Is Trey McBride the Rare TE Worth Trading Draft Capital For?

Yes, and last season's numbers back it up more than almost any other tight end in the league. Trey McBride set the NFL's single-season reception record at the position, made First-Team All-Pro, and still finished with a lower Dynasty Value Score than Brock Bowers and Sam LaPorta. That gap tells you exactly what our model is worried about — and it isn't McBride.

The quick answer

McBride scores a 9,226 Dynasty Value Score and projects for 215.3 half-PPR points in 2026, 12.7 per game. That projection sits well below his actual 2025 pace of 252.9 points, 14.9 per game — the biggest gap between recent production and forward-looking projection of any tight end near the top of the position. The reason isn't McBride. It's who's throwing him the ball in 2026.

What he actually did in 2025

McBride set the all-time single-season record for receptions by a tight end with 126 catches, adding 1,239 yards and a career-high 11 touchdowns. He earned his second straight Pro Bowl nod and First-Team All-Pro honors, becoming the first tight end in Cardinals franchise history to do so. On a team that finished 3-14, McBride was one of the only things that went right, and he did it as the clear focal point of Arizona's passing game.

The real story behind the lower projection

Kyler Murray is gone. Arizona released him in March, ending an era that included some of McBride's best statistical seasons. Heading into 2026, the Cardinals' quarterback room is genuinely unsettled — Jacoby Brissett and Gardner Minshew are the veteran options, with third-round rookie Carson Beck also in the mix. No starter has been named, and it may not be decided until close to the season.

That's the entire explanation for McBride's projection sitting below his 2025 pace. It has nothing to do with his role, his talent, or his usage — it's a direct reflection of real uncertainty at the position that gets him the ball. McBride himself has been diplomatic about it publicly, saying he'd be excited for “whoever” wins the job, and he's already spoken positively about Beck's early looks in camp. But diplomacy doesn't remove the uncertainty, and neither does our model pretend it isn't there.

The part of the situation that actually helps him

Arizona hired Mike LaFleur as head coach this offseason, straight from three years as the Los Angeles Rams' offensive coordinator, where his offenses ranked top-10 in yards, points, and red-zone efficiency every year he called plays. LaFleur's scheme leans on multiple-tight-end personnel groupings more than most offenses in the league — a real building block for McBride's target volume regardless of who's under center. New offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett brings his own track record of featuring pass-catching tight ends prominently in the passing game.

That's a genuinely useful signal layered on top of the quarterback uncertainty: the scheme around McBride is shifting toward more tight end usage, not less, even as the identity of his passer stays unresolved. Those two forces are pulling in opposite directions, which is exactly why his 2026 projection lands in a middle ground rather than a full discount.

Why his contract isn't the risk here

McBride signed a four-year extension in April 2025 that runs through the 2029 season, so there's no ambiguity about his long-term role in Arizona the way there was with several other backs and receivers who just got paid this offseason. Whatever uncertainty exists around McBride in 2026 is entirely about the quarterback competition, not his own standing with the team. That's a meaningfully different kind of risk than a contract situation — it resolves itself within a single season rather than lingering as a multi-year question.

Where he stacks up against the field

Bowers and LaPorta both sit above 9,550, with McBride next at 9,226 — a real gap, but a smaller one than his current-projection numbers alone would suggest. T.J. Hockenson, Mark Andrews, Tyler Warren, and Kyle Pitts round out the tier below him, none of whom matched his 2025 production. McBride is the rare case on this board where last year's actual finish outranks his forward-looking price — he was the TE1 in fantasy points last season, and he's currently valued third at the position.

That's the buy-low case in a sentence: no tight end in dynasty combines McBride's proven recent ceiling with a price this suppressed by a single, resolvable variable.

The bottom line

If you're holding McBride, last year's record-setting season plus a coaching change that favors his position both argue for patience, not a sale — especially with his own long-term status in Arizona already locked in. If you're targeting him in a trade, this is the window. Once the Cardinals name a starting quarterback and that uncertainty clears, McBride's price is more likely to rise back toward his actual 2025 production than sink further.

Model a trade for McBride on the Dynasty Trade Calculator — his current score already reflects the quarterback discount, which means the upside from here is real.