Exiting the NFL Combine, we are digging into the 2026 fantasy rookie class for Dynasty rookie drafts, startups, and seasonal formats.
Even before the NFL Draft in April, rookies are available in Best Ball formats across all platforms.
That information gets applied to athletic models and layered alongside production profiles to shape each prospect's complete portfolio.
Let's look at the pre-draft profile for Vanderbilt TE Eli Stowers, including his strengths, weaknesses, and fantasy outlook for both redraft and Dynasty formats.
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Eli Stowers Pre-Draft Fantasy Profile
Rookie Age*: 23.4
*Age on 9/1/26
Stowers has taken a unique path to this point.
He opened his college career at Texas A&M as a quarterback.
After failing to get on the field for two seasons, he transferred to New Mexico State, where he lost out in a quarterback competition with Diego Pavia and converted to tight end six weeks into the 2023 season.
He ended up catching 35 passes for 366 yards and 2 touchdowns in his first taste of playing tight end.
Then, he and Pavia transferred together to Vanderbilt, where Stowers posted seasons of 49-638-5 and 62-769-4 while winning the John Mackey Award for the best tight end this past season.
Stowers has a lot of overlap with Kenyon Sadiq in terms of physical profile and usage, but he wins out as a more nuanced pass catcher than Sadiq is right now, resulting in stronger on-field production.
Stowers was targeted on 28.2% of his routes in 2025 (TE2 in this class) with a class-high 2.55 yards per route run.
He averaged 1.92 yards per team pass attempt, which was second in the class.
He led this class with 3.06 yards per route run against zone coverage.
He produced a first down or touchdown on a class-high 13.3% of his routes.
There was less manufactured for Stowers, as well.
Only 11.8% of his targets were at or behind the line of scrimmage (16th in this class).
Like Sadiq, Stowers has more of the profile of a pass catcher first than an all-around tight end.
He played 24.9% of his snaps in line (2nd-lowest rate from this class), playing 66.4% of his snaps from the slot and 8.4% out wide.
He is built nearly identically to Sadiq (6-foot-4 and 239 pounds), while he tested out amazingly at the NFL Combine.
Stowers ran a 4.51 40-yard dash (90th percentile) and posted a 45.5-inch vertical, breaking the position record minutes after Sadiq set it.
Stowers added an 11-foot-3 broad jump, which was also a new record for the position.
Despite overlapping Sadiq in many areas while being more productive on the field, Stowers is two years older and has more up in the air in terms of projected draft capital.
While Stowers faces some of the same positional limitations as Sadiq due to his physical profile, he lacks Sadiq's blocking ability at this stage.
Stowers was 19th in run-blocking grade at the position per Pro Football Focus last season, and it shows subjectively in his aggression in the run game.
Stowers has not been playing the position long.
The hope is that he will grow as a complete player, but he may not receive the front-end investment that Sadiq does to be pushed on the field early on.
I believe Stowers is potentially an arbitrage buy relative to Sadiq for NFL and fantasy purposes.
Based on the potential draft cost, I will likely end up with Stowers on more rosters, as well.
That said, Sadiq’s age and willingness as a blocker are factors between the two at face value.
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