Fantasy football Week 1 TE preview: Kyle Pitts primed to start hot, plus TE2 to scoop on waivers now

Heath Cummings breaks down Week 1 TEs, including Kyle Pitts, Colston Loveland, and Terrance Ferguson, plus sleepers and waiver-wire targets

Sep 8, 2026 at 6:11 pm ET • 2 min read

Are you ready to be hurt again? This is not the first year that we have gone into a season believing that the tight end position was deeper than ever. Not close. And every other time that has ended with us laughing at ourselves midseason because we thought tight end was deep this year. But it might work out for us.

In my Week 1 tight end projections I have 19 tight ends projected to score at least 9.5 PPR Fantasy points. Six of them -- Trey McBride, Brock Bowers, Colston Loveland, Sam LaPorta, Kyle Pitts, and Tyler Warren project for at least 12 PPR Fantasy points. If I were certain Tucker Kraft was 100% and would play all of the snaps, he would. While we have said this before, I have never been this high on the position. 

The one guy that I am not feeling confident in, at least for Week 1, is George Kittle. While it seems like he's fully recovered from his torn Achilles, that does not necessarily mean he will have his full role in Week 1. In his first game back from injury last year, he played 80% of the snaps in Week 7 against the Falcons, saw two targets, and didn't catch a pass. Now, add in the fact that the 49ers are facing a Rams defense that may just be the best defense of the last decade, and I would like to get away from Kittle. Most people who drafted him drafted a second tight end, and for those people, I would just suggest pretending like he's not playing Week 1. If you don't have a second tight end, then there is one streamer below I would start over him. Kittle is not a must-sit by any stretch, but there are so many good options in Week 1, I don't think you need to risk it.

Here's everything else you need to know about tight end in Week 1:

Week 1 TE Preview

• 27% -- Both Kevin Stefanski and Drew Petzing have directed offenses that funneled 27% of targets to tight ends over the last three seasons. We'll be watching closely to see if Kyle Pitts and Sam LaPorta benefit from those schemes.
• 8.1 -- Isaiah Likely has averaged 8.1 yards per target over his career. If he is the number two target for Jaxson Dart, he'll be a must-start tight end in Fantasy Football.
• 9.1 -- Tucker Kraft is the only non-running back in the NFL to see at least 150 targets since 2023 and average more than nine yards after catch per reception.
• 106 -- Dalton Schultz saw 106 targets last year and has less target competition in 2026.
• 2.83 -- Dalton Kincaid led tight ends with 2.83 yards per route run in 2025. If he gets more snaps, he could finish top 10.
• 12.5 -- Colston Loveland averaged 12.5 PPR FPPG in the second half of the season and was much better than that in the playoffs.

My full set of Week 1 Fantasy football projections for every position are now available here. Find out which of my favorite plays are projected to score higher than consensus rankings and which don't live up to their draft hype, at least in Week 1. Projected stats for all starting tight ends are updated throughout the week so check back before you set your lineup for the latest information.