Jared Zhang's 2026 NFL TE BIG BOARD

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My name is Jared Zhang, and I have been doing draft evaluations for the past few years. While I started off as a hobbyist, I have been blessed with the opportunity to write for a draft publication and intern for an agent during my scouting journey so far. Throughout the draft cycle, I will be dropping positional big boards as I get through initial watches and rechecks. This document will be updated throughout the cycle with updated grades, new players, and linked reports. The main updates will come after all declaration results come out about underclassman prospects. For positions where players may switch positions in the NFL (this is mainly talking about OL), I will give a brief note at the beginning of my rankings articles on where I have the player listed currently (Ex. in 2025 I would have listed on the top of my 2025 OT big board that I had Grey Zabel as an OG despite him being a college OT). GRADING With grading being different per evaluator, I am grading not based on where I believe players will go in the NFL, but more on what I believe they can be as an NFL player. I have what I look for in each grade for an WR listed below. For anyone who has any off-field/medical issues that can affect their draft position, they will have a * with a note explaining the issue (Ex. I would put a * down for Josh Simmons due to his patellar tendon issue and reported off-field concerns). This means that the grade given to the players is purely based on film evaluations, so there will be players whose grades will not match up with where I believe they should be drafted (Ex. a 5th year senior with an injury history and off-field issues could have listed a day two round film grade, but they should be selected in day three). Grades themselves are range estimations for my evaluations on prospects. Players can creep into the back end of a higher tier (Ex. an early day two grade can be a late day one player). Blue Chip - Prospects who are immediate high-level contributors on offense who provide rare positional athleticism to be a high-impact pass catcher. These players need to be big enough to be at least be capable move TEs while being elite positional athletes. The main advantage of having these players on the field is that they make defense struggle to match personnels as they cannot match size with size or speed with speed. These players should be Pro Bowl+ players and create unique blocking/receiving mismatches (Ex. Brock Bowers, Vernon Davis, Kyle Pitts) Day One - Prospects who can play in-line year one while being good positional athletes. These players should be good year-one ready pass catchers. The main difference between Day One and Blue Chip TEs are the difference in athletic tools that create size/speed matchup issues for defenses. These players should be perennial Pro Bowl players (Ex. T.J Hockenson, Colston Loveland, Tyler Warren) Early Day Two - Prospects with in-line bodies who are good pass catchers who need to improve as blockers, or high-end pure H-Back/Wing TE prospects who play primarily in 12 personnel. These players can be Pro Bowlers, but they generally cap out as quality TEs (Ex. Hunter Henry, Gerald Everett, Cole Kmet) Mid-to-Late Day Two - Prospects who are great blockers with athletic upside, prospects who have solid pass-catching abiltiy who have in-line TE potential once they gain weight, or prospects who are move TEs who could play in 11 personnel as a power slot player. These players lack the upside to be Pro Bowlers, but…