets are king. Schultz is on the field for over 65 percent of offensive snaps for his team each game.

Those numbers would benefit from improvement, and through two contests, his targets-per-route rate is arguably abnormally high. You just have to take what you can get at this position, though. Even a TE that scores just 10.0 PPR fantasy points per game is better than most. And it makes the most sense to chase upside.

A higher snap share is possible, but we'd have to wait to see. He at least clearly has the highest snap rate of any TE on the team, as backups Marlin Klein, Cade Stover, and Foster Moreau haven't seen the field much. Of those three, only Moreau has more than one target and reception through two weeks.

Dalton Schultz is one of the most underrated TEs in the NFL. His receiving skillset was on full display this Sunday - ball skills, YAC, zone feel, man coverage wins (including one against a CB in clip below). Has become Stroud’s go-to target with the injuries to Texans receivers pic.twitter.com/ROrNaJOn22

— TylerP (@tylerpbrh) September 23, 2026

And he has a realistic, season-long path to fantasy relevance. Collins is typically very injury-prone -- he always misses multiple games per season, and has yet to play a full 17-game slate. For Week 3 specifically, it looks like there's a good chance Collins won't play, since he didn't practice at all this week.

He wasn't placed on injured reserve, but his last major hamstring issue landed him on the sidelines for five consecutive weeks. It feels somewhat conservative to think this is the only other game he'll miss before he returns.

Wish Nico Collins could play all 17 games at least once without getting injured. Just a Grade 1 hamstring injury this time but I believe it's the same one he injured before. pic.twitter.com/wnyx563Muu

— JohnJohn Analysis (@JohnJohnalytics) September 24, 2026

Fantasy managers should also consider the possibility that Collins injures the same leg again this season. Schultz is a strong hold and start for now, unless you find a manager that believes he's now the best tight end in football and will score 20 or more fantasy points each game for the rest of the season.

Stroud strikes again 🚀

📺: #CLEvsHOU on NBC
📱: Stream on #NFLPlus https://t.co/jM781VisSx pic.twitter.com/gduspoao8V

— NFL (@NFL) January 13, 2024

Stroud and Schultz have good chemistry, as he's been on the team for multiple seasons now. My analysis indicates it's very likely the game against the Bengals was his best of the season, and he'll go on to average around 14.0 PPR fantasy points in the games that Collins misses and around 11.0 in the games that Collins plays.

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