2025 Fantasy Football TE Rankings
By Kevin Hanson (@EDSFootball)
Updated: Sunday, April 27th
With NFL free agency now behind us and the 2025 NFL Draft behind us, I have updated my positional rankings and overall top 150 fantasy football cheat sheet.
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
Scroll down for rankings only (no comments) in table format.
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 passing offense the way Bowers is. And Geno Smith significantly increases the level of competency that the Raiders get from their quarterback play. The Raiders ranked 30th in run play percentage in 2024 and that will certainly change after drafting Alshon Jeanty, but Jeanty will help the offense overall by sustaining longer drives.
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 had six-plus targets in all nine games, 50-plus yards six times and scored a total of six touchdowns.
MORE: 2025 Detroit Lions Fantasy Football Projections
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) with 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 career and position highs in 2024. 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. Despite rumors of a potential trade, Andrews is still on the roster post-draft when GM Eric DeCosta said he "would expect [Andrews] to be on the team."
MORE: 2025 Baltimore Ravens Mock Draft Roundup
7. 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 in 2024 and career highs for the 29-year-old tight end. From Week 5 on, he led the Dolphins in all four receiving categories.
MORE: 2025 Miami Dolphins Fantasy Football Projections
8. David Njoku, Cleveland Browns
As Njoku has previously noted, the Browns need a "healthy good quarterback." While 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. Exiting the 2025 NFL Draft will plenty of "healthy" quarterbacks, will they have one that is also "good" is the question.
9. Evan Engram, Denver Broncos
Engram was a high-volume play in 2023 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 and set a career low with 7.8 Y/R with per-game dips of 1.5 receptions, 16 yards, and 1.3 targets compared to 2023. As he gets a fresh start in Denver, Engram (and rookie running back R.J. Harvey) can be that "Joker" (TE/RB mismatch player) that Sean Payton covets.
10. Travis Kelce, Kansas City Chiefs
Kelce extended his streak of 90-catch seasons to seven in 2024, but he set non-rookie lows in both yards (823) and touchdowns (three). 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 as he returns for another season.
MORE: Which teams have the easiest or hardest NFL Strength of Schedule in 2025?
Here are my top 40 fantasy tight ends (half-PPR scoring) for 2025: