Hunter Henry has been in fantasy football discussions for a decade now and is coming off a season that saw him record a career-high 768 receiving yards. The New England offensive environment is one we want to buy stock in, and with him catching 60+ passes in consecutive seasons in this system, Henry is at least on the back-end TE1 radar as your draft rounds out.
Should You Draft Hunter Henry in Fantasy Football?
I kind of think you should draft Henry in 2026. Or if not Henry, the idea of Henry.
If you’re spending up at the tight end position, you’re probably not reading this. You’re looking down the board. You want to look at Juwan Johnson, Isaiah Likely, Henry, and types like that. I don’t want to say that I don’t care which one of them I get. I think they’re all going to be productive, but Henry kind of profiles as the safest. I think Johnson and Likely specifically offer more upside, and that’s why I have them ranked higher.
But Henry scored at least 6 touchdowns in 2 of the past 3 seasons. He has a pretty clear role on this offense. They’re bringing in A.J. Brown, and that’s going to suck up a lot of the red-zone volume as well. It should. He’s one of the best in the game. After that, Romeo Doubs is going to score his touchdowns, but I’m not too sold on the rest of this receiving corps. Kayshon Boutte is out of town. There’s a path for Henry to at least be on the field.
If you want to bet cheap on Drake Maye, the MVP runner-up, this isn’t the worst of ideas. You’re also betting on an offense that should take a massive step forward as a whole. Bringing in Brown takes away some of the target equity you would expect for the tight end position. But you know what else it does? It puts him in scoring position, and that’s fine.
Henry could catch 50 balls this year. If 8 of them are in the end zone, that’s fine. That pays off his value. He’s hardly being drafted, outside the top 150 overall players. I think he works into that TE1 discussion.
Are you feeling great about him weekly? No. There are going to be some duds in there. But I prefer him over a Dallas Goedert if we’re talking veteran tight ends hanging on for dear life on good offenses. Henry is not a bad option if you’re waiting to address the tight end position. He’s not my preferred one, but if people snipe you on Johnson and Likely, I’ve got nothing wrong with Henry outside the top dozen rounds.
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Hunter Henry’s Week 1 Fantasy Outlook
The idea of being intrigued by Henry as a streaming option this season tracks, but I’m not interested in any capacity out of the gates in a tough matchup like this.
He’s caught 6+ touchdown passes in 3 of 5 seasons with the Pats, and his combination of frame/athleticism certainly suggests that he has a chance to make it 4 of 6. That said, the A.J. Brown acquisition could stunt any TE growth in a major way.
Last season, Henry was targeted on 29.3% of his red-zone routes, the second-highest mark of his career and a 5.8 percentage bump from his 2024 rate. If that regresses, the yardage floor (his next 70-catch or 800-yard season will be his first) is too low for Henry to be considered anything close to a weekly option.
Seattle allowed a league-low 6.0 yards per attempt in 2025. If you’re of the belief that Double-H can be impactful this season, I’d suggest you wait for an October run that includes games against the Raiders, Jets, Bears, and Dolphins in succession.
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Where Henry Ranks Among 2026 Tight Ends
- Jake Ferguson | DAL
- 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
Analysts Jason Katz and Kyle Soppe rank every tight end on PFN's 2026 PPR Consensus Board.
