Tight Ends Are Still Getting More Work

After Week 3, we asked whether tight ends were getting more of the passing game (read the first post). The answer was yes, and we left a few things to watch: whether the target share would hold, whether the touchdowns would come back down, and what would happen to teams splitting work between two tight ends.

Three more weeks of games are in. Here's where things stand.

Every comparison uses Weeks 1–6 of each season, so 2026 is measured against the same stretch of the calendar.

Target share held

Through six weeks, tight ends have drawn 23.7% of all targets. At this point in 2021 through 2025, that number never got above 22.6%.

The weeks since the first post have been even stronger. Looking at Weeks 4 through 6 by themselves, tight ends got 24.0% of targets. Week 5, at 24.7%, is now the highest single week in the six-year sample, and Weeks 3 and 4 are right behind it.

Week 6 came in a little lower at 23.1%. That's the first week this season where tight ends trailed the same week of 2025. One week doesn't make a trend, but we'll keep an eye on it.

For context, tight ends finished last season at 23.9% of targets. The early weeks usually run a point or two below where the season ends up, so 2026 is on pace to set a new high.

The touchdowns haven't cooled off yet

In the first post we said touchdown-heavy starts would probably come back down. So far they haven't. Tight ends have 32.2% of all receiving touchdowns through six weeks. In Weeks 4–6 alone it was 32.0%, nearly identical to the first three weeks. The previous high for this stretch was 27.1%.

The red zone explains a lot of it. Tight ends are getting 28.3% of red-zone targets and 32.3% of targets inside the 10. Both are six-year highs.

We're still not ready to call this the new normal. Touchdowns are the noisiest stat in fantasy, and six weeks isn't a big sample. But the red-zone usage behind those touchdowns has stayed steady, which makes it harder to wave off as luck.

More targets, less out of each one

This is the part that changed. After Week 3, points were running way ahead of targets. Tight end points per team game were up 27% over the 2021–25 average, while targets were up only 9%.

Weeks 4–6 flipped that around. Tight ends averaged 8.0 targets per team game, the most of any season in this stretch and 16% above the average. Points were up only 6%, which ranks third of the six seasons.

The difference is efficiency. Tight ends averaged 6.7 yards per target in Weeks 4–6, the lowest of the six seasons. The 72.6% catch rate we pointed to in the first post has also drifted back to normal. Teams are throwing to tight ends more often, but they're getting less out of each throw.

That shows up in the weekly scores, too. More tight ends are reaching double digits: 12 per week in Weeks 4–6, compared to about 9 in past seasons. What's missing is the ceiling. The weekly top 12 tight ends averaged 14.5 points in Weeks 4–6. That's a little above the 2021–25 average, but only third of the six seasons.

The top tight ends are getting more of it

After Week 3, the extra targets were spread across more players, and each team's top tight end was getting the usual 5.2 targets a game. That's changed. In Weeks 4–6, the top tight end on each team averaged 5.9 targets per game, the most of any of the six seasons. The previous high was 5.3.

Isaiah Likely is the clearest example. He had 5 targets and 2.3 points in Week 3. Since then he's had 12, 13 and 11 targets, and he now leads all tight ends with 89.8 half-PPR points.

The two-TE warning played out

In the first post, we used the Saints as an example of a team splitting work between two tight ends. Juwan Johnson had 19 targets, Noah Fant had 12, and they had six touchdowns between them.

Neither one has scored since. Fant has two targets total in Weeks 5 and 6. Johnson went from 8 targets in Week 4 to 5, then 2, and he didn't catch a pass in Week 6.

The Raiders show the same problem in a different way. Brock Bowers has been steady since his season debut in Week 3, but Michael Mayer's targets over the last three weeks have gone 10, 1, 9. He has 34 targets on the season, which is a real number, but you'd have had no idea which week the big games were coming.

What it means for your lineup

• The volume is real, and it's growing. Tight ends got more targets in Weeks 4–6 than in Weeks 1–3, and more than in any recent season. If your tight end is the clear top option on his team, that role is worth trusting.
• Don't count on the touchdowns falling off yet, but don't pay for them either. Red-zone usage is holding up. Still, a tight end whose points are mostly touchdowns is riskier than one who's getting there on catches and yards.
• Two-TE teams are still a trap. The Saints went from two useful tight ends to none in three weeks. If targets are split, plan on week-to-week swings.
• TE flex is starting to make sense. Tight ends are getting 6 or more targets in about 16 games a week lately, up from around 13 in past seasons. In leagues that allow a tight end in the flex, a second tight end with a steady role deserves a look.

Top tight ends so far

Half-PPR points through Week 6.