Which tight ends are going to break out in 2025? Are there some sleepers flying too far under the radar? With the group below, the goal is simple: identify them. The following TEs are all outside the Top-12 at the position in FantasyPros current consensus ADP. However, each has a chance, no matter how small or difficult to see, to finish the season inside the Top-5.
Fantasy Football TE2s with Top-5 Potential
Kyle Pitts Sr. (TE – ATL): ADP 133 / TE16
Okay, okay, so Pitts has never really lived up to his No. 4 overall pick status. He may never. Leave that aside.
Which tight ends are going to break out in 2025? Are there some sleepers flying too far under the radar? With the group below, the goal is simple: identify them. The following TEs are all outside the Top-12 at the position in FantasyPros current consensus ADP. However, each has a chance, no matter how small or difficult to see, to finish the season inside the Top-5.
Fantasy Football TE2s with Top-5 Potential
Kyle Pitts Sr. (TE – ATL): ADP 133 / TE16
Okay, okay, so Pitts has never really lived up to his No. 4 overall pick status. He may never. Leave that aside.
As a rookie in 2021, Pitts finished as TE7 in half-point PPR format. With now-retired veteran Matt Ryan at QB for the Falcons, Pitts hauled in 68 passes for 1,026 yards. He only managed to find the endzone once that season, but it seemed Pitts was going to be a fantasy stalwart at the position for years to come.
Unfortunately, an injury cost Pitts seven games in 2022. Holding him back even more, the Falcons have been unable to settle or find consistent play at the QB spot for the last three seasons. That began to change when Michael Penix Jr. was given the reins over the final three weeks of last season.
OMG KYLE PITTS TD!!!
????: #ATLvsWAS on NBC/Peacock
????: Stream on #NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/8sE8kkub9Y— NFL (@NFL) December 30, 2024
Pitts could be one of the top sleepers on the board regardless of position with Penix flinging the football around for the Falcons. The second-year QB is poised for a breakout season and Pitts should be a prime beneficiary. The former Florida Gator has the talent to rank among the top handful of TEs in the league. As long as he remains healthy, Pitts should significantly outproduce his numbers from the last two years: 50 rec., 634.5 yards, and 3.5 touchdowns per season.
Hunter Henry (TE – NE): ADP 155.7 / TE18
Touchdowns are crucial at the tight-end position. Okay, they are at every position, but even more so with tight ends. It’s simply an issue of volume. Tight ends, with a couple of exceptions, just do not get the same amount of volume in their respective offenses as running backs and wide receivers, typically making them touchdown dependent.
Case in point, Henry actually had 11 more receptions last season than Ravens’ tight end Mark Andrews and edged him out by a single receiving yard. Yet, Andrews finished as TE5 in half-point PPR format while Henry came in at TE13. The former scored 11 touchdowns. The latter came up with two.
Patriots QB Drake Maye should continue to progress in year two. Henry was the team’s top receiver in 2024, and though that likely won’t repeat, he is an integral target for Maye. Turn just a handful more of those catches into scores, and Henry will become an amazing value.
Brenton Strange (TE – JAX): ADP 187.3 / TE22
Season three in the NFL is often a big one for tight ends. Strange is entering his, and the job in Jacksonville is his with veteran Evan Engram out of the picture.
#Jaguars scrimmage today. Should be a lovely practice. Here’s TE Brenton Strange doing what he’s done all camp: pic.twitter.com/IX3ebyTDZ1
— Demetrius Harvey (@Demetrius82) August 14, 2025
Strange began to show some of his potential last season. The second-round pick out of Penn State played in all 17 games for the Jaguars, starting 10 of them. He finished with 40 grabs for 411 yards, twice finding the endzone. Strange eclipsed 50 yards four times and hauled in at least four passes on four different occasions as well.
Quarterback Trevor Lawrence has always utilized his TEs. Around health issues in 2024, he averaged five completions per game to his tight ends. On top of that, with Lawrence at QB, Engram had back-to-back top-five finishes at the position in 2022 and 2023. Strange should take another big step, even with Brian Thomas Jr. and Travis Hunter likely to absorb a ton of targets.
Darren Waller (TE – MIA): ADP 217 / TE28
Out of retirement and into the fire, Waller is ready to roll again. After sitting out the 2024 season, the towering TE was traded from the Giants to the Dolphins in early July. He began practicing with the pass-happy Miami offense recently, stepping into a role that was incredibly productive last season.
Jonnu Smith, now in Pittsburgh, finished as fantasy TE4 as a part of the Dolphins offense last season, grabbing 88 passes for 884 yards and four scores. It may be a bit much to ask Waller to play all 17 games, particularly at a 55% snap share as Smith did. Still, when he’s on the field, the one-time Pro Bowler has big upside with the right coach and scheme to take advantage of his skillset.
It seems highly unlikely that Waller turns back into the tight end that caught nearly 200 passes while eclipsing 1,100 yards in both 2019 and 2020. However, if he becomes a go-to weapon in the red zone for QB Tua Tagovailoa, Waller could possibly sneak into the Top-5 TEs.
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