2026 Draft Class: TE Thread

Kenyon Sadiq is the clear cut #1, top 12-15 pick IMO.

The top 3 behind him on my board are as follows:

Michael Trigg, Baylor
Max Klare, Ohio State
Joe Royer, Cincinnati

If any of these guys somehow fall to the 4th, they'd be mega-steals IMO. I like Royer a lot. Seems to fit a lot of what we do.

Can someone explain to me what your vision is for the roster after drafting your TE? Like how many TEs are you going to roster, who you are going to cut, etc. I imagine the answers could be very different depending on what time of player you bring in.

Originally posted by scooterhd:
Can someone explain to me what your vision is for the roster after drafting your TE? Like how many TEs are you going to roster, who you are going to cut, etc. I imagine the answers could be very different depending on what time of player you bring in.

Luke Farrell and Brayden Willis out, Oscar Delp and Carsen Ryan in.

Originally posted by adrianlesnar:

Originally posted by scooterhd:
Can someone explain to me what your vision is for the roster after drafting your TE? Like how many TEs are you going to roster, who you are going to cut, etc. I imagine the answers could be very different depending on what time of player you bring in.

Luke Farrell and Brayden Willis out, Oscar Delp and Carsen Ryan in.

The 49ers typically only roster 3 TEs so Ryan is your guy bouncing back and forth between practice squad as needed, so that makes sense.

But cutting Farrell brings on 3.5 mil of dead cap this year, or 1 mil this year and 2.5 mil next year depending on the time of the cut. Thats not a ton of money, but with Kittle coming back from the achilles I just dont see them paying to get rid of a veteran. And the combo of Kittle, Tonges, Delp on game days puts Kittle in the position as THE blocker of the group. Doesnt it make more sense to have a blocking archetype next to Kittle and Tonges?

Originally posted by scooterhd:

Originally posted by adrianlesnar:

Originally posted by scooterhd:
Can someone explain to me what your vision is for the roster after drafting your TE? Like how many TEs are you going to roster, who you are going to cut, etc. I imagine the answers could be very different depending on what time of player you bring in.

Luke Farrell and Brayden Willis out, Oscar Delp and Carsen Ryan in.

The 49ers typically only roster 3 TEs so Ryan is your guy bouncing back and forth between practice squad as needed, so that makes sense.

But cutting Farrell brings on 3.5 mil of dead cap this year, or 1 mil this year and 2.5 mil next year depending on the time of the cut. Thats not a ton of money, but with Kittle coming back from the achilles I just dont see them paying to get rid of a veteran. And the combo of Kittle, Tonges, Delp on game days puts Kittle in the position as THE blocker of the group. Doesnt it make more sense to have a blocking archetype next to Kittle and Tonges?

OTC has Farell as an 864K cap hit with ~2.5m savings as a post June cut.

I also think Delp is vastly underrated as a blocker.

Tonges role will still be limited. Tho I personally think hes earned more playing time.

Originally posted by adrianlesnar:

Originally posted by scooterhd:

Originally posted by adrianlesnar:

Originally posted by scooterhd:
Can someone explain to me what your vision is for the roster after drafting your TE? Like how many TEs are you going to roster, who you are going to cut, etc. I imagine the answers could be very different depending on what time of player you bring in.

Luke Farrell and Brayden Willis out, Oscar Delp and Carsen Ryan in.

The 49ers typically only roster 3 TEs so Ryan is your guy bouncing back and forth between practice squad as needed, so that makes sense.

But cutting Farrell brings on 3.5 mil of dead cap this year, or 1 mil this year and 2.5 mil next year depending on the time of the cut. Thats not a ton of money, but with Kittle coming back from the achilles I just dont see them paying to get rid of a veteran. And the combo of Kittle, Tonges, Delp on game days puts Kittle in the position as THE blocker of the group. Doesnt it make more sense to have a blocking archetype next to Kittle and Tonges?

OTC has Farell as an 864K cap hit with ~2.5m savings as a post June cut.

I also think Delp is vastly underrated as a blocker.

Tonges role will still be limited. Tho I personally think hes earned more playing time.

I said 1 mil this year and 2.5 mil next year and was approximating. If he is a post June 1 cut, its 864k this year and 2.592 mil next year.

Do you think Delp would overtake Tonges on the depth chart?

Originally posted by scooterhd:
I said 1 mil this year and 2.5 mil next year and was approximating. If he is a post June 1 cut, its 864k this year and 2.592 mil next year.

Do you think Delp would overtake Tonges on the depth chart?

Im open to being wrong, but OTC has it at 864k each year. Id also argue dead cap doesn't matter when its a cap savings of 3x the amount. And yes, id expect Delp to over take Tonges, and to be the heir apparent to kittle

Originally posted by adrianlesnar:

Originally posted by scooterhd:
I said 1 mil this year and 2.5 mil next year and was approximating. If he is a post June 1 cut, its 864k this year and 2.592 mil next year.

Do you think Delp would overtake Tonges on the depth chart?

Im open to being wrong, but OTC has it at 864k each year. Id also argue dead cap doesn't matter when its a cap savings of 3x the amount. And yes, id expect Delp to over take Tonges, and to be the heir apparent to kittle

The remaining owed money becomes dead cap and gets applied over the next 2 years. In 2026 the 2026 signing bonus would count against the cap. And in 2027 the signing bonus for the next 3 years (864x3) would count against the 2027 cap.

I don't know how a rookie tight end fits on the final 53, but man, if they don't fix the TE blocking next season, running the ball will continue to be a problem because Tonges and Farrell cannot block for s**t.

I'm torn between Royer and Roush.

Royer is definitely the more exciting player. But I do recognize that less flashy TEs who can block well but still snag sone passes stay on the field and make an impact.

Roush seems like the more boring pick that might work out better. But hard to take boring over a guy like Royer…

Originally posted by TheFunkyChicken:

I'm torn between Royer and Roush.

Royer is definitely the more exciting player. But I do recognize that less flashy TEs who can block well but still snag sone passes stay on the field and make an impact.

Roush seems like the more boring pick that might work out better. But hard to take boring over a guy like Royer…

Roush would be the better blocker, but his hands are iffy. It's why I think he'll easily be available in R4 and beyond potentially.

Originally posted by Heroism:

"That player in this draft class was Oscar Delp from Georgia."

"There were times watching his tape, the player I thought of was Dallas Goedert coming out of South Dakota State."@GregCosell shares who he thinks is the most UNDERRATED tight end in this class: pic.twitter.com/ND9FxMuhgG

— Ross Tucker Podcast (@RossTuckerPod) April 2, 2026

Man all my favorite players are eventually becoming the media darlings this season. Not sure if a good thing

Roush. Make him only block in year one. Then see what he can do. Tonges can catch passes in the meantime.

Originally posted by jakedogg:
Roush. Make him only block in year one. Then see what he can do. Tonges can catch passes in the meantime.

And Farrell? Going to cut him?