The 2025 Cincinnati Bengals were without Joe Burrow for a massive chunk of the season. With everyone healthy and raring to go, the band is back together and they hope to put up a ton of points. What can we expect from them in 2026 fantasy football? Let’s take a look at the 2026 Cincinnati Bengals’ fantasy football sleeper, undervalued, and overvalued players!
Sleeper: Jack Endries, Tight End (No ADP)
Nobody can accuse me of going too shallow on tight end here. The rookie is a traditional in-line tight end who goes out as far as the slot, and usually when he does so, it’s to block on a bubble screen or to just press the seam downfield. He is a great short-area release valve target, while also being able to stack linebackers with his speed, or overwhelm safeties with his size. Endries is a competent runner after the catch, but nobody will confuse him with George Kittle.
All in all, he goes in the long list of the NFL tight end middle class. All these guys are adept, smart route runners who can find the correct spot in zones and can do well enough against man coverage, all while having good enough hands to garner targets.
Endries starts the season in a crowded tight end room, led by Mike Gesicki and Erick All Jr. Neither of those guys is a very good blocker, and not a good overall tight end; they are more giant wide receivers than anything else. This is an opportunity for Endries to press to get on the field, as the only traditional tight end on the Bengals roster is Drew Sample, who is not a very great overall player, and one that Endries could pass, given the chance. The league is moving towards multiple tight end sets, which means that a Sample injury or ineffectiveness could get Endries on the field sooner rather than later.
It’s a long shot, but this is a very top-heavy team that doesn’t create a lot of opportunities. His profile is different than any other tight end on the team, meaning he could press for playing time this season, and enter The Blob.
Undervalued: Tee Higgins, Wide Receiver (WR16, Pick 37 OVR)
Tee Higgins is a #1 receiver; he just happens to play with one of the biggest alphas in the NFL with Ja’Marr Chase. He’s a dominant playmaker who just happens to lose targets to the dominant playmaker in the league. So, his per route run or team share stats don’t look too hot, but he ranked thirteenth in yards per target and yards per reception last season (min. 400 routes). Higgins was also sixteenth in yards after contact per reception, just 0.2 YACO/Rec behind Ja’Marr Chase. He also feasts on Ja’Marr Chase double teams, receiving the fourth-most end zone targets (12) last season, which came while Ja’Marr Chase took all the attention, leading to eleven touchdowns last year (six coming on end zone targets).
Higgins wasn’t just a touchdown merchant, either, as Chase taking the defense’s attention let Higgins beat up on lesser defensive backs, as he boasted the most contested catches and the third most hero catches (behind Puka Nacua and George Pickens).
All of this is to say that Tee Higgins is a monster, and he is easily a top-12 wide receiver by talent in the league. Pair that with the high-octane offense headed by Ja’Marr Chase stealing attention, and you can steal a stud receiver in Tee Higgins in the draft in the fourth round.
Overvalued: Joe Burrow, Quarterback (QB4, Pick 59 OVR)
Now, this isn’t to say that I don’t like Joe Burrow, or that I don’t think that Joe Burrow is a talented player; I just think that Joe Burrow is capped insofar as he doesn’t rush at all, and the Bengals’ offensive line isn’t strong enough for him to be a consistent top-four player without the rushing. Burrow’s finished as a top-four quarterback eight times in the last three seasons, which has a bit to do with missing nine games in 2023 and eight games in 2025, but he finished as a top-four quarterback only 23.5% of the time in the last three seasons. Compare that to Jayden Daniels, who has six top-four finishes in the last two seasons, or a 25% clip. I don’t think Burrow is a bad player, but he’s not a great bet in this range. I’d rather wait and get one of the gunslingers who are going to finish with 90% of Joe Burrow.
