When preparing for your fantasy football drafts, knowing which players to target and which 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 tight ends fantasy football expert Derek Brown feels are overrated this draft season.
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2026 Fantasy Football Draft Advice: Overrated Tight Ends to Avoid
Here are four tight ends Derek Brown avoids in fantasy football drafts.
Harold Fannin Jr. (CLE)
Harold Fannin Jr. had a banner rookie season as the TE8 in fantasy points per game. Let’s see if he can follow it up in year two with Denzel Boston and KC Concepcion competing with him for targets. Last year, among 54 qualifying tight ends, Fannin was fifth in target share (19.4%), 12th in receiving yards per game (45.7), 12th in yards per route run (1.81), fourth in first-read share (22.3%), and 25th in first downs per route run (per Fantasy Points Data). I expect his first-read share to dip some, but he could retain similar per-route metrics outside of that in 2026 if he can hold off Boston and Concepcion while overcoming quarterback concerns in Cleveland. When it’s all said and done, Fannin is likely a low-end TE1 in 2026.
Chig Okonkwo (WAS)
Chig Okonkwo is back on the intriguing late-round tight end radar again for 2026. The signing of Stefon Diggs definitely puts a damper on his upside, but Okonkwo is still an interesting dice roll. Last year, among 54 qualifying tight ends, he was 24th in target share, 23rd in receiving yards per game, 28th in yards per route run, and 37th in first downs per route run (per Fantasy Points Data). Okonkwo has been a per-route metric darling in previous seasons, so with better quarterback play in 2026 tied to Jayden Daniels, I wouldn’t be surprised if he recaptures some of that magic. I still don’t know if he’ll have enough volume this season to be anything more than a streaming option when the matchup is right.
Oronde Gadsden (LAC)
I’ll be avoiding Oronde Gadsden in drafts this season. Yes, in Weeks 6-18 last year, he had his moments with five TE1 finishes in weekly scoring, but he was also only the TE17 in fantasy points per game. During that sample of games, among 50 qualifying tight ends, he was 36th in target per route run rate, 15th in yards per route run, 22nd in first-read share, and 29th in first downs per route run (per Fantasy Points Data). After Week 15, he failed to surpass a 70% route share in any game. All of these are concerning red flags before we even get to the Bolts’ additions of Charlie Kolar and David Njoku this offseason. Gadsden looks like he’s locked in a tight end committee for 2026, which is something I don’t have any interest in dealing with for fantasy purposes.
T.J. Hockenson (MIN)
T.J. Hockenson isn’t on my radar for 2026. Last season, he was the TE25 in fantasy points per game, and I don’t foresee a bounce-back season coming for Hockenson with the signing of Jauan Jennings and Kyler Murray playing quarterback. Last year, among 54 qualifying tight ends, Hockenson was 20th in target share, 26th in receiving yards per game, 44th in yards per route run, 27th in first-read share, and 40th in first downs per route run (per Fantasy Points Data). Hockenson is an avoid for me in all formats.
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