10 Fantasy Football Sleepers: Tight Ends (2026)

10 Fantasy Football Sleepers: Tight Ends (2026)

When preparing for your fantasy football drafts, knowing which players to target and others to avoid is important. The amount of information available can be overwhelming, so a great way to condense the data and determine players to draft and others to leave for your leaguemates is to use our expert consensus fantasy football rankings compared to fantasy football average draft position (ADP). In this way, you can identify players the experts are willing to reach for at ADP and others they are not drafting until much later than average. Let’s dive into a few notable fantasy football sleepers below. And check out all of the fantasy football sleepers experts love in our consensus sleeper rankings.

Fantasy Football Sleepers Experts Draft: Tight Ends

Here are fantasy football sleepers the experts love to target in drafts.

Who are Fantasy Football Sleepers?

Fantasy football sleepers are players who have a strong chance to exceed expectations and become surprise difference-makers for fantasy managers.

Fantasy Football Sleepers: Tight Ends

Rank Tight Ends Team ECR ADP
1 Chig Okonkwo WAS 19 18
2 Greg Dulcich MIA 32 28
3 Juwan Johnson NO 16 20
4 Brenton Strange JAC 17 19
5 Oronde Gadsden II LAC 20 17
6 Terrance Ferguson LAR 24 27
7 Dalton Schultz HOU 21 25
8 Mason Taylor NYJ 33 40
9 Eli Raridon NE 46
10 Hunter Henry NE 18 16

Injuries and inconsistent usage have thus far kept four-year veteran Greg Dulcich from establishing a firm foothold in the NFL, but in 2026 he’ll have a chance to be a prominent contributor to a Dolphins offense that lacks proven pass-catching talent. Hamstring injuries limited Dulcich to 10 games as a rookie with the Broncos in 2022 and two games in his second season. Dulcich played four games for Denver in 2024, was released in November, then played five late-season games for the Giants. Dulcich signed with Miami midway through the 2025 season and had 26 catches for 335 yards and a touchdown in 10 games. The Dolphins re-signed Dulcich to another one-year deal in the offseason, and he now sits atop their depth chart at tight end. Miami selected three wise receivers in this year’s draft, and none of the veteran receivers on the roster have ever had more than 610 receiving yards in a season. Although Miami isn’t expected to have a high-powered passing attack with the inexperienced Malik Willis taking over as the starting quarterback, Dulcich could be a sneaky-good fantasy option this year.
– Pat Fitzmaurice

Last year, Brenton Strange had a breakout season as the TE17 in fantasy points per game setting career highs in targets (only in 12 games), receiving yards, yards per reception, and fantasy points per game. Among 54 qualifying tight ends, he was 21st in target share, 14th in receiving yards per game, ninth in yards per route run, 23rd in first-read share, and 11th in first downs per route run (per Fantasy Points Data). Strange’s per-route metrics display the talent that he has to surpass last year’s numbers if he ever got a featured role in the Jags’ passing attack, but as the depth chart currently stands, he’s likely the fourth or fifth option in the target hierarchy. Strange is a nice stash or pickup in season if injuries strike the depth chart because he could see his numbers boom, but as it currently sits, he’s an intriguing TE2 with upside.
– Derek Brown

Terrance Ferguson, a second-round pick in last year’s NFL Draft, drew only 25 targets as a rookie and caught only 11 of them, but he averaged 21 yards per catch and 9.2 yards per target. Ferguson is an extraordinary physical specimen who ran a 4.63 and had a 39-inch vertical jump at last year’s combine at 6-foot-51/2, 247 pounds. But the Rams are log-jammed at tight end. They rotated four TEs last year – Ferguson, Colby Parkinson, Tyler Higbee and Davis Allen – and Ferguson averaged fewer snaps per game than the other three. The Rams have also added another TE, selecting Max Klare of Ohio State in the second round of this year’s draft. On the bright side, Rams head coach Sean McVay used 13 personnel, with three TEs on the field at once, on 30.5% of the Rams’ offensive snaps last season. No other team used 13 personnel on more than 14% of its plays. Rams tight ends combined for 150 targets, 103 catches, 1,128 yards and 17 touchdowns last season. Role ambiguity makes Ferguson undraftable in all but the deepest fantasy leagues, but his athleticism and the possibility that he earns a bigger role in a TE-friendly offense make him worth monitoring.
– Pat Fitzmaurice