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Colby Parkinson sits atop the depth chart at tight end, with Terrance Ferguson behind him as the primary backup. Over the 2025 season he played in 15 games and started ten of them, holding down 59% of the offensive snaps for the year, which put him on the field for the majority of plays without making him a constant every-down presence. The target volume that came with that role was modest but purposeful: 56 targets across the season, with 20 of those coming in the red zone, a strong indicator that the offense views him as a scoring-area option rather than a possession piece stretching the field. He turned those looks into 43 receptions, a 76.8% catch rate that speaks to reliable hands on the throws he does get, even if the 408 receiving yards and 9.5 yards per reception show he is not a vertical threat. The eight receiving touchdowns are the headline number from 2025, and they came disproportionately from that red-zone work rather than long gains. Through the first game of 2026, his snap share jumped to 77%, well above his 2025 average, though the early-season target log is thin at two looks, one reception, and one red-zone target. That single-game snapshot is too small to draw firm conclusions about his role changing, but it is consistent with a team that trusts him on the field even in a small sample. The infrastructure around him remains the same: Matthew Stafford at quarterback, Kyren Williams as the primary running back, and Puka Nacua and Davante Adams occupying the top two wide receiver jobs. Parkinson's role, as constructed, is that of a red-zone safety valve within a passing offense with other established options ahead of him in the target pecking order.
The case for Colby Parkinson starts with the red zone. Twenty of his 56 targets in 2025 came inside the scoring area, and that concentration produced eight touchdowns, a rate that punches above what his overall target share would suggest. Tight ends who see that kind of red-zone trust tend to have some cushion in touchdown-driven scoring outcomes even when their yardage is unremarkable, and 408 yards on 43 catches confirms that yardage was never the engine of his value last season. His catch rate of 76.8% also suggests he is a low-risk target for Matthew Stafford, someone who converts the chances he is given rather than dropping or contesting them unnecessarily. The early-season jump to 77% of snaps in the 2026 opener, up from a 59% share across all of 2025, hints that the coaching staff may be leaning on him more heavily to start the year, and Terrance Ferguson, in his first season, is not yet established enough to challenge that share of the workload.The case against him is just as direct. His finish of 17th among tight ends in PPR scoring for 2025, with 129.8 total points and 8.7 per game, places him solidly in touchdown-dependent territory rather than among tight ends who can be trusted for a weekly point floor built on target volume. Take away the touchdowns and the profile is thin: 9.5 yards per reception is not a mark of a player who creates explosive plays, and 56 targets across a full season is not a large enough sample to expect consistency week to week. The 2026 opener, in isolation, was a step backward in production even as his snap share rose — two targets, one catch, six yards, and a finish of 69th among tight ends for that week. A red-zone role can evaporate quickly if the offense finds other options near the goal line, and with Davante Adams and Puka Nacua both drawing looks in that same offense, there is competition for those high-value opportunities that a tight end without a big target share cannot always win. Stafford has other proven weapons to turn to, which caps how much volume Parkinson can realistically expect even in a featured red-zone role. The honest read is that his 2025 output was propped up by touchdown rate as much as opportunity, and touchdown rate is the least stable part of any receiving stat line from one season to the next. Unless his target share grows meaningfully beyond the 56 he saw last year, the ceiling stays tied to how often the ball finds him near the goal line rather than how involved he is in the offense as a whole.
Treat Colby Parkinson as a streaming option at tight end rather than a locked-in starter. His value is concentrated in a red-zone role that can produce touchdowns in bursts but does not come with the target volume to guarantee a weekly floor — 129.8 PPR points across the 2025 season, finishing 17th at the position, tells that story plainly. In shallower leagues where tight end options are thin, he is a reasonable flex play in weeks where the offense is expected to work close to the goal line, given Matthew Stafford's tendency to look his way inside the twenty. In deeper or more competitive leagues, he is better used as a matchup-based streamer, someone to plug in during a bye week or when his touchdown equity looks live, rather than a set-and-forget starter. The 2026 opener's jump to 77% of the offensive snaps is worth monitoring; if that elevated snap share holds up over the next few games and begins translating into more targets alongside Puka Nacua and Davante Adams rather than instead of them, his weekly outlook improves. But a single game with two targets and one reception is not enough evidence to commit him to a lineup spot outright. Bench him against defenses that limit red-zone tight end production, and do not be afraid to leave him on the wire in shallower formats if a more consistent weekly option is available. The signal to watch is target share growth beyond the 56 he saw across all of 2025 — without that, his fantasy value will keep swinging on touchdown variance.
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Puka Nacua’s questionable status after missing the Rams’ final two practices appears to be the likeliest reason Colby Parkinson’s projection jumped, since Parkinson was specifically highlighted as a fantasy add if Nacua sits. The Athletic also noted Parkinson as a pass-catcher to consider with Jordan Whittington doubtful, pointing to a potential target boost for Parkinson.
Sep 20, 2:17 PM ET