Gunnar Helm

Gunnar Helm enters the 2026 fantasy football season as one of the more interesting late-round tight end targets because his path to playing time has opened up in Tennessee. With Chig Okonkwo now gone in free agency, multiple fantasy outlets project Helm as the Titans’ clear lead tight end, which gives him a realistic route to meaningful volume after a rookie season in which he caught 44 passes for 357 yards and two touchdowns.

The appeal is straightforward: tight end is still a shallow fantasy position, and Helm already showed he can earn targets efficiently. Fantasy Index noted that he converted 80% of his targets into catches as a rookie, and that kind of reliability matters when a player is trying to build a role in a new-look offense. FantasyPros’ early 2026 projection has him around 50 receptions, 425 receiving yards, and a little over three touchdowns, which is the kind of stat line that can make him a useful TE2 with weekly streaming value.

There are still real limits to his ceiling, though. Tennessee’s passing game was one of the least productive in the league in 2025, and even optimistic fantasy analysis frames Helm as a player whose value depends heavily on team context improving around him. He was also ruled out for the final game of his rookie season with a toe injury, so managers should keep an eye on offseason health reports, even though the current 2026 outlook does not indicate a major lingering concern.

For fantasy drafts, Helm makes sense as a patient, low-cost pick in redraft leagues and a buy-low hold in dynasty. The safest expectation is a workable tight end who can flirt with TE2 numbers if the Titans’ offense improves, while the best-case scenario is a breakout into the top 15 at the position if he truly becomes the featured tight end and gets more scoring opportunities. In short, Helm is not a locked-in star, but his combination of age, opportunity, and price makes him one of the sharper late-round tight end bets for 2026.

Updated 06/08/2026