How much will heavy-TE sets influence fantasy football in 2026?

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My next team writeups will be the Rams and Seahawks, and that will bring me to 16 team writeups in the Offseason Stealing Signals series as we reach the halfway point. While writing an introduction for that piece, I got into a lot more than just the Rams and Seahawks, and I wanted to spin that off into its own piece. I mentioned as I started projections this year that they were going to be more difficult, with the macro trends we’re watching. As I’m working through them, a lot of what I believe will happen this year is crystallizing. Here’s what I had for what was initially an introduction into the Rams and Seahawks, but gets at a lot more about the macro edges I think exist for 2026 fantasy football. As the 2025 season closed, most observers had these division rivals as the two best teams in the league. In the NFC Championship, they played what was billed “the real Super Bowl” for some, with the Seahawks holding on late after the Rams turned the ball over on downs inside the Seahawks’ 10-yard line with about 5 minutes left, after a 14-play, 84-yard drive wiped away 7 minutes and 24 seconds of the fourth quarter. L.A.’s inability to finish that drive meant a scoreless final quarter on both sides, as Seattle hung onto a 31-27 lead through three quarters, before moving onto a less competitive final game against the Patriots. The parallels between these two teams are many. Young head coaches thought of as innovate geniuses at the forefront of modern trends on either side of the ball. Adoption of heavier-TE formations on offense, and the concentration of targets that can come from that. No. 1 WRs with the type of massive statistical seasons you only get when you supercharge elite talent with an elite situation for production. And as far as projections, a nagging feeling that right when they seem predictable, these teams could find some new trend. What defines great coaching in the NFL — what I have always emphasized is the key, more than any other single trait — is an understanding of the necessity of evolution. You have to proactively iterate. You can’t wait until you are found out. You need to think two moves ahead, like a chess grandmaster. You have to have enough respect for your opponent to know they are doing everything in their power to stop your last efficiency hack, and have the next one locked and loaded for when they accomplish that. That’s what makes these two coaches probably my two favorite in the league. Last year, as the multiple-TE formations proved a challenge for most defenses, the Seahawks didn’t answer that with base; they already had their answer in Nick Emmanwori, a rookie they’d selected in the 2025 draft to be prepared for this shift, and Emmanwori allowed them to stay in nickel. Macdonald and co. had also fired Ryan Grubb after one year as coordinator to proactively install the type of offense he saw as the next move, and was already preparing his defense to counteract. The Rams were great in heavy personnel groups against every team except Seattle, where they were more average in the two crucial late-season meetings in Week 16 and the Conference Championship. One could argue Seattle’s ability against those packages — that minor shift in situational efficiency — tipped those two close games, both in Seattle, decided by a combined 5 points. Many would argue the Rams were the better team last season, and the results just went Seattle’s way. While Mike Macdonald is newer to all this, and a bit more reserved, making i…