2025 Fantasy Football TE Rankings
By Kevin Hanson (@EDSFootball)
Updated: Tuesday, February 11th
With Super Bowl LIX now behind us, it's officially the offseason for all 32 NFL teams.
Player movement in free agency as well as the 2025 NFL Draft will impact these rankings, but this early look is the order in which I'd personally select players given what we currently know.
Note: These rankings are based on half-PPR scoring. We will soon add rankings for non-PPR and (full) PPR rankings as well.
More rankings: QBs | RBs | WRs | TEs | Top 150
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 offense the way Bowers is.
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).
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 six-plus targets in all nine games, 50-plus yards six times and scored a total of six touchdowns.
5. 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. Hockenson, who will be another year removed from his knee injury, tops the next tier of tight ends that are all close in my overall rankings.
6. Mark Andrews, Baltimore Ravens
The season ended terribly for Andrews (and the Ravens) in their playoff loss to the Buffalo Bills. From a fantasy perspective, however, Andrews was at his best down the stretch. A slow start included back-to-back goose eggs in Weeks 3 and 4, but he scored all 11 of his touchdowns over the final 13 regular-season games. In fact, the 11 touchdowns were a career and position high. 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.
7. David Njoku, Cleveland Browns
As Njoku notes, the Browns need a "healthy good quarterback." While that's true, Njoku has been way more productive without Deshaun Watson, whose season is in doubt after reinjuring his Achilles. Per StatMuse, Njoku has a 100/992/9 stat line in 17 games without Watson since 2023. With him, he has a modest 45/395/2 in 10 games over that stretch.
8. Travis Kelce, Kansas City Chiefs
Kelce is arguably the greatest tight end ever, but it's unclear whether he'll come back for another season in 2025. While he extended his streak of 90-catch seasons to seven, he set non-rookie lows in both yards (823) and touchdowns (3). 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 if he returns for another season.
9. Jonnu Smith, Miami Dolphins
Smith had only 78 yards through the first four games of the season, but he finished the year with 88 receptions for 884 yards and eight touchdowns on 111 targets, all of which ranked top four among tight ends. From Week 5 on, he led the Dolphins in all four receiving categories. You could argue that Smith should be top five in my rankings, and to be fair, Smith is in the same tier that starts with T.J. Hockenson (TE5) in my overall rankings.
10. Evan Engram, Jacksonville Jaguars
In 2023, Engram was a high-volume play who finished with 114/963/4 on 143 targets, leading all tight ends in both catches and targets. He played only nine games in his age-30 season as he finished with 47/365/1 on 64 targets. Engram set a career low with 7.8 Y/R in 2024, and his per-game numbers declined by 1.5 receptions, 16 yards, and 1.3 targets from 2023. The acension of Brian Thomas Jr. means that Engram won't dominate targets the way he did earlier in his Jacksonville tenure. His lack of touchdown production (25 career scores in 108 games) will limit his upside, especially if the volume dips going forward.
Rank | Player | Team |
---|---|---|
1 | Brock Bowers | Las Vegas Raiders |
2 | Trey McBride | Arizona Cardinals |
3 | George Kittle | San Francisco 49ers |
4 | Sam LaPorta | Detroit Lions |
5 | T.J. Hockenson | Minnesota Vikings |
6 | Mark Andrews | Baltimore Ravens |
7 | David Njoku | Cleveland Browns |
8 | Travis Kelce | Kansas City Chiefs |
9 | Jonnu Smith | Miami Dolphins |
10 | Evan Engram | Jacksonville Jaguars |
11 | Tyler Warren | Rookie |
12 | Tucker Kraft | Green Bay Packers |
13 | Colston Loveland | Rookie |
14 | Dalton Kincaid | Buffalo Bills |
15 | Jake Ferguson | Dallas Cowboys |
16 | Kyle Pitts | Atlanta Falcons |
17 | Dallas Goedert | Philadelphia Eagles |
18 | Pat Freiermuth | Pittsburgh Steelers |
19 | Hunter Henry | New England Patriots |
20 | Isaiah Likely | Baltimore Ravens |
21 | Cole Kmet | Chicago Bears |
22 | Cade Otton | Tampa Bay Buccaneers |
23 | Harold Fannin Jr. | Rookie |
24 | Dalton Schultz | Houston Texans |
25 | Chigoziem Okonkwo | Tennessee Titans |
26 | Zach Ertz | Washington Commanders |
27 | Noah Fant | Seattle Seahawks |
28 | Noah Gray | Kansas City Chiefs |
29 | Ja'Tavion Sanders | Carolina Panthers |
30 | Mike Gesicki | Cincinnati Bengals |