Fantasy Football Rankings 2025: Tight end tiers

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• Brock Bowers delivered on high expectations in 2024: The generational tight end prospect did nothing to dissuade that notion as a rookie, and expectations for Year 2 are now even higher.
• Trey McBride’s potential for 2025 is as high as any player at the position: After a dominant Year 3, McBride has established himself as an elite fantasy option with sights set on the overall TE1 in 2025.
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Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes

Breaking fantasy football rankings down into tiers helps fantasy managers better understand what separates each group and how to value each player at the position for this coming season.

TIER 1: 1A and 1B

The top of the fantasy tight end market right now belongs to two young players who have established themselves as the new elite receiving options at the position coming out of 2024. Both players led their respective teams in all major receiving categories last season, and the margins between the two heading into 2025 are razor-thin.

Editor’s note: ADP Battle: Brock Bowers versus Trey McBride

Starting with Brock Bowers, who finished last season as the overall TE1, he exceeded all expectations as a rookie, even setting several rookie tight end records along the way. Heading into Year 2, those expectations are set as high as possible for Bowers, who is drafted as the TE1 more often than not, and anything short of that finish could be viewed as a disappointment. However, considering the elite 25.0% target rate on top of the talent as a “generational” tight end prospect, Bowers is fully capable of delivering on those expectations in Year 2, as his floor is high enough that there’s little risk investing in him in the second round of fantasy drafts.

Trey McBride offers just as much fantasy potential heading into 2025, though he comes at a slightly better value going near the end of Round 2 at the moment compared to Bowers at the top of the second. McBride comes out of 2024 with a position-leading 25.9% target rate and 2.14 yards per route run. McBride also earned 21 targets in the red zone (second-most among tight ends) yet came away with just two touchdowns on the year – a number bound to positively regress in a big way in 2025 and allow him to improve on his 15.0 points per game, which trailed Bowers by just a half-point per game.

TIER 2: TE1 overall contenders

Tier 2’s tight ends all have overall TE1 potential heading into this season because they all hold the potential to lead their respective teams in receiving production on any given week.

George Kittle was the position’s leader in fantasy points per game last season (16.6), though the San Francisco 49ers‘ expected leader at wide receiver, Brandon Aiyuk, missed more than half the year and Christian McCaffrey appeared in just four games. The target competition last year was not the norm for the 49ers. The expectation is that both players will be back healthy this season, though Kittle should continue to play a significant role in the offense while making the most of his opportunities, as he also led the position in yards per route run (2.62) last season, which he’s accomplished in six of the past seven regular seasons.

T.J. Hockenson is coming off a quiet season where he played just nine games coming off an ACL tear, so naturally, 2024 wasn’t his most productive season. However, Hockenson was still relatively efficient considering the situation, posting 11.1 yards per reception – the second-best mark of his career – and a 77.4 receiving grade, which was also the second-best mark of his career. Hockenson’s 1.52 yards per route run was also in line with his career average (1.59), which should offer optimism that with another year removed from his injury and a full season under his belt, he can get back to that top-five tight end territory that he was in 2022 and 2023.

Sam LaPorta wasn’t quite able to build on his elite rookie season, where he finished as the overall TE1 and set rookie records that would eventually be beaten by Brock Bowers the very next season. LaPorta ultimately finished as the PPR TE7 on a much lower target rate (17.3%) than his rookie year (23.3%). This ultimately played a big part in his fantasy finish, though it should be a number with room to grow in 2025. LaPorta dealt with some injury issues early in the season that may have affected his playing time and production, going from the TE21 from Weeks 1-7 to TE6 from Week 8-17 as he appeared to look more like the TE1 he was drafted to be.

TIER 3: The old guard meets the new guard

This third tier offers up all of the well-known fantasy contributors of the past and introduces both highly-drafted rookies to the mix because they have a chance to finish anywhere within this tier come season’s end.

Mark Andrews’ 2024 season was bookended by disaster, as he started the year with very little production through the first month of the season and then had the Baltimore Ravens‘ season end with a horrid drop on a two-point conversion attempt in the playoffs. However, everything that Andrews did in between keeps him as one of the best bets outside of the top-five to finish in that range, as he ranked as the PPR TE6 from Weeks 5-17, delivered a 90.6 receiving grade (second), earned 10 receiving touchdowns (first) and accumulated 2.22 yards per route run (third) over that span. As long as Andrews is on this Baltimore Ravens offense, he’s going to play a significant role, and while he’s getting older, he continues to play at a high level, which should provide encouragement for 2025.

Travis Kelce has finished as the overall TE1 seven times in his NFL career, including as recently as when he tied for that spot in 2023 with LaPorta. However, coming out of 2024, Kelce’s expectations should be more tempered, even though he finished as the overall TE5. He also set a new career low in PFF grade (71.7), receiving grade (72.2), touchdowns (four), yards per reception (9.1) and yards per route run (1.49). He also took a back seat as the team’s top receiving option behind Rashee Rice (when Rice was in the lineup), and it appears that Rice will be back this year. All signs point to another year of declining production for Kelce as he enters Year 12 of his NFL career and turns 36 years old, which is as expected, even for future Hall of Famers.

TIER 4: The best depth options

Outside of Dallas Goedert, this tier does not have any repeat top-12 fantasy performers at the position. Most are relatively new fantasy assets with arguably untapped potential.

Dalton Kincaid was one of the position’s most disappointing players last season as he dealt with injuries and slightly less involvement in the offense, going from 28.6 routes per game in 2023 to 21.2 routes per game in 2024. However, Kincaid’s target rate when he was out there increased greatly from 19.6% as a rookie to 25.7%, and his yards per route run also increased from 1.46 to 1.62 this past season. The injuries played a part in his lack of return in terms of fantasy production, though he also suffered from one of the worst catchable target rates (66%) in the league – after being at 88% in 2023. Considering the instability of catchable targets (highlighted here), if Kincaid can stay healthy and continue to be highly targeted with a return to his rookie norm for playing time, there’s plenty of room for him to improve as a fantasy option in 2025.

Brenton Strange qualifies as a newcomer to the offseason tight end rankings after serving admirably in Evan Engram‘s absence last season. With Engram off to Denver, Strange will be called upon to lead the way at the position for the Jacksonville Jaguars this upcoming season. Across seven games without Engram last year, Strange compiled enough fantasy production to rank as the TE14, which included four games as a top-12 weekly finisher for the position. Strange will have more target competition in a different Jaguars offense this season, though he holds potential to deliver as a solid depth option with the potential to fill in as a weekly starter throughout the year.

TIER 5: Viable fantasy fill-in starters

Chigoziem Okonkwo enters another season as the team’s clear top tight end option in the passing game, and while he’s yet to deliver consistent production in that role, the ADP price tag will often come outside the top-20 at his position, making him a fine value to consider late in drafts. Okonkwo had a stretch late last season, from Weeks 12-17, where he ranked as the PPR TE9 in fantasy production over that stretch. With the Tennessee Titans lacking a clear second wide receiver for rookie first overall pick Cameron Ward, Okonkwo has just as good a shot as any in the depths of this offense to emerge as fantasy-relevant in 2025. 

TIER 6: Deep league flyers

A number of the top rookie tight ends from the 2025 class make up this tier, currently serving as depth options with the potential to greatly improve their stock in Year 1. Terrance Ferguson earning second-round draft capital from the tight end-needy Los Angeles Rams could allow him to deliver consistent fantasy production, as he offers a solid receiving profile coming out of college, which should prove beneficial in an above-average passing offense.

Both Mason Taylor and Elijah Arroyo also come out of the 2025 NFL Draft with second-round capital to their names, though they don’t offer encouraging receiving profiles to suggest they’ll hit the ground running at the next level. On thinner depth charts, it’s certainly possible that they become relevant, but they shouldn’t likely be valued as anything more than TE3-types in 2025 drafts at this point.

TIER 7: The deepest of depth options

Taysom Hill suffered a torn ACL in Week 13 of last season, which makes for a difficult timeline to get back in time to provide much fantasy value in 2025. Hill’s role in the New Orleans Saints offense has often led to fantasy relevance due to his versatility and involvement on a weekly basis, as he’s also being drafted as the TE36 at the moment. Unfortunately, that price might still be too rich, as there’s also a risk that the New Orleans Saints move on from the soon-to-be 35-year-old athlete, putting his 2025 season at more risk.

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