Fantasy Football Rookie Tight End Rankings: Pre-NFL Draft (2026)

April 15, 2026

Fantasy football rookie tight end rankings for before the 2026 NFL Draft. Top rookies and dynasty draft targets include Kenyon Sadiq, Eli Stowers, and more.

Tight ends are always tricky to navigate in all formats, and especially in dynasty leagues, they require patience. We expect running backs and wide receivers to produce right away, but that's not always the case at TE. Nonetheless, we have several studs and a handful of sleepers in this year's rookie class, and we're here to help you take one last look at the  2026 fantasy football rookie tight end rankings before the 2026 NFL Draft.

We will update these rookie rankings all offseason long, including after the 2026 NFL Draft. It's never too early to start your research and homework on rising NFL players, so let's get to it! These updated 2026 rookie rankings are put together by Jackson Sparks, Matt Donnelly, Andrew Lalama, and Phil Clark.

In addition to these rookie rankings, in our 2026 fantasy football rankings dashboard, you will also find our team's Dynasty League rankings. Bookmark that page, and use it to prepare for all of your 2026 fantasy football dynasty league drafts.

Fantasy Football Rookie Tight End Rankings (2026)

Check out our PPR fantasy football rankings and standard (non-PPR) fantasy football rankings as well:

Rookie Tight End NFL Draft Outlooks for Fantasy Football

Eli Stowers, Vanderbilt

Vanderbilt tight end Eli Stowers is on a top-30 pre-draft visit with the Denver Broncos on Tuesday, a source told Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network. Stowers is one of the upcoming draft's top tight ends, and he set a tight end combine record with a 45.5-inch vertical jump. The 22-year-old visited with the Los Angeles Rams, Tennessee Titans, and Dallas Cowboys recently. He is a converted quarterback who played college ball at Texas A&M and New Mexico. Stowers won the Mackey Award in 2025 after he posted 62 catches for 769 yards and four touchdowns in his final collegiate season.

There is plenty of improvement that Stowers can make in terms of his blocking prowess, but his combine numbers speak for themselves in terms of his pure athleticism on a football field. Stowers is expected to be the second TE off the board later this month behind Oregon's Kenyon Sadiq. Current Broncos TE Evan Engram's role could decline even further in 2026 if Stowers joins Denver.

Kenyon Sadiq, Oregon

The Los Angeles Rams don't have a major need at the tight end position, but ESPN's Matt Bowen thinks Oregon tight end Kenyon Sadiq should be viewed as a potential "matchup player" for head coach Sean McVay's offense. The Rams would have to take Sadiq with the 13th overall pick in the first round next month. The 6-foot-3, 241-pounder would be a "seam stretcher" for quarterback Matthew Stafford with his 4.39-second 40-yard dash speed. McVay could also use Sadiq as a backside X receiver/power slot to "draw favorable man matchups."

The young TE would also fit in nicely as a "catch-and-run target" on boot play-action concepts that Stafford runs often. Sadiq is seen as the top TE target in this year's draft class, and landing in L.A. would make him even more attractive to fantasy managers in rookie-only dynasty drafts this year. Sadiq has an incredibly high fantasy ceiling after catching 51 passes and scoring eight times for the Ducks in his final collegiate season in 2025.

Michael Trigg, Baylor

Baylor tight end Michael Trigg was one of 27 tight end prospects invited to this year's NFL Combine, and while he didn't take part in any on-field testing due to a hamstring injury, he did raise eyebrows with his measurables. At just under 6'4" tall, his 84 and 3/8" wingspan set a new high mark at the position, topping the previous record, held by the nearly 6'7" Darnell Washington, by almost a full inch.

That length shows up on tape in his ability to work over and through defenders, and in a tight end class that breaks wide open once you get past Kenyon Sadiq and Eli Stowers, Trigg's is a profile that could translate to early fantasy success. Character concerns could lead to him slipping in the NFL Draft, but in the later rounds of dynasty rookie drafts, Trigg is an intriguing, toolsy player on whom to stake a claim.

Oscar Delp, Georgia

Georgia tight end Oscar Delp will finish a long list of pre-draft visits by having a top-30 visit with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Los Angeles Chargers this week, according to Ian Rapoport of the NFL Network. Delp visited with the New England Patriots, Baltimore Ravens, and Minnesota Vikings last week. The 22-year-old's statistics from college in four seasons with the Bulldogs don't really stand out. He had 70 total catches for 854 yards and nine touchdowns in his 55 games played.

Delp never had more than 284 receiving yards in a single season, and he reportedly played all of last year with a hairline fracture in his foot. He would be behind Cade Otton and Oronde Gadsden with the Bucs and Chargers, respectively, if he were to be drafted by either of those clubs. Delp won't have a ton of appeal in single-year fantasy leagues in 2026 as a likely rotational tight end with a limited role in his first year in the NFL.

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