2025 Fantasy Football TE Rankings
Updated: Friday, August 29th
As we head into Labor Day weekend and the busiest part of fantasy football draft season, I have updated my positional rankings and overall top 200 fantasy football cheat sheet.
Note: These rankings are based on half-PPR scoring.
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Scroll down for rankings only (no comments) in table format.
1. Brock Bowers, Las Vegas Raiders
Bowers led all tight ends in receptions (112), targets (153) and receiving yards (1,194) despite being a rookie with sub-par quarterback play. Only George Kittle scored more fantasy points on a per-game basis, and Bowers led the position in overall points. While it may be difficult to outproduce his rookie numbers, few, if any, tight ends are the focal point of their passing offense the way Bowers is. Even though the Raiders will run the ball more often in 2025, Ashton Jeanty's presence will benefit the pass catchers indirectly by helping to sustain longer drives and Geno Smith will make the passing attack more efficient.
2. Trey McBride, Arizona Cardinals
The good news is that McBride smashed previous career highs in targets (147), receptions (111) and receiving yards (1,146). Among all players (wide receivers included), he finished eighth, fourth, and 11th, respectively, in those categories. The bad news is that he had only two touchdowns and has a total of six through three NFL seasons. If there's a glimmer of hope, McBride finished top three in TE targets from inside the 20 (21, T-2nd), 15 (16, T-2nd), 10 (12, 1st) and 5 (seven, T-1st).
Yes, Brock Bowers deserves to be TE1 in fantasy drafts, but it's a 1A/1B (or 1A/1A) situation with Bowers and McBride. Even though I have Bowers ranked ahead of McBride, the former Colorado State tight end may offer a little more value nearly a round later.
3. George Kittle, San Francisco 49ers
Kittle finished 2024 with 78 receptions for 1,106 yards and eight touchdowns, all of which rank either second or third in his career. Injuries to Brandon Aiyuk and Christian McCaffrey led to greater consistency from Kittle — 40-plus receiving yards in 13 of 15 games played. Only Bowers had more (14 of 17 games). While Kittle always finishes the year with excellent overall numbers, previous seasons featured more boom-or-bust weeks. For example, his number of 40-yard games were considerably lower in previous seasons — 10 in 2023, six in 2022, and eight in 2021. Among tight ends, Kittle has either led or shared in the lead in PFF's yards per route run metric in all but one season (2022) from 2018 to 2024.
LaPorta's numbers dropped across the board, but he was much better in the second half of the 2024 season than he was in the first half. In his first eight games, LaPorta was targeted six times only once, had just two games of 50-plus yards (and barely with 52 and 53 yards) and scored two touchdowns. In his final nine games (counting the playoffs), he had six-plus targets in all nine games, 50-plus yards six times and scored a total of six touchdowns.
5. David Njoku, Cleveland Browns
Even though Njoku averaged a career-low 7.9 yards per reception in 2024, he averaged career highs in targets (8.8) and receptions (5.8) and his 45.9 YPG were the second-most of his career. While the quarterback situation creates uncertainty (when will the Browns transition from Joe Flacco to the rookies?), Njoku is a clear top-two option in the passing game along with Jerry Jeudy.
6. Tucker Kraft, Green Bay Packers
While Luke Musgrave missed most of 2024, Kraft took a big step forward in his second season as he finished with 50 catches for 707 yards and seven touchdowns on 70 targets. Other than a one-target outing against Chicago in Week 11, Kraft had at least two catches in every other game last season. He had only four games with more than five targets, but he's been extremely efficient on his targets (14.1 Y/R and 10.1 Y/TGT). Kraft is one of my favorite tight end targets, and he could take another step forward in year three.
7. Travis Kelce, Kansas City Chiefs
Kelce extended his streak of 90-catch seasons to seven in 2024, but he set non-rookie lows in both yards (823) and touchdowns (three). He also set career lows in yards per reception (8.5) and target (6.2). Finishing as the TE6 (TE8 on a per-game basis) in his age-35 season, Kelce's ceiling is much lower than it was earlier in his career, but the targets (133, third-most among tight ends) should allow him to continue to perform as a mid-tier TE1 as he returns for another season. A six-game Rashee Rice suspension could lead to a stronger start than finish to Kelce's season, as he was much more productive after Rice sustained his season-ending 2024 injury.
8. T.J. Hockenson, Minnesota Vikings
Hockenson didn't make his season debut until Nov. 3rd, and he had some solid performances although he didn't catch his first touchdown until their playoff loss. Back in 2023, Hockenson finished with 95/960/5 on 127 targets although Justin Jefferson missed half of that season. Especially with Jordan Addison suspended to start the season, Hockenson should command an even larger target share against the Bears, Falcons and Bengals in Weeks 1-3, respectively.
9. Mark Andrews, Baltimore Ravens
The season ended terribly for Andrews (and the Ravens) with their playoff loss to the Buffalo Bills. From a fantasy perspective, however, Andrews was at his best down the stretch. His slow start included back-to-back goose eggs in Weeks 3 and 4, but he scored all 11 of his touchdowns over his final 13 regular-season games. In fact, his 11 touchdowns set a career high and led all tight ends in 2024. Andrews was the TE5 overall from Weeks 5-18 and sixth on a per-game basis if you include Taysom Hill, who appeared in only five games over that stretch.
10. Tyler Warren, Indianapolis Colts
Tight end is a position where rookies have historically struggled to make immediate impacts, but a pair of rookie tight ends — Sam LaPorta (2023) and Brock Bowers (2024) — have led the position in fantasy points in back-to-back seasons. Viewed by many as the most well-rounded tight end in this draft class, Warren's all-around skill set could outweigh the potential limitations of a mediocre offensive environment with subpar quarterback play. If you draft multiple tight ends, Warren is a back-end TE1 who could pay huge dividends.
11. Evan Engram, Denver Broncos
Engram missed eight games in 2024, but the veteran tight end has a combined 24.01% target share in his 26 games played over the past two seasons. There's no chance that he commands such a robust target share in his first season with the Broncos, but he should perform as a back-end TE1 and as the passing game's No. 2 option behind Courtland Sutton.
12. Colston Loveland, Chicago Bears
In a draft class with two elite tight ends, Loveland was viewed as a more talented pass catcher even by most who viewed Tyler Warren as a better all-around prospect. Ben Johnson has compared Loveland to Sam LaPorta, who led all tight ends in fantasy points as a rookie in 2023. A TE1 overall fantasy season shouldn't be expected from Loveland, but there is plenty of upside.
13. Dallas Goedert, Philadelphia Eagles
Subject to offeason trade rumors, Goedert is back for another season. The 30-year-old tight end has missed multiple games in five consecutive seasons. Over that five-year stretch, however, Goedert (4.2 catches and 50.7 yards per game) is one of only six active tight ends to average at least 50 YPG. An abundance of talented options in the offense caps his ceiling, but the narrow concentration of the team's targets keeps him in the (back-end) TE1 range when healthy.
14. Hunter Henry, New England Patriots
Excluding a missed 2018 season, Henry tied a career low in touchdowns (two) in 2024, but he set career highs in targets (97), receptions (66) and yards (674). Going into his age-31 season and with increased competition for targets, Henry's volume is likely to decline, but reduced target share should be counterbalanced by positive touchdown regression.
15. Jake Ferguson, Dallas Cowboys
Ferguson had three-plus catches in 11 of 14 games, but he was held to fewer than 25 scoreless yards in eight games last season as he set career lows in yards per target (5.7), yards per catch (8.4) and touchdowns (zero). He should enjoy some positive regression in the touchdown department, but the addition of George Pickens means his streak of finishing top two on the team in targets will end (barring injury) after two seasons.
16. Dalton Kincaid, Buffalo Bills
The breakout many had expected did not materialize in his sophomore campaign. Kincaid (PCL) missed multiple games in 2024 and his per-game numbers were down from his rookie season — 3.4 receptions (vs. 4.6 in 2023) and 34.5 yards (vs. 42.1). While his catch rate plummeted to 58.7% (from 80.2%), his average depth of target (ADOT) increased to 8.9 (from 7.0) and his Y/RR ticked upward to 1.55 (from 1.51), per PFF. Depending on his health (and Kincaid had recently missed some practice time with knee soreness), there is more upside than risk at his current ADP.
17. Kyle Pitts, Atlanta Falcons
Along with Mike Ditka (1961) and Brock Bowers (2024), Pitts is one of only three tight ends to exceed 1,000 yards in his rookie season. Although 2021 (Pitts' rookie season) seems like an eternity ago, Pitts won't turn 25 until October.
18. Zach Ertz, Washington Commanders
Ertz had 66 catches for 654 yards and seven touchdowns on 91 targets in his age-34 season as he finished 2024 as fantasy's TE8 (TE10 in PPG). Dan Quinn has previously talked up Ben Sinnott, their second-round pick in 2024. Sinnott should earn more playing time and targets than he did as a rookie, but Ertz has a chance to perform as a back-end TE1 for as long as his health cooperates.
19. Brenton Strange, Jacksonville Jaguars
With Evan Engram now in Denver, Strange is the clear TE1 in Jacksonville's offense. With Brian Thomas Jr. and Travis Hunter ahead of him in the target pecking order, however, Strange is a mid-tier TE2 in fantasy football for 2025.
20. Jonnu Smith, Pittsburgh Steelers
Smith finished last year with 88 receptions for 884 yards and eight touchdowns on 111 targets, all of which ranked top four among tight ends in 2024 and were career highs for the 29-year-old tight end. From Week 5 on, he led the Miami Dolphins in all four receiving categories. Traded to the Steelers this offseason, he's more likely to post numbers similar to his previous season with Arthur Smith (50/582/3 in 2023) than last year's Miami numbers.
Here are my top 35 fantasy tight ends (half-PPR scoring) for 2025: