McBride was the clear fantasy TE1 in 2025, outscoring second-place Kyle Pitts by 105.1 points in PPR formats. RB Christian McCaffrey's 45.8-point edge over Bijan Robinson was the only other gap of 20-plus fantasy points between the top two fantasy scorers at a position. Arizona's star tight end led his position across the board with 126 catches for 1,239 yards and 11 touchdowns on 169 targets. While most of those numbers represented modest improvements on his 2024 stats, McBride surged from three TDs up to 11, netting him an extra 48 fantasy points (2.8 per game) while easily leading TEs in red-zone targets (33). Ten of his 11 touchdowns came after Jacoby Brissett took over as Arizona's starting QB in Week 6, so McBride's lack of TDs before then -- eight through his first 54 NFL games -- may be a problem that's solved by Kyler Murray's departure. Brissett is expected to start out of the gate in 2026, and while the Cardinals should face plenty of deficits again, it'd be difficult to match last year's passing volume even if they hadn't drafted RB Jeremiyah Love. The good news for McBride's fantasy value is that he can afford to lose some of last year's volume and still be an elite TE1 for fantasy.