When preparing for fantasy football drafts, it’s a good idea to think about your rankings in tiers in order to map out both strategy and value. With training camp underway around the league and the NFL preseason rapidly approaching, it’s time to unveil our 2025 positional tiers, starting with tight ends. Look for the other positions in the days to come!
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2025 Fantasy Football Tight End (TE) Tiers
Tight Ends Tier 1
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Brock Bowers – LV |
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Trey McBride – ARI |
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George Kittle – SF |
The historical data on elite tight ends is clear: If we’re in an era of superstars—think the Gronk and Kelce heydays—elite tight end is the way to go. If we’re in a downswing of high-end talent—Kelce’s recent decline has put us here—it’s a bad time to draft the first tight ends off the board. Which year is this? I don’t know, but I’m willing to bet on the former. Brock Bowers just set the record for yards and fantasy points by a rookie tight end. He rewrote the history book for receptions by a rookie of any position (112). Trey McBride posted a nearly identical season to Bowers last year but scored just three touchdowns, muting his elite fantasy ceiling. Both players have the potential to be the league’s next perennial superstar at the position. George Kittle doesn’t fit cleanly into this tier, but he’s well ahead of the next group. The hope is that even if Kittle doesn’t record the same season-long numbers as Bowers or McBride, he can make up the difference in matchup-winning weeks. Only Travis Kelce has more 25-point performances than Kittle over the past five seasons.
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Tight Ends Tier 2
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Travis Kelce – KC |
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TJ Hockenson – MIN |
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Sam LaPorta – DET |
Players in Tier 2 are flirting with superstar status, but none of them are there yet, or at least not anymore. Sam LaPorta set the record for fantasy points by a rookie tight end before Bowers but took a step in the wrong direction in 2024. LaPorta was banged up for much of his sophomore season, playing a large part in his efficiency dipping from 1.8 yards per route to 1.6. T.J. Hockenson dealt with an injury issue of his own, namely a torn ACL in 2023 that kept him out of action until Week 9. He topped a 50 percent snap share for the first time in Week 12 and averaged 49 yards per game from then onward. That’s a TE1 pace with ease but doesn’t hold a candle to the first tier of players. Travis Kelce typifies the risk of Tier 2. Even as his efficiency cratered in his old age, he still finished 2024 as the TE6 overall. On the other hand, there’s no turning back time. His days as a top-three option are behind him. If he does take another step back, there won’t be much of a difference between him and guys drafted 50 picks later.
Tight Ends Tier 3
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Evan Engram – DEN |
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Mark Andrews – BAL |
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Tyler Warren – IND |
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David Njoku – CLE |
There’s still weekly ceiling in this group, but fantasy managers are understandably discounting these veterans’ ability to put it all together for an entire season. All three of the vets rank top-10 in 20-point fantasy games over the past three seasons and most of the other players on the list are drafted ahead of them. Mark Andrews still looked elite at times in 2024, though his role declined and that trend could continue if the Ravens scheme up more work for Isaiah Likely once he’s fully healthy. Evan Engram missed much of 2024 with a hamstring issue and was then cut. His underneath profile, however, looks like a match made in heaven for Bo Nix. David Njoku might be one of the league’s most talented tight ends. We’ll probably never know, given how snakebitten he has been by Cleveland’s awful quarterback play. Tyler Warren is the wild card here. He set the college football world on fire last year with 1,233 receiving yards, 218 rushing yards, and a combined 12 touchdowns. He would likely be in Tier 2 if his quarterbacks weren’t Daniel Jones and Anthony Richardson.
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Tight Ends Tier 4
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Dalton Kincaid – BUF |
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Jake Ferguson – DAL |
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Colston Loveland – CHI |
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Tucker Kraft – GB |
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Dallas Goedert – PHI |
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Isaiah Likely – BAL |
We’re officially in the zero floor territory. Four of the bottom five teams in pass attempts last year have a tight end in Tier 4. There are possibly three committee tight ends in the group, including two potential backups in Colston Loveland and Isaiah Likely. Jake Ferguson is the only player who doesn’t fit into one of those two groups and he is competing with one of the league’s best receiving duos for targets. There’s plenty of upside here with a pair of first-round picks in the mix and swaths of touchdowns to go around. Just don’t expect to start these players with confidence in Week 1. This especially goes for Likely as he comes back from surgery.
Tight Ends Tier 5
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Brenton Strange – JAX |
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Jonnu Smith – PIT |
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Kyle Pitts – ATL |
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Zach Ertz – WAS |
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Mike Gesicki – CIN |
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Hunter Henry – NE |
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Cade Otton – TB |
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Pat Freiermuth – PIT |
It’s starting to get ugly. These are your true TE2s, great for pairing with a player from one of the previous two tiers. Except for Strange, every player on this list finished 2025 as TE15 or better. That was, however, largely due to them staying healthy. Jonnu Smith was the only member of the group to average more than 10 PPR points per game. He has since been traded to maybe the league’s most run-heavy offense in Pittsburgh. He’s also competing with fellow Tier 4 member Pat Freiermuth for targets. Unlike much of the rest of this group, Strange is young, athletic (9.09 Relative Athletic Score), and has a clear path to a lion’s share of the routes.
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Tight Ends Tier 6
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Elijah Arroyo – SEA |
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Mason Taylor – NYJ |
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Dalton Schultz – HOU |
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Ja’Tavion Sanders – CAR |
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Juwan Johnson – NO |
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Chigoziem Okonkwo – TEN |
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Noah Gray – KC |
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Terrance Ferguson – LAR |
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Theo Johnson – NYG |
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Tyler Conklin – LAR |
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Cole Kmet – CHI |
This tier is reserved for Best Ball and TE Premium drafters. None of these players are sniffing a starting redraft lineup. The first and second-year players are the most fun clicks of the group. J’Tavion Sanders and Theo Johnson were both inefficient as rookies but tight end is a notoriously difficult position for making the college-to-pro transition. In a similar vein, Mason Taylor faces a tall order as the Jets’ likely Week 1 starter. On the other hand, he’s as cheap as starters get and there is some talent-based upside as a second-round rookie.
