Dylan Wade is the top tight end in college fantasy football for 2026, and he projects for 8.9 points per game. That is the identical projection our wide receiver board gives Iverson Hooks, who ranks 36th at his position. The best tight end in the sport is worth exactly as much as Oregon's third option.
Spending real draft capital at tight end is usually smart. Eli Stowers caught a team-high 62 passes at Vanderbilt last season and won people leagues doing it, and Tyler Warren did the same thing the year before. Neither of those players is on this board.
Only four tight ends project above seven points per game, the fourth sits at 7.4, and you only start one. Drafts open Aug. 3, so run the position through our college fantasy football mock draft simulator before you talk yourself into paying for a difference-maker who isn't there.
1. Dylan Wade, UCF (Sr.)8.9 PPG, 92.6 projected points, 78.6 TE Impact
2. Terrance Carter Jr., Texas Tech (Sr.)8.5 PPG, 87.8 projected points, 82.7 TE Impact
3. Garrett Oakley, Kansas State (Sr.)8.0 PPG, 83.3 projected points, 80.2 TE Impact
4. Trey'Dez Green, LSU (Jr.)7.4 PPG, 76.6 projected points, 79.2 TE Impact
5. Jeremiah Hasley, Duke (R-Sr.)6.4 PPG, 66.5 projected points, 82.5 TE Impact
6. Brody Foley, Louisville (R-Sr.)6.3 PPG, 65.1 projected points, 80.9 TE Impact
7. Brett Norfleet, Missouri (Sr.)6.1 PPG, 63.5 projected points, 77.8 TE Impact
8. Ethan Davis, Tennessee (R-Jr.)5.6 PPG, 58.4 projected points, 77.3 TE Impact
9. Dorian Fleming, Maryland (R-Jr.)5.6 PPG, 58.2 projected points, 78.1 TE Impact
10. Dorian Thomas, Cal (R-Jr.)5.2 PPG, 53.4 projected points, 80.6 TE Impact
11. Luke Hasz, Ole Miss (Sr.)5.2 PPG, 53.8 projected points, 77.9 TE Impact
12. Decker DeGraaf, Washington (Jr.)4.9 PPG, 50.7 projected points, 78.1 TE Impact
13. DJ Vonnahme, Iowa (So.)4.4 PPG, 45.6 projected points, 76.4 TE Impact
14. Luke Lindenmeyer, Nebraska (Sr.)4.4 PPG, 45.8 projected points, 79.3 TE Impact
15. Hunter Welcing, Ohio State (Gr.)4.2 PPG, 43.4 projected points, 76.6 TE Impact
16. Hayden Hansen, Oklahoma (R-Sr.)4.2 PPG, 43.0 projected points, 78.6 TE Impact
17. Donovan Green, Oklahoma State (R-Sr.)4.1 PPG, 42.8 projected points, 71.7 TE Impact
18. Jaden Platt, Arkansas (R-Jr.)4.0 PPG, 41.6 projected points, 78.3 TE Impact
19. Jamari Johnson, Oregon (R-Jr.)3.9 PPG, 40.0 projected points, 78.0 TE Impact
20. Gavin Harris, Georgia Tech (R-Sr.)3.9 PPG, 40.6 projected points, 78.2 TE Impact
21. Benjamin Brahmer, Penn State (Sr.)3.7 PPG, 38.6 projected points, 78.4 TE Impact
22. Willie Rodriguez, Kentucky (Jr.)3.7 PPG, 38.7 projected points, 77.8 TE Impact
23. Christian Bentancur, Clemson (So.)3.5 PPG, 36.7 projected points, 73.7 TE Impact
24. Walker Lyons, BYU (Jr.)3.5 PPG, 35.8 projected points, 76.8 TE Impact
25. Patrick Overmyer, Houston (Jr.)3.4 PPG, 34.9 projected points, 76.8 TE Impact
26. Kaelan Chudzinski, Boston College (So.)3.3 PPG, 34.2 projected points, 79.1 TE Impact
27. Lawson Luckie, Georgia (Sr.)3.2 PPG, 33.0 projected points, 75.6 TE Impact
28. Cole Spence, Vanderbilt (Gr.)3.1 PPG, 31.7 projected points, 74.9 TE Impact
29. Desirrio Riles, Florida State (Sr.)3.0 PPG, 31.5 projected points, 77.2 TE Impact
30. Dakota Twitty, Virginia (Gr.)2.9 PPG, 29.6 projected points, 72.0 TE Impact
Rankings are sorted by projected points per game across an 11-week fantasy regular season. TE Impact is PFN's proprietary grade for the position, and it measures how well a tight end plays rather than how many fantasy points he generates. The spread between the best grade here and the worst is 11 points. The spread between TE1 and TE30 in production is threefold. These players are all roughly the same guy, and the ones who score are just the ones who get thrown at.
One asterisk before you draft. Yahoo's own primer flags what it calls TEITO, or Tight End In Title Only, the college fantasy quirk where a program lists a wide receiver at tight end and hands you a positional cheat code. South Carolina's Nyck Harbor is the named example this year, and he shows up on our receiver board at WR23. Check how your platform lists him before your draft, because a receiver with tight end eligibility is the only version of this position that actually wins you a week.
Dylan Wade, UCF (TE1).Wade transferred home to Orlando from Maryland and broke UCF's single-season tight end records for receptions and receiving yards, finishing with 43 catches for 523 yards and five touchdowns while earning All-Big 12 honorable mention. Four of those five scores came in the final three games. His 897 receiving yards since 2024 are the most among returning Power Four tight ends.
Terrance Carter Jr., Texas Tech (TE2).Carter forced 23 missed tackles last season, most among all tight ends in college football, and he owns the best grade in this top four at 82.7. Texas Tech just named Will Hammond its starter roughly nine months after ACL surgery, which resolves the one real question hanging over Carter's projection. He is the safest pick at the position.
Trey'Dez Green, LSU (TE4).The highest ceiling here and the only name worth a small reach. PFF ranks Green the No. 1 returning tight end in the country. At 6-foot-7 and 240 pounds he set the LSU single-season touchdown record for a tight end with seven, and he did it in a bad offense while still splitting time with the basketball team. Now Lane Kiffin runs the program with Charlie Weis Jr. calling plays, and Weis turned Dae'Quan Wright into a 39-catch, 635-yard tight end at Ole Miss last season. Green told reporters at SEC Media Days that Kiffin is moving him around the formation to create mismatches.
Jeremiah Hasley, Duke (TE5).The best value on the board. Hasley converted from linebacker in 2023 and enters his final year in Durham with 517 career receiving yards and eight touchdown catches banked. He caught two scores in the ACC Championship, including the game-winner on fourth-and-one in overtime, and forced 13 missed tackles, third among all FBS tight ends. He also has to break in a new quarterback with Darian Mensah gone to Miami, which is why he sits fifth instead of second.
DJ Vonnahme, Iowa (TE13).The sleeper. Vonnahme started 2025 buried on Iowa's depth chart and finished with the second-most receiving yards by a tight end in program history. Iowa has produced this player before, repeatedly. He is a sophomore at TE13 in a room that will feed him.
Take a tight end last, or close to it, and stay ready to churn the spot. Cole Spence sits 28th here and inherits the Vanderbilt room Stowers just vacated, which is the kind of situation that turns a 3.1-point projection into a starter by October. The difference between TE4 and TE13 is three points a game, roughly one reception, and with 18 roster spots and a waiver wire this volatile you can find that in Week 4.
Run these 30 names through the PFSN College Fantasy Football Mock Draft Simulator and see how far the position falls before someone panics.
This article originally appeared on Pro Football Network .
