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Frozen at Week 1 kickoff — Wed, Sep 9, 2026, 8:20 PM ET. 2026 drafts are done: this board stays as it was at kickoff so it can be scored. For this week use the weekly rankings; for the rest of the year, rest of season. Back-filled Sep 29 with draft-time information only.
Frozen · version kept

2026 Standard Draft Rankings — Tight EndFrozen · Sep 9

Teams12

Trey McBride is our TE1 for 2026 Standard drafts, ahead of George Kittle and Brock Bowers. The biggest value against ADP in the top 36 is George Kittle (#2, ADP 109.1); the biggest gap the other way is Isaiah Likely (#30, ADP 135.3).

The replacement line · what VORP is measured against in a 12-team league

season points
QB replacementQB13 · 214.8Jaxson Dart
RB replacementRB33 · 93.5Jacory Croskey-Merritt
WR replacementWR29 · 96.7Quentin Johnston
TE replacementTE13 · 74.7Hunter Henry
K replacementK stream · 137.6weekly streaming (8.6 ppg)
DST replacementDST stream · 153.7weekly streaming (9.61 ppg)
Flex seats (12)4 WR · 8 RB · 0 TEbest left after the starters

HowFill all 12 teams’ starting seats by projected season points, give the 12 flex seats to the best RB/WR/TE left, and the next player at each position is replacement. Kickers and defenses are measured against the weekly streaming level instead — the best matchup left on waivers each week (8.6 ppg for a kicker, 9.61 ppg for a defense), because in a league with waivers that is what an unrostered kicker is worth. VORP = season points − that level. Your league differs? The draft room measures it for your rules.

Top 36 · of 36 · ranked by season points

2026 Standard · 12-team · VORP = season points over the replacement above · Season = the engine’s median with its 20–80 range (bar; tick = median) · Games = expected games played · Value = FFC ADP − our overall rank (positive: drafted later than we rank him) · tiers from the engine: a new tier where the drop to the next player is more than twice the typical drop nearby and at least 2 points
RankPlayerPosTeam · byeVORPSeason · 20–80GamesFFC ADPValue
Tier 11 TE
1Trey McBrideTE · ARI · bye 14TE1ARI · 1449.0114 76–16514.238.4+19
Tier 22 TE
2George KittleTE · SF · bye 8TE2SF · 838.8104 66–15513.4109.1+84
3Brock BowersTE · LV · bye 13TE3LV · 1335.1100 68–14714.343.0+15
Tier 35 TE
4Harold Fannin Jr.TE · CLE · bye 11TE4CLE · 1122.688 60–13014.5——
5Tucker KraftTE · GB · bye 11TE5GB · 1118.885 57–12613.794.6+46
6Sam LaPortaTE · DET · bye 6TE6DET · 617.384 55–12513.7124.2+73
7Kyle PittsTE · ATL · bye 11TE7ATL · 1115.783 56–12214.3——
8Tyler WarrenTE · IND · bye 13TE8IND · 1315.781 55–12114.371.8+19
Tier 43 TE
9Colston LovelandTE · CHI · bye 10TE9CHI · 108.377 51–11114.261.4−3
10Travis KelceTE · KC · bye 5TE10KC · 56.775 49–11113.9119.3+52
11Dallas GoedertTE · PHI · bye 10TE11PHI · 105.974 45–11213.099.3+29
Tier 53 TE
12Mark AndrewsTE · BAL · bye 13TE12BAL · 131.368 43–10513.4124.1+38
13Hunter HenryTE · NE · bye 11TE13NE · 110.068 45–10013.6——
14Juwan JohnsonTE · NO · bye 8TE14NO · 8-0.568 42–10013.5——
Tier 610 TE
15Oronde Gadsden IITE · LAC · bye 7TE15LAC · 7-4.464 41–9513.8——
16Jake FergusonTE · DAL · bye 14TE16DAL · 14-5.663 39–9513.4139.8+35
17AJ BarnerTE · SEA · bye 11TE17SEA · 11-6.362 39–9413.7——
18Dalton SchultzTE · HOU · bye 8TE18HOU · 8-7.861 40–8913.5——
19Dalton KincaidTE · BUF · bye 7TE19BUF · 7-9.459 36–9112.9149.9+34
20Brenton StrangeTE · JAX · bye 7TE20JAX · 7-11.458 36–8613.0——
21Kenyon SadiqTE · NYJ · bye 13TE21NYJ · 13-12.456 35–8513.4——
22Theo JohnsonTE · NYG · bye 8TE22NYG · 8-14.255 34–8312.8——
23Cade OttonTE · TB · bye 10TE23TB · 10-16.152 32–8213.1——
24Pat FreiermuthTE · PIT · bye 9TE24PIT · 9-18.751 31–7712.9——
Tier 712 TE
25Colby ParkinsonTE · LA · bye 11TE25LA · 11-21.947 26–7412.4——
26David NjokuTE · LAC · bye 7TE26LAC · 7-23.445 26–7411.5——
27T.J. HockensonTE · MIN · bye 6TE27MIN · 6-24.245 27–7211.9173.3+14
28Darren WallerTE · CAR · bye 5TE28CAR · 5-25.344 23–739.9——
29Mason TaylorTE · NYJ · bye 13TE29NYJ · 13-26.443 26–6612.8——
30Isaiah LikelyTE · NYG · bye 8TE30NYG · 8-26.643 24–6912.0135.3−36
31Chig OkonkwoTE · WAS · bye 7TE31WAS · 7-28.041 25–6512.8——
32Jonnu SmithTE · GB · bye 11TE32GB · 11-28.841 24–6512.2——
33Jake TongesTE · SF · bye 8TE33SF · 8-30.139 20–6510.0——
34Cole KmetTE · CHI · bye 10TE34CHI · 10-30.540 23–6212.2——
35Evan EngramTE · DEN · bye 10TE35DEN · 10-32.338 21–6111.4——
36Marlin KleinTE · HOU · bye 8TE36HOU · 8-33.236 20–6111.8——

How it’s scored so far

Rank order · Spearman—being computed — reload in a minute
Top-24 hits——
No season leakDraft-time onlyProjections read nothing from Week 1 on — the weekly truncation rule, extended to seasons.
Method checkJon’s v3 · exactQB15 298.7 · RB33 131.8 · WR39 127.0 · TE15 118.1; flex 10 WR / 4 RB; 136 VORPs within 0.1.

Scored on the accuracy page at season’s end against actual league-scored points, alongside ADP alone. The method check re-runs the replacement code on Jon’s hand-built 14-team board and reproduces his levels and every VORP.

VersionsBoard draft · standard · 12 · frozen 2026-09-10T00:20:00Z· projections season-fit-2019-2025+50344916d94316da· ADP FFC 2026 half_ppr 14-team ADP (183 players, sampled through 2026-08-28)· rankings draft-2026-draft-backfill-20260929T1306· engine build aabb2e5· Report a problem with this version
2026 Standard Draft Rankings — Tight End · Red Zone Rank