Three TE Targets For 2026 Guillotine Leagues™: Pay Up for Colston Loveland?

Three TE Targets For 2026 Guillotine Leagues™: Pay Up for Colston Loveland?

Danny Cross offers up three tight ends to target in Guillotine Leagues™ to help you avoid getting chopped.

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Continuing our series on the best values for 2026 fantasy football, it's time to take a hard look at the best tight end targets for Guillotine Leagues™.

Tight end is one of the tougher positions to plan for in Guillotine Leagues™, where drafts are essentially a race to fill out the best Week 1 lineup. Let's take a look at three tight ends to consider at various price points depending on your early-round selections. 

Tight Ends to Target for 2026 Guillotine Leagues™

CHI_bears-logo.svgColston Loveland | TE | CHI8

  • ADP: 42.1 (TE3)

The Colston Loveland hype train has picked up so much offseason steam that only the incoming Luther Burden Express could possibly knock it off the rails. But with Burden sidelined for the rest of camp, it's worth revisiting the upside — especially early-season — of the Bears' explosive second-year tight end.

Loveland started slow as a rookie while coming off shoulder surgery. The 2025 NFL Draft's No. 10 overall pick didn't see much action through his first six games, with only 11 catches on 18 targets for 116 yards. But then came a visit to Cincinnati's atrocious defense (especially against tight ends), and Loveland broke out with 118 yards and two touchdowns. From Week 9 through the rest of the season, Loveland's 14.3 PPR points per game ranked fifth at the position. Then the 21-year-old went nuclear on the Packers in the Wild Card round with eight catches on 15(!) targets for 137 yards, cementing himself as an offseason dynasty riser.

Of course, the Bears have two quality wide receivers in the mix — Burden and third-year man Rome Odunze — but it might be Loveland who is the alpha in this high-powered offense. After breaking out against the Bengals with 29.8 PPR points, Loveland led all Bears pass-catchers with a 23% target share, 25% yards per route run, and a 71% route share, dusting the WRs in usage despite running fewer routes than either Odunze or DJ Moore.

PlayerTargets%Routes%TPRREZ Targets%PPR
C. Loveland (TE)23.0%71.0%25.0%16.0%14.5
R. Odunze (WR)19.0%83.0%18.0%32.0%7.2
L. Burden (WR)17.0%60.0%23.0%7.0%10.3
D. Moore (WR)15.0%84.0%15.0%27.0%11.5

Moore's departure opens up plenty of work for these three to gobble up — and all are intriguing heading into 2026. But Loveland is the enticing upside play for Guillotine Leagues™ with a palatable price tag in Round 4.

DET_lions-logo.svgSam LaPorta | TE | DET

  • 81.5 (TE7)

Sam LaPorta feels like a forgotten man in fantasy leagues, currently sitting as the TE7 behind a number of players with shorter track records on much lesser offenses.

LaPorta is coming off a serious back injury suffered in Week 10, but he is fully cleared and has been taking part in training camp. Before the injury, the 25-year-old had been his typical self, posting 11.3 PPR points per game (TE7) with an 82% route share and 18% target share.

Heading into his fourth season, fantasy managers are ignoring the fact that LaPorta was the overall TE1 in total fantasy points as a rookie in 2023 when he posted 14.1 PPR PPG (TE3). Maybe that's because he disappointed fantasy managers in Year 2 with a TE8 finish and just 10.9 PPG. Then the injury torpedoed fantasy managers' playoff pushes in 2025.

Still, this is a 25-year-old former No. 34 overall pick with a ton of production on his resume. Even if LaPorta's target shares remain in the 16%-18% range we saw over the past two seasons compared to the 21% he commanded as a rookie, he remains a clear-cut and reliable TE1 in one of the league's most explosive offenses. 

PHI_eagles-logo.svgDallas Goedert | TE | PHI

  • ADP: 118.5 (TE14)

Fading tight end in fantasy drafts is an American tradition, like apple pie and scaring dogs with fireworks. And the cleanest target on the board after every one of your Guillotine League opponents selects a TE is Eagles veteran Dallas Goedert.

Fresh off a TE7 finish, the 31-year-old returns to an Eagles offense that relied on him in the red zone last season, leading to a career-high 11 touchdowns. Goedert earned a respectable 19% target share on the season and saw 13% of the team's end-zone looks. That usage resulted in the second-most red-zone fantasy points scored at the position (67.7).

It's hard to ask for a repeat of the 12.3 PPR PPG (TE6) Goedert provided last season after the veteran ran insanely pure on touchdowns — his previous career high was 5 through seven seasons. But the retooling Eagles offense lost A.J. Brown, and rookie pass-catchers Makai Lemon and TE Eli Stowers are off to slow starts. Goedert returns to the same role that made him a massive value last season, and he should be a reliable contributor early in the 2026 season when Guillotine Leagues™ are at their most cut-throat.

Players Mentioned in this Article

  1. Colston Loveland
    ColstonLoveland
    TECHICHI
    PPG
    9.0
    Proj
    176.9
  2. Sam LaPorta
    SamLaPortaQ
    TEDETDET
    PPG
    9.7
    Proj
    140.4
  3. Dallas Goedert
    DallasGoedert
    TEPHIPHI
    PPG
    10.8
    Proj
    126.0
  4. Luther Burden
    LutherBurden
    WRCHICHI
    PPG
    6.7
    Proj
    192.4

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