Brenton Strange was selected with the 61st overall pick in 2023, and that level of draft capital carries fantasy football hope with it. The Jags hardly used him as a rookie before giving him some love in 2024. Last season wasn’t off to a grand start before he missed over a month with an injury, but a strong finishing kick has him popping up on sleeper lists as a low-end TE1 for all of 2026.
Should You Draft Brenton Strange in Fantasy Football?
Everyone’s trying to find the next breakout tight end, the next sleeper to target in the later rounds, and Strange is a name that comes up often.
As of early September, Strange has an ADP of 160.6, but PFN is a little bit higher on him. PFN’s consensus analyst rank has him at 143. He’s the TE18, with a projected 8.32 points per game in 2026.
He missed 5 games in 2025 due to a quad injury. But in the 7 games he played after he returned from that injury, he scored 4 top-10 weekly finishes in fantasy football, and a fifth week saw him break the top 20 as well. He averaged 5 targets per game and had 9 receptions of 20-plus yards in that sample, and his 0.52 EPA per target ranked 7th among tight ends. He also averaged 5.4 yards after the catch per reception, a pretty strong number as well. Overall, that production, even in a limited sample, bodes well for the future.
The Jaguars’ extension of Strange, which places his average annual value (AAV) in the top 10 at his position, is a clear signal that they aim to keep him involved and get him more touches.
The 6.7% drop rate needs to be remedied, and the smaller catch radius from just 31-inch arms doesn’t really help his viability in catch-point situations. He only has 6 career touchdowns as well, on 91 career catches and 122 career targets. But 3 of those touchdowns came in the final 31 targets of the 2025 campaign. That’s a little Easter egg that may bode well again for the near-term future.
There’s lots of target competition in that Jacksonville offense, with Parker Washington, Jakobi Meyers, and Brian Thomas Jr. all looming large at wide receiver, as well as Travis Hunter in his situational role. At tight end, though, I still think Strange is the top receiving tight end on the roster by far, even though the Jaguars added a few guys in the draft.
Because of the target competition and the lower TD rate over the long term, I wouldn’t draft Strange too far above his ADP. But I would still be willing to roll the dice on him within the top 50, because he’s a target who has the trust of Trevor Lawrence and Liam Coen, and top-10 positional upside is absolutely there if the late-season TD bump we saw in 2025 extends into 2026.
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Brenton Strange’s Week 1 Fantasy Outlook
Analysis provided by PFN Analyst Kyle Soppe.
After a summer of arguing how to order these four receivers, will the tight end prove to be the right answer?
I’m not betting on it, but I’m not ruling it out after he caught a touchdown or earned 5+ targets in 6 of 7 games after missing over a month in the middle of the season.
I’m not aggressively ranking him to start the season because I think an entire offseason to scheme around this WR room will change how things look compared to what we saw down the stretch of 2025.Â
If you waited to address the position, Strange is certainly a name to keep an eye on as a 25-year-old with a safe role in a top-10 offense.
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Where Strange Ranks Among 2026 Tight Ends
- Dallas Goedert | PHI
- Travis Kelce | KC
- Mark Andrews | BAL
- Chig Okonkwo | WAS
- Hunter Henry | NE
- Brenton Strange | JAX
- Dalton Schultz | HOU
- AJ Barner | SEA
- Greg Dulcich | MIA
- Kenyon Sadiq | NYJ
- Terrance Ferguson | LAR
Know the position inside and out with every TE, ranked, on PFN's 2026 PPR Board.
