Renner's NFL Draft summer position rankings: Best TEs for 2026, including a former top recruit at the position
Athleticism is the theme of this group
By
Mike Renner
•
6 min read
Get ready for an athletic class of tight ends. While this class does not have size whatsoever -- seven of the 10 players below are under 250 pounds and the other three are barely scraping 250 -- it has a lot of high-end athletes who can get themselves open.
Because of that, there's a lot of potential, but many of them still need serious muscular development to end up as top-100 picks. If you need a receiving option at the tight end position, this class will have options.
Here are my top 10 tight end prospects (ordered from No. 1 to No. 10) ahead of the college football season.
Position rankings: EDGE • DT • LB • CB • S • IOL • OT • TE • RB • WR • QB
Note: ⭐️ represents each player's 247Sports star rating as a high school recruit
- Player type: Yards-after-catch weapon
- Room for improvement: Experience
- Early grade: Early Day 2
There's no shame in not being a starter when the man in front of you is a second-rounder. That being said, Kenyon Sadiq should easily clear former Oregon tight end Terrance Ferguson's draft slot this coming April. Sadiq has played a grand total of 440 snaps in his career but already has shown prototypical explosiveness and run-after-the-catch ability.
Even if he's on the smallish side by NFL standards, it did not show up much as a run-blocker. Sadiq's play strength was unique for a true sophomore and should only improve as his career progresses. A potential top-20 talent with development.
Throwback to @KenyonSadiq putting the 1st 2 TD on the board for the Ducks in the Big Ten Championship game a little more than a month ago.
— Ted Leroux (@TedontheDucks) January 9, 2025
Sadiq caught 24 passes in 2024 for 308 yards making him the 2nd leading receiver returning in '25, B1G things ahead for 18.🦆🔥 pic.twitter.com/kGdVEPOuy2
- Player type: All-around route-runner
- Room for improvement: Muscle mass
- Early grade: Early Day 2
Max Klare is the best pure chain-mover in the draft class. He's got a rangy 6-foot-5 frame that can pluck balls out of the air with ease, and he excels on the underneath route tree. I can envision him being a nightmare for linebackers to deal with on option routes at the next level because of his short-area quicks. Klare may not be a burner, but he has more than even speed to threaten the seam. In a class full of athletic projects, Klare is clean and NFL-ready.
I’m very intrigued by new Ohio State TE Max Klare. He’s a mismatch in space and he’s got some explosive movement to his game. Fantastic catch to attack instincts pic.twitter.com/1nFK1KPoXy
— Daniel Harms (@InHarmsWay19) August 11, 2025
- Player type: Yards-after-catch weapon
- Room for improvement: Inline blocking
- Early grade: Day 2
Justin Joly has unique flexibility in his lower half for a tight end. His ability to sink at the top of his routes and drive out of his breaks looks more like a wide receiver than a tight end. That same ability shows up making defenders miss after the catch. It's why he's broken 43 tackles on 117 receptions in his career.
Love the way N.C. State TE Justin Joly moves. Shifty at the top of routes with such strong hands at the catch point.
— Mike Renner (@mikerenner_) August 13, 2025
Came to college 215 pounds and now up over 250. Good chance he ends up a top-100 pick pic.twitter.com/QD7VPGsEl0
On top of that, Joly has consistently shown strong hands through contact. He's gone 23-for-31 in contested situations over the past two seasons, according to Pro Football Focus. And maybe the biggest reason why I'm buying stock in Joly is the transformation he's undergone in his four years in school. Joly went from a 215-pound freshman to now a 251-pound tight end (the heaviest listed tight end on this list) without losing the movement skills that make him unique.
- Player type: Seam runner
- Room for improvement: Play strength
- Early grade: Late Day 2
If you're wondering how a Wyoming tight end with 31 catches last year made this list, just watch him get off the line in the clips below:
Wyoming TE John Michael Gyllenborg (@jmikegyllenborg) is one of my early favorites for the 2026 NFL Draft.
— Bryan (@BGauvin23) May 13, 2025
He effortlessly attacks the second and third levels, and his ability to transition from pass-catcher to playmaker in the open field looks so natural.#RideForTheBrand… pic.twitter.com/I36p8XOCUc
If you didn't know his position, you'd swear that's a wide receiver. That's exactly what I want to see from a top two round-sort of tight end. While John Michael Gyllenborg only had 437 yards last season it's because a high-ankle sprain limited him to only 165 receiving snaps. Gyllenborg's 2.65 yards per route run figure was nearly identical to Colston Loveland's last year and was the fourth-best figure in the country. If he continues to get stronger, Gyllenborg could end up as a top-50 pick.
- Player type: Move tight end
- Room for improvement: Weight
- Early grade: Early Day 3
Eli Stowers is this class's version of a tight end in name only. There are heavier wide receivers in the league, and less than 25% of his snaps last season came inline. His speed, explosiveness and hands make him immensely intriguing, though, if his frame can fill out. He had 49 catches for 644 yards and five scores with only one drop in a breakout campaign for the Commodores last fall.
In @BruceFeldmanCFB's 'Freaks List' this week he highlighted Vanderbilt TE Eli Stowers
— Fran Duffy (@FDuffyNFL) August 6, 2025
Bruce had him with an 11-3 broad jump - that would be better than any TE drafted in the last decade!
Can see those explosive traits on tape 👇 #AnchorDown
LINK - https://t.co/qArSHfBTlY pic.twitter.com/dkcWyFQcyI
- Player type: All-around route-runner
- Room for improvement: Aggression in the run game
- Early Grade: Early Day 3
Marlin Klein had both Colston Loveland and the putrid Michigan passing offense working against his draft prospects last year, but from what limited footage we got of Klein in the passing game, his NFL potential was obvious. He's got a classic tight end frame with plus all-around athletic tools -- almost like a tuned-down version of his first-round teammate. I love how loose his hips are when coming back to the quarterback to present a target. On underneath routes, every split second matters, so being able to get your chest back to the quarterback in a hurry can often be the difference between a completion and a pass-breakup.
- Player type: Move tight end
- Room for improvement: Filling out frame
- Early grade: Early Day 3
Jack Endries has such easy natural receiving ability. He's a fluid route-runner who attacks the ball in the air with uncoachable confidence. It's why he was one of the most productive tight ends in the country last season with 56 catches for 623 yards. Unlike the undersized tight ends ahead of him on this list, though, Endries doesn't separate himself with high-level athleticism. That pretty much means he has to get his frame into the 245-plus-pound territory before NFL teams will see him as a viable starting option in the league.
- Player type: Inline tight end
- Room for Improvement: Getting past the linebacker level
- Early grade: Early Day 3
Joe Royer is the closest thing this top-10 list has to the NFL prototypical inline tight end. He was an option route machine in Cincinnati's offense this past fall hauling in 50 catches for 522 yards. That 10.4 yards per reception, though, is the second-lowest figure of any tight end on this list and a big reason why he falls to number eight here. He does not have the kind of speed or explosiveness to threaten down the field. In fact, Royer has only one deep reception in his five years of college so far. That's simply not the type of tight end I usually trend towards when projecting to the next level.
- Player type: H-Back
- Room for improvement: Run-blocking landmarks
- Early Grade: Day 3
Terrance Carter Jr. is one of the most productive returning tight ends in college football with 691 yards on 48 catches last year for Louisiana-Lafayette. Carter is like a jumbo running back at the tight end position, as he trailed only Harold Fannin Jr. and Tyler Warren with 18 broken tackles in 2024.
With Carter, it's going to be about how he develops physically. It remains to be seen if the 245 pounds he's listed at for Texas Tech this season is real and good weight compared to the 232 pounds we saw him listed at for Louisiana-Lafayette. The crazy thing is, Carter has more inline blocking experience than most on this list with over two-thirds of his snaps coming there the past two seasons. That just seems unlikely to be his future in the league.
- Player type: Seam-runner
- Room for improvement: Route-running nuance
- Early grade: Day 3
The former No. 1 tight end recruit in the class of 2022, Oscar Delp was supposed to be in the Colston Loveland/Tyler Warren mix last year after taking over for Brock Bowers. Unfortunately, that dream went south quickly. Delp sprained his ankle in the second game of the season, ceded his starting spot to Lawson Luckie and then suffered another minor injury later in the season. I still see a plus athlete with reliable hands who should be playing with a lot to prove after how last season went.
