- Tucker Kraft could emerge as the Green Bay Packers’ No. 1 option: Although Kraft is recovering from an ACL tear, the departures of Romeo Doubs and Dontayvion Wicks should lead to an increased target share for Kraft once he returns.
- Sam LaPorta has a new offensive coordinator: Drew Petzing joins the Detroit Lions from the Arizona Cardinals, where he worked with Trey McBride.
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Finding value is about more than identifying talented players. It requires pinpointing situations where talent, opportunity and cost align. These three tight ends check all three boxes and have the potential to dramatically outperform their current ADPs in 2026.
The average draft position listed is a consensus from ESPN, Sleeper and Yahoo! for where the player is picked on average in a 12-team, redraft league.
Last updated: Thursday, July 30
Tucker Kraft, Green Bay Packers (ADP: 6.11)
Kraft was one of the NFL's most efficient tight ends in 2024. The problem was volume.
His 9.3 yards per target led all tight ends by a wide margin, a full 1.5 yards ahead of the next-closest player. Packers coaches clearly recognized the need to involve him more entering 2025, and his target rate climbed from 14.5% to 19.1%. Rather than losing efficiency with the increased workload, Kraft somehow became even more dangerous after the catch. His 10.8 yards after the catch per reception was the highest by any tight end with at least 25 targets in PFF's 20 years of charting.
Before suffering a season-ending ACL injury, Kraft averaged 14.7 PPR points per game, tying Brock Bowers and George Kittle for the second-highest mark among tight ends. Adam Schefter recently reported that Green Bay believes Kraft could be ready for Week 1. Even if he is active early in the season, he could need time to return to full strength.
The encouraging part for fantasy managers is that Kraft may not need historic efficiency to improve his production. Even after a breakout season, his target rate still ranked just 19th among tight ends with at least 25 targets last year. That number could climb further given Green Bay's offseason changes.
Romeo Doubs, last season's team leader in targets, is no longer on the roster, and Dontayvion Wicks, who ranked third, is also gone. Green Bay did not spend a draft pick on a skill-position player, and Skyy Moore was its lone free-agent addition at wide receiver, likely brought in more for special-teams value than offensive production. That leaves a significant opportunity for the returning pass-catchers.
For fantasy purposes, a slight dip in efficiency paired with a larger workload would still be a favorable tradeoff. Kraft's recovery will remain worth monitoring throughout the offseason, but if he returns to full health, he has a realistic path to finishing as a top-three fantasy tight end in 2026.
Sam LaPorta, Detroit Lions (ADP: 6.08)
LaPorta led all tight ends in fantasy points during his 2023 rookie season. He's remained among the top 10 in fantasy points per game in each of the last two seasons. While he hasn't played like the elite tier of tight ends, he's been the best tight end outside that tier. His 86.9 PFF receiving grade over the last three seasons is fourth-best among tight ends.
LaPorta's big problem has been his competition for targets. The Lions have Amon-Ra St. Brown and Jameson Williams at wide receiver, in addition to Jahmyr Gibbs at running back. LaPorta earned a target on 20.1% of his routes over the last three seasons, which ranks eighth among the 10 tight ends with the earliest ADP this season. The two players with a lower target rate than LaPorta, Tucker Kraft and Kyle Pitts, both had higher target rates than LaPorta last season.
Despite the low target rate, LaPorta ranks sixth among all tight ends in yards per route run at 1.75. His 20 touchdowns over the last three seasons are the third-most among tight ends, and he should remain one of the favorites to lead tight ends in touchdowns, given the Lions' high-quality offense.
The good news is that LaPorta's target rate could change. The Lions added Drew Petzing as offensive coordinator. Petzing spent 2020-2022 with the Cleveland Browns, where the Browns' tight ends combined for the fourth-most targets, and 2023-2025 with the Arizona Cardinals, where Trey McBride had 57 more targets than any other tight end. It's unclear how much Petzing will influence the offense compared to head coach Dan Campbell, but the Petzing addition should help LaPorta's value rather than hurt it.
The big concern for LaPorta is injury. He's dealt with shoulder, ankle, knee and back injuries over the last two seasons. LaPorta had surgery to repair a herniated disc last season. He participated in OTAs, and it sounds like he will be ready to go for training camp, but his situation will be worth monitoring.
LaPorta is one of the early-round tight ends who has a chance to be among the top few at the position, but only if he can stay healthy throughout the season.
George Kittle, San Francisco 49ers (ADP: 8.05)
Kittle has been among fantasy's elite tight ends whenever healthy. He's finished among the top six tight ends in fantasy points per game in each of the past eight seasons, including two first-place, two second-place and two third-place finishes.
He's spent his career in Kyle Shanahan's run-first offenses, but he's remained a focal point of them. His 2.27 career yards per route run is the best among all tight ends over the past 20 seasons. Since Brock Purdy took over at quarterback, he's been the league's top tight end on intermediate and deep passes. He has 78 receptions, 1,616 yards and 15 touchdowns on passes of 10 or more air yards, leading all tight ends in each, with nearly 500 more yards than the next-closest.
Kittle's problem throughout his career has been injuries. He's played every game in a season just once, in 2018. Most recently, a hamstring injury cost him five games early in the 2025 season, and then he tore his Achilles tendon in the 49ers‘ wild-card game.
The Achilles injury makes it questionable whether he'll be the same player he has been. He's pushing to play Week 1, and we'll likely hear during the preseason that he's ready, but being ready to play and being productive in fantasy are two different things. He returned in Week 7 last season but caught just eight passes for 75 yards over his first three games back. He gained at least 60 yards in each of the following six games.
This is a more serious injury. Even if he plays Week 1, it might not make sense to start him in fantasy leagues. Kittle will also turn 33 early in the season, and it would be understandable if his quality of play took a step back even without the injury.
Kittle is the last tight end anyone can draft with overall TE1 upside, but whoever drafts him will also need a second, less volatile option.
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