Julian Hill

A fifth tight end on IR is not a roster decision, it is a storage decision, and Hill gives you nothing to store. He has missed all five weeks so far in 2026, sat out weeks 1 through 5 entirely, and landed on IR before week 6 of 2026 with no recent news suggesting he is close. The board ranks him below every tight end who is actually available, and he produces nothing while the designation stands.

Even when he was on a field, the profile was a blocker's profile. In 2025 he played 11 games and finished TE67 among 137 qualifying tight ends at 2.6 points a game, beating the position's weekly median just 3 times. His best week was 6.2 points, so he never cleared 15 once. New England targeted Stefon Diggs and Hunter Henry on 39% of throws between them last season, and Henry still sits first on this depth chart with Hill fifth behind three other names. A 3.3-yard average depth of target tells you where he lives: in the trenches, not in the scoring range. He had 3 red-zone touches all of 2025 and zero inside the ten.

We gave him 14 points for the whole season, which was only 4.7 a game across the 3 games we expected him to play, and he has already lost five of those weeks to the IR list. That low expectation was mostly about health before the season, and the season has confirmed it. Josh McDaniels kept the play calling, but there is no path from fifth on this chart to a usable week even if he returns. Use the roster spot on a tight end who can take the field in week 6 of 2026.