Tight End Sleepers For 2026 Best Ball Drafts: Juwan Johnson Headlines Cheap Upside Shots

We know the stud tight ends.

Brock Bowers. Trey McBride. Colston Loveland.

Then comes the next tier featuring Tyler Warren, Tucker Kraft, Harold Fannin Jr., Sam LaPorta, George Kittle and Taylor Swift’s fiancé.

The problem is those guys aren’t exactly sleepers.

If you’re waiting on tight end in best ball drafts, you’re looking for something different. You’re searching for players who can dramatically outperform their ADP while still offering weekly TE1 upside.

You can wait a bit for Dalton Kincaid, Mark Andrews and Isaiah Likely in the middle rounds. I’ve already shared my thoughts on Hunter Henry.

When it comes to dart throws, there’s AJ Barner, Greg Dulcich, Pat Freiermuth or Terrance Ferguson.

But some real bargain opportunities are a class above ...

Three Late-Round Tight End Sleepers for 2026 Best Ball Drafts

Chig Okonkwo | WAS

ADP: TE18 (146.5)

Durable and consistent.

Two words that rarely get attached to sleeper candidates.

Yet Okonkwo has never missed a game in four NFL seasons while posting at least 450 yards every year and topping 50 catches in each of the last three campaigns.

For Tennessee.

Now he gets the biggest quarterback upgrade of his career.

After spending years catching passes from Ryan Tannehill, Will Levis, Mason Rudolph and the first-year version of Cam Ward, Okonkwo joins Jayden Daniels in Washington.

The Commanders’ offense understandably disappointed last season when Daniels missed 10 games, but we already saw what he’s capable of when Washington boasted one of the league’s most explosive attacks during his Offensive Rookie of the Year showcase.

Meanwhile, the Titans spent Okonkwo’s entire tenure operating near the bottom of the league offensively, checking in at 28th, 27th, 27th and 30th.

Imagine what he could do in a functional offense with a high-level QB.

Elevating Okonkwo’s situation, the primary pass-catching options are limited to an aging Terry McLaurin and rookie third-rounder Antonio Williams. With the heavily utilized Zach Ertz gone and Okonkwo taking over as the top tight end, there’s a realistic path for him to emerge as Daniels’ No. 2 target.

We can revisit the conversation if the Commanders add Brandon Aiyuk or Stefon Diggs, but for now, Okonkwo presents a very attractive proposition for someone being drafted as TE18.

Juwan Johnson | NO

ADP: TE20 (157.3)

Wait, we can draft one of last year’s top fantasy tight ends in the 14th round?

Sign me up.

Johnson quietly posted career-highs across the board in 2025, finishing with 77 receptions, 889 yards and three touchdowns while developing immediate chemistry with rookie quarterback Tyler Shough. The sure-handed veteran hauled in 75.5% of his targets, and the consistency was impressive.

Johnson produced nine top-12 fantasy weeks and closed the season particularly strong, seeing at least four targets in each of his final 11 games while averaging nearly 60 receiving yards and 4.6 catches per contest.

That’s not a fluke. It’s a role.

Chris Olave remains New Orleans’ No. 1 pass-catching option and first-round rookie Jordyn Tyson should earn meaningful targets as well.

After that? Things get murky.

Johnson has already established trust with Shough in a Kellen Moore-Doug Nussmeier offense that will continue prioritizing the passing game.

New addition Noah Fant could cut into Johnson’s workload, but the latter has already shown he can be a productive fantasy performer in this system.

At TE20, there are too many paths to success to ignore.

T.J. Hockenson | MIN

ADP: TE22 (165.2)

This is where I simply don’t understand the market.

A few years ago, Hockenson was routinely drafted among the first handful of tight ends off the board after flirting with 1,000 yards on roughly 130 targets in back-to-back seasons.

Now? He’s TE22.

Sure, the concerns are obvious.

A torn ACL and MCL derailed his momentum. Last season was arguably the least productive of Hockenson’s career. The explosiveness wasn’t the same.

But context matters.

Minnesota’s quarterback situation was a mess with J.J. McCarthy, Carson Wentz and Max Brosmer under center, and Hockenson spent much of the year working his way back from injury.

Both situations have changed.

Kyler Murray should immediately stabilize an offense that ranked near the bottom of the league in plays, time of possession and third-down conversion rate.

And Hockenson enters the season another year removed from surgery as the clear preferred tight end on the depth chart.

The competition for targets with Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison and Jauan Jennings around is unavoidable, but that’s already reflected in the price.

What isn’t accounted for is the possibility that Hockenson still possesses weekly TE1 upside.

With Murray at the helm, Minnesota’s offense should look more like the ninth-ranked scoring unit it was in 2024 than the 26th-place disaster it fielded last year.

During Murray’s healthy seasons with the Cardinals (2019-21, 2024), Arizona’s offense never slotted lower than 16th in scoring.

Players Mentioned in this Article

ChigOkonkwo
TEWAS
PPG
5.7
Proj
115.2
JuwanJohnson
TENO
PPG
8.3
Proj
113.4
T.J.Hockenson
TEMIN
PPG
5.8
Proj
104.2

Published Jun 25, 2026, 6:55 AM ET