CLE · TE
Harold Fannin Jr. Fantasy Outlook 2026: Cleveland's TE1 After a 108-Target Rookie Year
Fannin commanded 108 targets as a rookie—eighth all-time for a first-year tight end—and finished with 72 catches, 731 yards, and six touchdowns. With David Njoku gone, he enters year two as Cleveland's clear lead pass-catcher.
The rookie baseline, in real numbers
Harold Fannin Jr. finished his first season as the eighth tight end with 186.4 fantasy points across 16 games. He commanded 108 targets—eighth all-time for a first-year tight end—and converted them into 72 catches, 731 yards, and six touchdowns.
His 11.7 points per game was genuinely startable, but seven of his 16 games finished under 10 PPR points. One cleared 20. His ceiling week was 25.4 in Week 14 and his worst was 4.5 in Week 4. That is a TE2-with-TE1-weeks profile, which is exactly what you want from a rookie but not what you are paying for in the sixth round.
He commanded 108 targets as a rookie—eighth all-time for a first-year tight end—and the year-two leap depends on those targets being worth more, not on getting more of them.
What 108 targets as a rookie tight end means
Our board ranks him 70 overall with 172.0 implied PPR points, roughly 1 spots ahead of his 70.5 ADP. ESPN sits at 69. The sportsbooks have posted him at 71.5 receptions and 700 receiving yards with five touchdowns—slightly down from his rookie finish in every category except catches.
The market is betting the volume holds while efficiency ticks down, which means the year-two leap is not a statistical breakout. It is about the under-10 games becoming 12-to-14-point games, which happens when a tight end stops splitting targets and becomes the clear number one.
David Njoku is out of the picture. Fannin enters 2026 as Cleveland's lead pass-catcher in an offense that funneled 20% of targets his way as a rookie. The path to a top-five finish is not more volume—he already had eighth-most targets—it is the same volume being worth more.