The tight end position is experiencing a huge moment right now across the NFL. The position has evolved so much through the years in terms of what teams prioritize, but there is a new emphasis from some of the most successful offenses in the league right now on utilizing 2TE or 3TE sets, making the position as valuable as we've ever seen it.
And the NFC has a lot of talent at the position entering the 2026 season.
As we get closer to the start of the preseason, we're going to be taking one last look at all position groups around the league and attempting to sort out the best talent in our NFL Power Rankings series. Although we just recently ranked the top 5 tight ends in the NFC, we're going to attempt to sort out the entire conference, ranking every team's starter at the position.
NFL Power Rankings: Every NFC team's top TE ranked for 2026
16. Tommy Tremble, Carolina Panthers
The Carolina Panthers didn't get a ton of production out of the tight end position last season, to say the least.
Tommy Tremble is a solid all-around player at the position, but this is a position group that has pretty consistently come into question for Carolina in recent years. The team remains confident in both Tremble and Ja'Tavion Sanders, and they are clearly banking on those guys ramping up their production in 2026.
Last season, Tremble caught just 27 passes for 249 yards and 2 touchdowns. Those numbers have been pretty common for him over the past three seasons.
15. Chig Okonkwo, Washington Commanders
After seeing his YAC ability diminish from 2023-24 in Tennessee, Chig Okonkwo stepped it up in 2025 for his contract year with the Titans.
He averaged a whopping 7.9 YAC/reception during his rookie year back in 2022, which dropped to 4.8 in both 2023 and 2024. That number jumped to 6.1 last season, and the Commanders might have struck some gold in free agency.
With veteran Zach Ertz out the door, the opportunity will be there for a relatively high volume of targets for Okonkwo in 2026. It's going to be fascinating to see how the arrival of veteran WR Stefon Diggs impacts Okonkwo's overall projection for this season. It wouldn't be surprising if it hurt him in terms of overall targets, but actually could help him with Diggs taking some attention off of him as well.
14. Cade Otton, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
The Buccaneers have given Cade Otton a relatively high volume of opportunities in recent years, including the second-most targets on the team last season. He played well enough in 2025 to earn a 3-year contract worth $30 million this offseason, including $20 million in guaranteed money.
That's a pretty nice payday for a player like Otton, who is a fairly reliable target in the passing game but not exactly the most dynamic in the NFC.
The good news for Otton is that being a good tight end is not all about catching passes. And while he's solid in the passing game, he's a reliable blocker for the Bucs as well. He's played at least 92 percent of the Bucs' snaps in each of the last three seasons, proving himself to be a trustworthy player who rarely comes off the field.
13. AJ Barner, Seattle Seahawks
There probably wasn't enough fanfare after AJ Barner caught 4 touchdowns during his rookie year with the Seahawks. He played 501 snaps as a rookie and even the Seahawks might not have known what they had, because they used a 2nd-round pick on Miami tight end Elijah Arroyo in last year's draft.
But it wasn't Arroyo who emerged in the passing game last season for the Super Bowl champs -- it was Barner.
Barner caught 52 passes for 519 yards with 6 touchdowns, already giving him 10 touchdowns in just two NFL seasons. He started all 17 games, played over 800 snaps, and has quickly proven to. be one of the top young tight ends in the game. He's coming off of a couple offseason procedures, but he should be expected to have another really strong year and continue ascending among NFC tight ends.
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