Welcome to the second installment of my preliminary rankings and tiers for each major position for fantasy. Today I’m hitting everyone’s least favorite position: Tight end. OK fine, some people like kicker even less. In most leagues, you must start a tight end, so you can’t just ignore it.
You can find all my preseason fantasy content, including my other rankings and tiers, here. I’ll update rankings in late August. Hopefully, these initial looks will help you to start thinking about player values
and draft strategies.
Before we get to the rankings, here are three observations on the TE position.
- As usual, TE is top-heavy. In the quarterback rankings column, I talked about how deep that position is with quality. Tight end is deep too, but with mediocrity. Yes, we’ve seen a nice influx of young talent in recent seasons and especially last season. Still, in all six seasons of this decade, no more than six tight ends have averaged more than 10 fantasy points per game (FPPG) in Half PPR scoring. Last season, only four TEs hit that number, while a dozen averaged between 8-10 FPPG. It’s easy to find a decent fantasy tight end who will score a handful of TDs and give you a few good spike weeks, mixed in with a lot of “3 for 32, 0 TD” games. Finding one who will help you win multiple weeks is much harder.
So, if you want to differentiate at this position, you’ll need to pay up for one of the top-tier players, or get lucky. Tight End is a “onesie” position – in the vast majority of leagues you only start one, and it’s not a position where you’re likely to flex. That pushes the top guys up the rankings even more, but trust me, there will be some waiver gems. There always are.
2. Rookie tight ends smashed in 2025 …Tight end has traditionally been a position where rookies have little value for fantasy. It’s a hard position to learn, for obvious reasons. Travis Kelce didn’t have his first 1,000 yard season until he was 27. Then along came Kyle Pitts in 2021, Sam LaPorta in 2023, Brock Bowers in 2024, and Tyler Warren, Colston Loveland, and Harold Fannin, Jr. in 2026. This year’s class won’t be like that, but maybe it’s time to retire the ironclad premise that tight ends can’t produce as rookies.
3. Can the old guys still bring it? Let’s visit the flip side. Travis Kelce is 36, and George Kittle, Mark Andrews, and Dallas Goedert will all be at least 31 when the season kicks off. The good news is that none of these players – any of whom could still turn in a Top-5 TE season this year – will be expensive this draft season.
I’ve organized the TEs into tiers, as I do at every position. You should do the same. To reiterate, everyone wants the best players, and a tiered approach allows fantasy managers to have a great view of (a) ranges of players who can be expected to have similar fantasy production, (b) where the drop-offs are between those ranges, and (c) how many players in a range remain available at any given time. Tiers really help when position runs come, and they facilitate more effective drafting, regardless of format.
My tight end rankings and tiers are for Half-Point PPR. If you play in a Tight-End Premium (TEP) league, the elite guys can climb into the first round of drafts, depending on the scoring. Season-long rankings shown are on a FPPG basis and exclude the final week of the season.
Tier I – The Studs
- Brock Bowers
- Trey McBride
Commentary: The funny thing about this tier is that both players are likely to see a QB change to a rookie at some point in the season. That should be a red flag, but a rookie QB’s best friend is a tight end who can get open and catch anything thrown his way, so I wouldn’t be too worried about that. These two are studs. You can rank them in any order and they’re a clear cut above the rest.
I put Bowers first because I like his situation a little better, with Klint Kubiak coming over from the Super Bowl champion Seahawks, an accurate and smart veteran QB to start the season, and a weak receiver room.
McBride set career highs in targets, catches, and yards while notching 11 TDs last season after scoring just six total in his first three campaigns. I’m not sure those stats are repeatable in an offense that added the No. 3 overall pick at running back and figures to be more balanced and less concentrated. Still, he averaged 15.2 FPPG last season, and the only other tight end to average more than that for a season this decade is Kelce, who did it twice.
Tier II – The TE1s
3. Tucker Kraft
4. Tyler Warren
5. Colston Loveland
6. Harold Fannin, Jr.
7. Kyle Pitts
8. Sam LaPorta
Commentary: There are some nice options here, but we’re talking about tight ends, so question marks abound. If you combined Warren’s from Weeks 1-8 (TE4) with Loveland from Weeks 9-17 (TE4), you’d have the TE2 for the season. The problem in both cases is that they were mostly unplayable for the other half of the season. Both should be more consistent in year two. Kraft was the TE2 on the season when he tore his ACL in Week 9, and he obviously carries some risk in his return. Pitts is the ultimate thirst trap, and while he went off down the stretch last season, much of it came in just one game (160+ yards and three TDs, for 40 fantasy points), skewing his season-long average big-time. Plus, will they get competent QB play (and from who)? Fannin also has QB concerns. LaPorta has disappointed (and struggled with injuries at times) since his incredible rookie year, but the opportunity is certainly there, in an excellent offense.
Tier III – The Upside Guys
9. Jake Ferguson
10. George Kittle
11. Travis Kelce
12. Mark Andrews
13. Isaiah Likely
14. Dallas Goedert
15. Dalton Kincaid
Commentary: This is an interesting tier of veteran, lower-end TE1s, and it carries good upside. In a 12-team league, you can let one of these players fall to you after you strike at other positions. A fully healthy Kittle would be ranked no lower than third, but when the season starts he’ll only be about nine months removed from surgery to repair a torn achilles, and he’ll be 33 in October.
Andrews is a player to watch. It feels like he’s been in Baltimore forever, but he’s only 30 (he’ll turn 31 in September), and with Isaiah Likely no longer on the team, and the receiver room still thin, don’t be surprised if he gets back to scoring double-digit TDs. Speaking of Likely, John Harbaugh clearly wanted him in New York, and he should have a real opportunity for career highs across the board and especially if Malik Nabers misses time to start the season. Kelce isn’t the Hall of Fame pass-catcher he once was, but he still finished with the fourth most total fantasy points among tight ends in 2025, albeit at just 9.5 FPPG.
Tier IV – Sleepers, Part I
16. Juwan Johnson
17. Brenton Strange
18. A.J. Barner
19. Dalton Schultz
20. Hunter Henry
21. Oronde Gadsden II
22. Chig Okonkwo
23. T.J. Hockenson
24. Kenyan Sadiq (R)
25. Gunnar Helm
Commentary: A lot of the players in this Tier won’t get drafted in 12-team leagues with standard benches, but there are some interesting options here if you want to take some dart throws. Most of these guys are “starters” on their NFL team and could see decent volume and plenty of red zone opportunities. At least one player from this tier will end up as a Top-10 TE. My favorites from this group (to surprise) are Barner, forgotten man Hockenson, and Okonkwo.
TIER V – Sleepers, Part II
26. Colby Parkinson
27. Pat Freiermuth
28. Greg Dulcich
29. Terrance Ferguson
30. Cade Otton
31. David Njoku
32. Jake Tonges
33. Evan Engram
34. Eli Stowers (R)
35. Mike Gesicki
36. Mason Taylor
37. Theo Johnson
Commentary: You won’t see these guys drafted in most standard-sized leagues. Still, pick a few that are intriguing to you and keep them on your waiver wire watch list. All have a path to being fantasy-relevant at some point this season. If Kittle isn’t ready to go Week 1, Tonges is a nice fill-in.
Keep it here for more fantasy content and draft prep pieces. Coming next – Running back rankings!
