Fantasy football managers know that every lineup decision can make or break a week, and choosing the right players to start or sit is where championships are won. With the 2026 NFL season underway, matchups, stats, and trends are more important than ever. From favorable matchups and scoring trends to players you should avoid in tough spots, my weekly positional start and sit guide is built to give you an edge.
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Tight Ends to Start
Dallas Goedert PHI
Dallas Goedert is coming off one of the best fantasy seasons of his career, finishing as the TE6 in fantasy points per game while setting a career high with 11 receiving touchdowns. The touchdowns obviously carried a lot of his ceiling, but Goedert still commanded an 18.4% target share and saw 15 red-zone targets while finishing with 60 receptions for 591 yards. More importantly for Week 1, Goedert ended last season playing some of his best football. From Weeks 14-17, he caught 20 passes and scored four touchdowns, giving Jalen Hurts another dependable option alongside A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith. That stretch included a three-catch, 32-yard, one-touchdown performance against the same Washington defense he’ll see to open the season. I’m expecting touchdown regression over the course of 2026, but his role around the goal line remains one of the biggest reasons I’m comfortable starting him.
I’m going right back to this matchup in Week 1. Washington allowed the most yards per target and fantasy points per opportunity to tight ends last season, giving Goedert a favorable matchup to begin the year. He doesn’t need another 11-touchdown season to pay off this week; I just want a player with a stable role and a legitimate chance to score. Goedert checks both boxes as the clear TE1 in one of the league’s better offenses. Philadelphia should give him multiple opportunities in scoring territory, and that’s enough for me to have Goedert firmly in my starting lineup.
Juwan Johnson NO
Juwan Johnson quietly had a massive breakout last season, and I’m not sure his fantasy value has completely caught up to it. Johnson set career highs across the board with 77 receptions for 889 yards, finishing third among NFL tight ends in receiving yards and fifth in receptions. He also finished as the TE11 in fantasy points per game while ranking seventh among qualifying tight ends in receiving yards per game. The most encouraging part was what happened once Tyler Shough settled into the offense. Johnson closed the season with 245 receiving yards over his final three games, including consecutive performances of at least 75 yards to finish the year. That late-season connection matters entering 2026 because Shough is no longer fighting for the starting job. He has had an entire offseason to build on what we saw down the stretch, and Johnson already proved he can handle legitimate receiving volume in this offense.
Detroit isn’t an elite tight end matchup, but it doesn’t have to be. From Weeks 12-18 last season, the Lions were middle of the pack in both yards per target and fantasy points per opportunity allowed to tight ends after Kerby Joseph and Brian Branch got hurt. What interests me more is the potential game environment and New Orleans’ available targets. With Jordyn Tyson injured, Johnson has a clear opportunity to operate as one of Shough’s primary options behind Chris Olave. If Detroit’s offense pushes New Orleans into a more pass-heavy script, Johnson should have plenty of opportunities to build on last year’s breakout. After nearly 900 receiving yards in 2025, I’m not treating him like a fringe streaming option. Johnson belongs in starting lineups until his usage tells us otherwise.
Isaiah Likely NYG
I’m willing to throw most of Isaiah Likely’s 2025 season away. A preseason foot injury derailed his year before it really started, and now he finally gets the opportunity we’ve been waiting for after signing with the Giants. Go back to his last healthy season in 2024, and the upside was obvious. According to Fantasy Points Data, Likely ranked 10th in yards per route run and eighth in first downs per route run among 57 qualifying tight ends. The biggest difference now is opportunity. He’s no longer competing with Mark Andrews for routes and targets, and everything coming out of Giants camp has pointed toward Likely becoming a significant part of Jaxson Dart’s passing game. New York is also carrying only four wide receivers into Week 1, creating an opportunity for Likely to move around the formation and function as more of a receiving weapon than a traditional in-line tight end.
Dallas completely rebuilt portions of its defense this offseason, so I’m not blindly carrying over everything we saw in 2025. Still, from Weeks 12-18 the Cowboys allowed the fourth-most yards per target and fifth-most fantasy points per opportunity to tight ends. Malik Nabers is obviously going to command the largest share of this passing attack, but the No. 2 role behind him is much more interesting. Likely has already shown that he can be extremely efficient when given opportunities, and now we’re finally going to see what happens when he isn’t stuck behind another elite receiving tight end. Against a Dallas defense that struggled with the position last year, I’m willing to start Likely immediately rather than waiting for the breakout to happen first.
Tight Ends to Sit
Jake Ferguson DAL
Jake Ferguson is coming off a career year with 82 receptions on 102 targets for 600 yards and eight touchdowns, but the overall finish doesn’t tell the entire story. His fantasy production was boosted considerably by those eight scores while his efficiency remained mediocre. Ferguson averaged just 7.3 yards per reception, and only 30 of his 82 catches resulted in first downs. The biggest concern for me is what happened when Dallas actually had its entire passing attack available. Ferguson averaged only 7.3 fantasy points per game when CeeDee Lamb and George Pickens were both healthy last season. With those two on the field, Ferguson becomes the clear third option in an offense where both receivers are capable of commanding significant target volume. That’s a much different situation than simply looking at his TE finish from last season.
The Giants struggled against tight ends late last year, so this isn’t a matchup I’m trying to portray as particularly difficult. Ferguson even has touchdown upside after seeing 16 red-zone targets and scoring eight times last season. My issue is the weekly floor if that touchdown doesn’t come. He managed only one catch for five yards on two targets in his final meeting with New York, and his low yards-per-reception numbers leave him heavily dependent on volume or scoring opportunities. I’m not benching Ferguson for a random waiver-wire option, but with Lamb and Pickens healthy, I don’t think his 2025 finish accurately represents what we should expect on a weekly basis. If I have another legitimate starting option, I’m comfortable sitting Ferguson in Week 1.
Dalton Kincaid BUF
Dalton Kincaid might be the most difficult sit on this list because his efficiency when Buffalo actually used him was incredible. According to Fantasy Points Data, Kincaid ranked first among qualifying tight ends in targets per route run and yards per route run last season, producing 2.79 yards per route run. That’s elite receiving efficiency at a position where we’re constantly searching for players capable of earning targets and creating yardage. The problem was getting him onto the field enough to take advantage of it. Kincaid’s route participation was only 44.2%, ranking 39th at the position, and he finished with just 39 receptions on 49 targets for 571 yards across 12 games. When he ran a route, he looked like one of the most dangerous receiving tight ends in football. Buffalo simply didn’t give him enough routes for fantasy managers to consistently benefit from that efficiency.
That’s why this isn’t really a Houston matchup fade. It’s a usage fade. Kincaid can be extremely efficient again and still disappoint in fantasy if he’s only participating on around 45% of Buffalo’s passing routes. We also don’t know exactly how targets will be distributed in the Bills’ passing attack to begin the season, which makes projecting a sudden role expansion even more difficult. If Kincaid comes out in Week 1 and his route participation jumps into the 65-70% range, my evaluation changes immediately because the underlying receiving talent is already there. Until Buffalo actually shows us that change, though, I’d rather start a tight end whose route volume I can trust.
Tucker Kraft GB
Tucker Kraft was incredible before tearing his ACL in Week 9 last season. Through eight games, he was the TE1 in fantasy points per game while averaging 67 receiving yards and producing 2.71 yards per route run. He also established himself as one of the most dangerous tight ends in football with the ball in his hands, consistently creating additional yardage after the catch rather than relying exclusively on designed targets or touchdowns. Nothing about putting Kraft in the sit section is a criticism of the player. If he were entering Week 1 fully removed from the injury, there’s almost no chance he’d appear here. My concern is that we’re being asked to immediately project the same player and workload in his first regular-season action less than a year after suffering a torn ACL.
Kraft has said his goal is to play Week 1 without a pitch count, which is obviously encouraging, but I’m hesitant to assume he’ll immediately return to his pre-injury snap and route workload. Minnesota also isn’t an ideal opponent for finding out, allowing the eighth-fewest yards per target and 11th-fewest fantasy points per opportunity to tight ends last season. Brian Flores can create enough problems for a fully healthy offense, let alone a player making his first regular-season appearance after a major knee injury. Kraft could look completely normal and quickly return to being a weekly must-start. For Week 1, I’d rather give him one game to show me he’s back before putting him into my lineup.
