Fantasy Football Tight Ends: Stats, Sleepers, and Surprises You Need to Know (Week 10)

November 12, 2026

Rob breaks down the fantasy football tight end landscape in 2026 by looking at snaps played, routes run, and targets earned to provide you with in-depth information about who to trust in Week 10.

The NFL Trade Deadline has come and passed. While we didn't see any tight ends get moved, several moves will impact some of the best tight ends in fantasy football. Trey McBride and Brock Bowers lost their starting quarterback. Tyler Warren lost all of his capable pass-catching teammates. How will these moves affect their rest-of-season value?

While the NFL Trade Deadline may be in our rearview window, that doesn't mean fantasy football leagues can't trade. With that in mind, this article identifies two tight ends fantasy managers should buy low: Sam LaPorta and Chig Okonkwo. We'll discuss why.

This article also includes my Week 10 rankings, and with all the quarterback moves, you'll find some tight ends much lower than you're likely used to seeing. Over the next few weeks, as we gather more data on how these moves are affecting these tight ends' ecosystem, we'll take another look at playoff schedules and what to make of these tight ends as fantasy managers make their playoff push.

Buy Low on Chig Okonkwo

Okonkwo suffered a hamstring injury in Week 1 and did not return until Week 4. When he returned to the field, Okonkwo was on a snap count, barely playing over 50% of the snaps. Okonkwo's utilization since his full return has been fantastic. However, the production has not followed. That makes him a strong buy-low candidate.

Over Okonkwo's last four games with over 70% snap share, he's averaged 30.0 routes per game. For the season, that would be tied for fifth among tight ends with Harold Fannin Jr. His route share is 75.5%, just above George Kittle's 75.3%, ranking eighth. The number of routes he's running should put Okonkwo in the back of fantasy managers' minds.

Over the last four weeks, Okonkwo is averaging 5.5 targets per game, tying Sam LaPorta for the 12th-best average among tight ends. Unfortunately, he's not earning targets at a higher rate. While his per-game average is good enough, it could be much better. His 18% target rate would rank 32nd out of 50 tight ends who have run at least 70 targets.

However, his 17.1% target share would be the 11th-best average, just behind Colston Loveland at 17.3%. Even more impressive is how productive he's been with his usage. He's averaging 54.5 yards per game. That would be the sixth-highest this year, only behind Brock Bowers, Trey McBride, Travis Kelce, Isaiah Likely, and George Kittle.

He's averaging 4.8 receptions per game, matching Kittle's season average, and he ranks fifth in this category. However, despite the great utilization and, for the most part, strong production, Okonkwo has averaged just 7.6 half-PPR PPG. That would be just TE17 for the season. Given how strong his numbers have been over the last four weeks, one would expect more fantasy points.

Chig Okonkwo A Solid TE Option in Week 10 Against Giants https://t.co/B6Xp0jDntC

— RotoBaller (@RotoBaller) November 12, 2026

That's because Okonkwo has zero touchdowns, and unfortunately, his expected half-PPR PPG average isn't higher. That's because he has just 0.25 red-zone and end-zone targets over the last four games. Unless he starts to find the end zone every now and then, Okonkwo won't reach his potential this year. However, his utilization and target volume make him a great buy-low. Both his route and target opportunities point to a potential TE1 in the backend.

Tale of Two Sam LaPortas

In Weeks 1-5, LaPorta averaged 12.6 half-PPR PPG. Then, the Lions had their bye week. From Weeks 7-9, LaPorta's half-PPR PPG average has declined to 4.2. That's a massive 66.67% decrease. Some of that can be explained simply by touchdowns scored.

In Weeks 1-5, he scored three times. Since then, he hasn't found the end zone. That explains some of the decrease, but not all of it. In Weeks 1-5, LaPorta's expected half-PPR PPG average was 12.0. In his last three games, that number has fallen to 4.8.

Looking at the table above, you can see massive differences between LaPorta's utilization and opportunity pre- and post-bye week. You can see a significant decrease in the total number of routes run, but with a three-game sample, this could be explained by a wonky game. However, when you look at his route share, you can see some red flags.

His route share and targets per game have fallen steadily. In the first five games, LaPorta had at least 40 yards in every contest. Since then, he hasn't broken 35. That could be due to the fact that he doesn't have more than five targets in a single game since the bye week. Before his bye week, LaPorta had three such games, including a 13-target outing.

Should we be concerned? Not really. If anything, fantasy managers should use this as an opportunity to buy LaPorta if they can. In Week 8, the Lions played the Vikings, who are the best defense in the NFL. They held the Lions to 176 passing yards and one touchdown.

In Jared Goff's first six games of the season, he averaged 298 yards and 2.3 touchdowns per game. This past weekend against the Dolphins, Goff finished with just 170 passing yards and zero touchdowns. The Vikings' performance can be chalked up to the Vikings. The Miami performance can be chalked up to an outlier. The fact that they occurred back-to-back means nothing.

Tight Ends Taking a BIG Hit Post-Trade Deadline

Brock Bowers

Trading Kirk Cousins to the Vikings definitely puts a damper on Bowers' rest-of-season outlook. Fantasy managers shouldn't expect Bowers to fall off a cliff, but going to rookie Fernando Mendoza could have some unfortunate consequences. Mendoza's potential is clear. You don't become the first overall pick for no reason, after all.

However, all that potential and upside may not show itself right away. Cousins has played excellent ball for the Raiders this year. He's currently eighth in yards per game and third in touchdowns per game. From Week 1, 2024 through Week 4, 2025, which is when he suffered his first knee injury, Bowers averaged 0.2 touchdowns per game. This season, he's at 0.9 touchdowns per game.

Rookie Brock Bowers:

15.5 PPG in PPR

Brock Bowers with Kirk Cousins:

20.9 PPG in PPR

It's pretty reasonable to expect a bit less production from Bowers with Mendoza.

— Frank Ammirante (@FAmmiranteTFJ) November 11, 2026

This is the biggest area where Bowers is likely to regress. Realistically, even if Cousins had stayed, Bowers was unlikely to keep scoring a touchdown at an almost every-game rate. The switch to Mendoza could cut Bowers' touchdown average in half.

Given that Trey McBride has his own issues, fantasy managers should expect Bowers to maintain his TE1 status, but the gap between him and everyone else has likely gotten smaller. Don't sell, just lower expectations.

Trey McBride

The trade of Jacoby Brissett could have a massive impact on McBride. Over the last two seasons, McBride averaged 8.0 targets per game without Brisset, compared to 10.4 with him. The extra volume led to increased production. McBride averaged 75.4 yards and 0.75 touchdowns per game with Brissett. Those numbers fall to 54.8 yards and 0.17 touchdowns per game.

Carson Beck could represent a massive decline in quarterback play. Making matters worse, Michael Wilson is out for the season. With Marvin Harrison Jr. already having been traded, defenses no longer have a reason to look at anyone other than McBride.

Cardinals officially placed QB Gardner Minshew II and WR Michael Wilson on injured reserve. Neither player is expected to play again this season.

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) November 10, 2026

To be fair, that was true before, but that belief has only been exaggerated. With no Wilson and no Jeremiyah Love, and a third-round rookie quarterback, this offense could fall off a cliff. Every team playing this week has an implied point total of 17 points or higher. Every team except Arizona. They're not even projected to score 15.

This offense doesn't have a strong running game. Their passing game is led by a rookie. McBride is their only weapon. That may have been true, to some extent, before, but now, their group of pass-catchers not named McBride doesn't even look NFL-worthy. With a likely decrease in touchdowns, McBride is no longer a guarantee to finish in the top five.

Tyler Warren

Daniel Jones has been one of the worst quarterbacks this season. The Colts then traded Keenan Allen and Josh Downs at the deadline. Alec Pierce is still on IR and seems unlikely to play again. Warren now finds himself in a similar situation as McBride.

The quarterback play is awful. There are no other weapons in the passing game, allowing the defense to throw everything they've got at stopping McBride and Warren. The biggest problem for Warren is that he's simply not as good as McBride.

Among 50 tight ends with at least 70 targets, Warren ranks 43rd in average depth of target at 4.77. He's averaging 4.4 yards after the catch per reception, which ranks just 34th. His 5.2 yards per target average is 46th. He's averaging 7.2 yards per reception, ranking 45th.

Warren is not dangerous after the catch. He's averaging just 0.05 missed tackles per reception, good for 35th. Only 5.7% of his receptions are defined as "explosives", just 37th. He's simply not an explosive pass-catcher. Where's the upside given his current situation?

Fantasy managers are likely looking at stat lines of nine targets, five catches, and 44 yards for the rest of the season. Like McBride, Warren is going to find touchdowns extremely tough to come by. He's a low-end TE1 and could fall out of the top-12 altogether.

Week 10 Rankings

1. George Kittle
2. Brock Bowers
3. Isaiah Likely
4. Sam LaPorta
5. Hunter Henry
6. Dalton Kincaid
7. Trey McBride
8. Travis Kelce
9. Harold Fannin Jr.
10. Tucker Kraft
11. Chig Okonkwo
12. Kyle Pitts
13. Brenton Strange
14. Tyler Warren
15. Pat Freiermuth
16. T.J. Hockenson
17. Mike Gesicki
18. Tyler Higbee
19. Greg Dulcich
20. Dalton Schultz
21. A.J. Barner
22. Darren Waller
23. Colby Parkinson
24. Eli Raridon
25. Juwan Johnson

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