Free agency reshapes the NFL landscape in massive ways from year to year, and it also has a major impact on how fantasy football picks are valued. Even though player movement is a month away from kicking off, we'll take a look at all of the noteworthy impending free agents through the lens of potential fantasy football value.
Note: More free agents will become available as teams look to clear salaries and the 2026 NFL Draft makes players expendable. Only fantasy-relevant names are included, and this list is subject to change as players re-sign and teams use tags to retain them. All free-agent data comes from Spotrac.
Ranking Fantasy Football's Prominent Free-Agent TEs in 2026
This year's crop of tight ends poised to hit free agency gives us a little bit of everything, from a surefire Hall of Famer to a QB/RB/TE hybrid.
Among the most polarizing names, Kyle Pitts is a former top-10 pick who broke out as a rookie in 2021 and then waited until his fifth season to again produce anything resembling a starter-worthy line. How that will that translate to a new team, quarterback, and/or offense depends on whether Atlanta opts to proceed with a potential tagging situation.
Veteran David Njoku likes Cleveland and certainly could return, but the way Harold Fannin Jr. played as a rookie makes him expendable. The Baltimore Ravens may lose Isaiah Likely if another franchise views him as a starter or is simply willing to pay more than the Ravens can offer. The rest of the positional list largely includes a mixture of unrealized potential and capable veterans in their waning years.
One has to assume it's either to retire or return to Kansas City for Travis Kelce, and veteran Zach Ertz (knee) may be forced to return after suffering a second ACL tear in four years, this one at the age of 35.
As for the restricted free agents, San Francisco 49ers' Jake Tonges has shown enough that we can expect the team will retain him with George Kittle coming off a late-season Achilles tear.