Who Should I Start? Hunter Henry or Austin Hooper

Thursday, July 2, 9:50 AM

New England Patriots tight end Hunter Henry was the TE7 in half-PPR formats in 2025, and with one of the league's most efficient offenses from a season ago potentially taking another step forward, he projects as one of the most mispriced tight ends in 2026 drafts. Frequently going undrafted outside of deep best ball formats, Henry's current ADP is stuck at TE19, which would represent his lowest end-of-season finish since 2022. With the Patriots allowing Austin Hooper to depart in free agency, they signed blocking specialist Julian Hill to a three-year deal and spent a third-round pick on Notre Dame's Eli Raridon. Since then, Hill tore his ACL during organized team activities, and the rookie looked noticeably slender compared to the rest of the position group and could take time to develop the play strength needed to earn an every-down role in what projects to be one of the more physical offenses in the league. Head coach Mike Vrabel specifically pointed to tight end as a position where he'd like to find additional depth, but it's unlikely that anyone added to the roster at this point would pose a serious threat to Henry's role after he paced all New England pass catchers in 2025 with more than 1,000 snaps across the regular season and playoffs. A trusted big-body target for Drake Maye in both the middle of the field and the red zone, Henry should provide a usable weekly floor at a position where that is often enough for fantasy, but he also boasts multi-touchdown upside and is a player who should not be fully dismissed in the late rounds of 2026 drafts.