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
Isaiah Likely NYG
I’m going right back to Isaiah Likely despite two disappointing fantasy performances in a row. Through three games, he’s caught 15 of 23 targets for 124 yards and two touchdowns, including 10 targets against the Rams and another five against Tennessee. Even during last week’s 2/13 performance, Likely ran a route on 84.6% of the Giants’ passing plays and commanded a 22.7% target share. The quarterback change to Jameis Winston has hurt the efficiency, but it hasn’t eliminated the opportunity, with Likely drawing 14 targets since Jaxson Dart went down.
Arizona gives Likely an opportunity to turn that volume back into production. The Cardinals have allowed the fifth-most yards per target and third-most fantasy points per opportunity to tight ends, making this a matchup I’m comfortable attacking. Likely ranks third among tight ends with 23 targets and continues to run routes at an elite rate for the position. He doesn’t need another two-touchdown performance to pay this off. If the target volume stays around five-to-eight opportunities, I like his chances of getting back into borderline TE1 territory in Week 4.
Darren Waller CAR
Darren Waller is becoming considerably easier to trust as Carolina continues expanding his role. He has eight catches for 84 yards over the past two games, including five receptions for 51 yards on eight targets against Cleveland last week. His season line is now 10 receptions for 112 yards and two touchdowns, with both scores coming in Week 2. More importantly, the eight targets last week are exactly the type of usage that gets my attention at tight end. I don’t need Waller to suddenly return to the massive target shares he commanded earlier in his career. If Carolina continues giving him a legitimate role in the middle of the field and near the goal line, there’s enough here for him to become a weekly fantasy option.
Detroit is also one of the best possible matchups to test whether this role is here to stay. The Lions have allowed tight ends to catch 29 passes for 351 yards and six touchdowns through three games, with the position scoring twice against them in every game. That matchup becomes especially appealing after Waller just commanded eight targets. Carolina’s receiving corps is also dealing with injuries, with Jalen Coker battling a quad issue and Xavier Legette missing last week with a knee injury, which could further consolidate opportunities if either remains limited or unavailable. There’s still some risk because Waller’s role is growing rather than completely established, but I’m comfortable taking that risk here. Another six-to-eight targets against a defense that has already surrendered six touchdowns to tight ends would put Waller in an excellent position for another productive week.
Brenton Strange JAX
Brenton Strange hasn’t done enough through three games for me to pretend this recommendation is based on dominant production. What I do like is that we finally saw the target volume move in the right direction last week. Strange drew five targets against New England and turned them into three receptions for 32 yards, giving us our first real indication that his role in this passing game could be expanding. He’s still competing with several legitimate receiving options for Trevor Lawrence’s attention, so I’m not expecting Strange to suddenly become a focal point of the offense. But at tight end, I don’t necessarily need that if we’re getting four-to-six opportunities in the right matchup.
And Cincinnati is exactly the type of matchup where I want to find out whether that Week 3 usage can carry over. The Bengals were one of the NFL’s most favorable matchups for fantasy tight ends last season, and the position remains one I’m comfortable attacking against this defense. This is different from Waller, where I’m becoming increasingly interested in the player and the expanding role independent of the opponent. Strange is much more of a matchup-based start, and I’m completely fine admitting that. Tight end gets thin quickly once we move beyond the obvious weekly starters, and I’d rather chase a player coming off a season-high five targets in a matchup I’m comfortable attacking than hope a similarly ranked option finds a touchdown in a more difficult spot. Strange is one of my preferred Week 4 streaming options.
Tight Ends to Sit
Dalton Schultz HOU
Dalton Schultz is probably the most uncomfortable tight end sit of this group because the season-long fantasy production looks considerably better than the role did last week. Schultz owns a 20.7% target share with 2.09 yards per route run and a 21% first-read share, but a massive portion of his production came during his Week 2 eruption with Nico Collins unavailable. Schultz saw 14 targets in that game and looked like a legitimate focal point of Houston’s passing offense. Last week was dramatically different. He caught all three of his targets for 30 yards, while his route participation fell to 64.5% after sitting at 74.6% during the Week 2 breakout. That’s a meaningful enough change for me to question whether we’re actually getting the role his season-long production suggests.
The frustrating part is that Dallas is actually a good matchup for tight ends, so this isn’t a matchup-based sit whatsoever. My concern is what happens to Schultz’s opportunity if Nico Collins returns. Collins returned to practice in a limited capacity Wednesday after missing the previous two games. Potentially adding Houston’s clear No. 1 receiver back into the target distribution, combined with Schultz’s reduced route participation last week, makes me considerably less comfortable chasing the Week 2 breakout. Schultz can absolutely punish this call because the matchup is favorable, but I’m betting against him immediately returning to double-digit targets once Houston’s receiving corps gets healthier. If I have another legitimate starting option, I’d rather sit Schultz until we see whether last week’s reduced role was temporary or the beginning of a more concerning trend.
Kyle Pitts ATL
At this point, I need Kyle Pitts to actually show me something before I’m willing to keep putting him into fantasy lineups. Through three games, Pitts has two receptions for 20 total yards. He was held without a catch in Week 1, caught one pass for 15 yards in Week 2, and followed that with one reception for five yards on two targets against Green Bay last week. Those aren’t numbers where I’m looking for reasons to remain patient simply because we know what Pitts is capable of athletically. Atlanta has Drake London and Bijan Robinson commanding touches, and Pitts simply hasn’t been a meaningful part of the passing offense. Until that changes, his name carries considerably more fantasy value than his actual 2026 role does.
What makes this especially telling is that New Orleans isn’t a matchup that would normally scare me away from using a tight end. There is absolutely a path where Pitts finally gets more involved and makes this recommendation look bad, but I’m still not chasing it. A favorable matchup only matters if the player is being given enough opportunities to exploit it, and we haven’t seen anything close to that through three games. I’d rather be a week late on the breakout than continue starting him based on what we think his role should eventually become. Until Atlanta starts actively involving him in the passing game, Pitts belongs on my bench.
Jake Ferguson DAL
Jake Ferguson’s fantasy production looks considerably better than the receiving yardage he’s actually generated through three weeks. He has nine catches for 72 yards and three touchdowns, meaning scoring has done a lot of the work in keeping him fantasy relevant. That doesn’t make the touchdowns meaningless, because goal-line involvement is extremely valuable at tight end, but it does make Ferguson more dependent on finding the end zone than I’d like from an automatic starter. He hasn’t exceeded 43 receiving yards in a game, so if the touchdown disappears, there hasn’t been enough volume or yardage underneath it to consistently protect his fantasy floor.
Houston is exactly the type of matchup where I’m less comfortable betting on another touchdown bailing out the receiving line. The Texans haven’t allowed a receiving touchdown to a tight end through three games, which creates a problem when so much of Ferguson’s early fantasy value has come from scoring. This isn’t me saying Houston completely eliminates the position or that Ferguson suddenly has no long-term value. My concern is simply what his fantasy line looks like if he doesn’t score his fourth touchdown in four games. Ferguson has only 72 receiving yards through three weeks, leaving him heavily reliant on touchdowns for usable fantasy production. I’d rather use a tight end with a clearer path to targets and yardage this week than depend on Ferguson finding the end zone again.
