Who Should I Start? Travis Kelce or Evan Engram

Tuesday, February 24, 7:41 AM

Kansas City Chiefs general manager Brett Veach said on Tuesday at the NFL scouting combine that the team is hoping that impending free-agent tight end Travis Kelce returns for a 14th NFL season, according to Nate Taylor of ESPN. At the same time, Veach said the Chiefs are "prepared for either scenario" when discussing Kelce's future. The 36-year-old future Hall of Famer is contemplating retirement for the second straight offseason, but the general feeling is that he will return in 2026. Kelce was still plenty productive last year despite the Chiefs not making the playoffs for the first time in a decade. He finished as the TE4 in half-PPR scoring with 76 receptions on 108 targets for 851 yards and five touchdowns in 17 games played. If Kelce does come back for a 14th season, it will likely be in KC. Durability will continue to be a concern for Kelce near the end of his career, but if he's back next season, he should still be firmly on the TE1 radar in fantasy drafts.

Tuesday, February 17, 4:41 AM

Denver Broncos tight end Evan Engram had a frustrating 2025 season, failing to live up to preseason expectations. Engram signed with the Broncos after three years in Jacksonville. He had been a top-five fantasy tight end in two of his three years with the Jaguars, and the one exception was his injury-shortened 2024 campaign. Fantasy managers had high hopes for Engram in Denver, where he could have played the "joker" role in Sean Payton's offense. Instead, he was held to just 4.75 targets per contest, and he finished the year with just one touchdown. These subpar stats resulted in Engram ranking as the overall TE29 in PPR leagues, which was the lowest single-season mark of his career (minimum 10 games played). It doesn't seem like this year was a fluke, either. Engram truly just struggled to get on the field, playing fewer than 50% of the offensive snaps in 13 of his 16 contests. Barring a major scheme change this offseason, we can expect a similar pattern for Engram in 2026. He's a risky redraft option in next summer's drafts. Meanwhile, dynasty managers might want to trade Engram while they still can, capitalizing on any name value he has left.