The Arizona Cardinals have arguably the best tight end in the NFL in Trey McBride. He was ranked No. 13 in the "NFL Top 100 Players of 2026," the player-voted player rankings.
ESPN put together a list of the projected top 100 players of 2026. Where does McBride rank?
He comes in at No. 26.
Even on a team with Marvin Harrison Jr. and Michael Wilson, it's not entirely inconceivable that McBride is the Cardinals' top receiving option. He spent the offseason refining his ability to read the defense and understand his spacing, which will only make the player with the most routes run in 2025 even more dangerous in space. Throughout training camp, McBride has put his receiving ability on display, a skill that will be amplified in new coach Mike LaFleur's
West Coast scheme. -- Josh Weinfuss
Signature stat: McBride's past two campaigns (126 receptions in 2025 and 111 receptions in 2024) rank first and fifth, respectively, among tight ends all time. He's the only tight end in NFL history with 100-plus receptions in back-to-back seasons.
No. 26 isn't a bad ranking. However, the weird thing are his projected stats. The projections say he will catch 149 passes for only 1,023 yards and five touchdowns. He has a career 10.0 yards per reception. Why would he suddenly drop to 6.9 yards, especially when head coach Mike LaFleur believes McBride could have more George Kittle-like production, and Kittle has a career 13.5-yard per-catch average.
What would be more reasonable for a projection for McBride, especially with Wilson and Harrison getting more targets, is 95 catches for 1,150 yards.
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This article originally appeared on Cards Wire: NFL rankings: Arizona Cardinals TE Trey McBride 26th in ESPN player rankings
