Fantasy Football Draftable Tight Ends: Brock Bowers at the Top, but Who Else Sits Among the Elite?

Other than defense and kicker, tight end is the most fungible position in fantasy football. If you don't have one of the true impact players, everyone is pretty much the same in value; it comes down to who catches a touchdown on a given week.

Because of that, it's easy to ignore the position and just grab a guy at the end of your draft, the way you would with D/ST and K. That doesn't mean there aren't stars, though. Remember Rob Gronkowski? He was a legit first-round pick in fantasy for an extended stretch. Travis Kelce took that mantle for a while, but it seemed like maybe we were without a top guy, as Kelce regressed to tight end levels of play rather than WR1 performances.

Well, that looks like it has changed. We have a few young stars who have emerged and could become top players at the position, making for a few worthy lottery tickets in the fantasy world.

Let's go through the tiers of draftable tight ends according to our FantasySP ADP rankings as of August 5. Players in each tier are listed in alphabetical order. Past fantasy scores and rankings are from FantasyPros.

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Top Tier

• Brock Bowers, Las Vegas Raiders
• George Kittle, San Francisco 49ers
• Trey McBride, Arizona Cardinals

This is the cream of the crop. Bowers announced his presence with authority last season, entering the league as the 13th overall pick and setting the rookie records for most receptions and yards by a rookie tight end and the most receptions by a rookie regardless of position. Bowers doesn't have the look of a top tight end; he has the look of a top receiver, like Gronk and Kelce. Bowers is rated at a late-second- or early-third-round pick by ADP, and it's easy to see him improving on last year's performance with a better quarterback in Geno Smith arriving in Las Vegas.

Kittle and McBride are worthy 1A options. Kittle has been a top-five fantasy tight end every year but one since 2018, only missing in 2020 when he played just eight games. He's the type of consistent performer who doesn't exist often in football. McBride has less of a track record, but he caught 111 passes last season for more than 1,100 yards. Despite only two touchdowns, he was a top-three TE in both standard and PPR scoring. With better TD luck, McBride is a threat to lead the position in fantasy points.

Weekly Starters

• Mark Andrews, Baltimore Ravens
• T.J. Hockenson, Minnesota Vikings
• Travis Kelce, Kansas City Chiefs
• Sam LaPorta, Detroit Lions

This is probably the most valuable place to draft a tight end, especially if you can get one of the top guys in the tier. Kelce and LaPorta stand out, though Hockenson could argue to join that group now that he's further removed from a major knee injury suffered late in 2023. All four guys are projected between the fifth and eighth rounds, presenting better value than the top tier but with less upside as well.

Andrews has only reached 75 receptions or 900 yards once in his career. That makes it hard to trust him for consistent production, but Andrews did catch a career-high 11 touchdowns last season, leading to a top-six TE finish in both standard and PPR scoring. I don't see him replicating that performance; touchdowns are very random from year to year. Andrews should be back in an explosive offense again, though, which helps his case.

Hockenson returned in November last year after that major injury and played 11 games, including one in the playoffs. He was inconsistent but had a couple big games, and in that playoff loss to the Rams, he caught all five of his targets for 64 yards and a touchdown. Minnesota has been one of the pass-happiest teams in the league since head coach Kevin O'Connell took over, and Hockenson figures to be a bigger part of the gameplan this year.

Kelce won't reach his top form again, but he can still be a fantasy starter; he was a top-10 TE in both standard and PPR scoring in 2024. His 97 receptions on 133 targets were in line with the previous six years, but Kelce averaged only 8.5 yards per catch after previously never being below 10.6 (and otherwise never below 12.2). He also scored just three touchdowns. Kelce could actually improve his numbers in 2025, but father time is also probably catching up with the 35-year-old.

LaPorta set rookie records in 2023 before Bowers broke them last year. LaPorta was down in his second season, but he still was a top-seven fantasy tight end and had a 60-726-7 line. It will be interesting to see how Detroit's offense operates without the innovative Ben Johnson calling plays, but the other pieces are still in place, and I look for LaPorta to be a fantasy starter again.

Draftable

• Evan Engram, Denver Broncos
• Jake Ferguson, Dallas Cowboys
• Dallas Goedert, Philadelphia Eagles
• Dalton Kincaid, Buffalo Bills,
• Tucker Kraft, Green Bay Packers
• Colston Loveland, Chicago Bears
• David Njoku, Cleveland Browns
• Kyle Pitts Sr., Atlanta Falcons
• Jonnu Smith, Pittsburgh Steelers
• Tyler Warren, Indianapolis Colts

The players before this tier are guys who I really want on my fantasy team. With only seven players in those groups, though, there will be fantasy teams who have to pick through this bunch to try to find their starter. At this level, streaming probably becomes the better option, but there are names here who could battle for the top five at the position if things break right.

Engram was a PPR darling in 2023, catching 114 passes, though at just 8.4 yards per clip and with only four touchdowns. Now in a Sean Payton offense, there's obvious upside that could make him a featured target again, especially with a lack of top receivers in Denver.

Pitts has been getting a lot of hype for his connection with Michael Penix during training camp; are you ready to jump back on the wagon? I'm not so sure. Ferguson will have his quarterback again, which should help him bounce back after a down year in 2024.

Loveland and Warren are rookies, and we don't know what to expect until we actually see them on the field. It's risky, but Warren is intriguing, as there isn't anyone else on the depth chart to steal snaps from him, and the receiving group is middling.

The others are veterans who have had success at times in the past but also are hard to trust consistently. No one here is necessarily a bad pick, especially since they will come in the 10th round or later, but you're looking at probably streaming at this point rather than having a true weekly option.

Others

• Zach Ertz, Washington Commander
• Mike Gesicki, Cincinnati Bengals
• Hunter Henry, New England Patriots
• Isaiah Likely, Baltimore Ravens
• Cade Otton, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
• Brenton Strange, Jacksonville Jaguars
• Mason Taylor, New York Jets

These are guys who won't be drafted in most leagues. There's a little intrigue, but again, this is a group of streaming options on the right week who will mostly be middling at best. Likely is a guy who was expected to take over the top spot in Baltimore as early as last season and could finally ascend. Andrews' presence complicates that matter.

Ertz, Gesicki, Henry, Otton, and Strange all have successful and/or young quarterbacks with potential who could elevate the tight end in question. Taylor could be an option in the future, as he's another rookie who is seen as a pass-catching type who can stretch the field, but he's probably a year or more away from truly contributing.