Top 20 Fantasy Tight Ends (2025 Draft)

The obvious ones are at the top but there's also a couple surprises.  If you think they're gonna get at least 100 targets then they'll be in your top 10 (and mine as well).

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Hey, saddle up, everybody. It's week three the pre season. We're going to talk about the big boys, the ones we ask to block, run, catch, sometimes pass, maybe wear a man bun, go to a Swifty concert. I don't know. There's a lot of requirements of these guys. We'll talk about some of those later. So put your netherite armor down and grab the biggest bowl of Steve's lava chicken. It's time to talk about the top 20 tight ends. Now, my biggest advice when drafting tight ends is, don't overthink it. Tight ends are simple creatures, and I mean that in the best way. I love them. Everybody loves tight ends, but there's not a whole lot of them in the NFL that can actually perform on a high level. Yeah, there are a couple of guys out there that that might do really well, but the knowns are knowns like Brock Bowers last year. That really wasn't that big of a surprise. I mean, we all knew he was going to be in the top 10, probably, you know, push top seven, but yes, epic season from Brock Bowers. Is he going to repeat? Don't know, but guess what? Let's just jump right into it. The number one guy on my list is Brock Bowers. The number one guy on everyone's list in the world is Brock Bowers at tight end. It really doesn't take an MIT degree to figure this out. He's getting all the targets. He's got an upgraded quarterback now. He's got a better running back. Still has Jacoby Myers, great schedule. You're taking him if you can. I don't like what you have to pay for it, though. I've seen him go in the first round. That's crazy. Anybody who drafted Kelsey in the first round? You like that idea? No, you don't. I know you're still hurting from a couple years ago, but Brock Bowers in the second round. Yes, difference maker, but not big enough to grab in the second round if you can get him in the third Yeah, go get him. Otherwise, move on to number two, and that's Trey McBride. Trey McBride getting huge targets, almost 150 Guess what? That was only six targets less than Brock Bowers last year, and Brock played an extra game. The differential is touchdowns, and that's because Murray can't hit the broadside of a barn. So if you think that Trey is going to get you a couple extra touchdowns this year. Guess what? He's going to beat Brock. This guy, one and two. Brock in the second Trey, you know, mid third, maybe even late third, and getting better value for Trey. So if you can hold off to the third, go get him. Speaking of the third, my third tight end is Kittle, and I know a lot of people have in there too. The biggest reason is opportunity. All of the wide receivers in San Francisco are hurt right now, except for Pearsall. So that gives kiddo a real opportunity to exceed his last year's 94 targets. I see him pushing over 100 targets. And while we're talking about 100 targets, for me, that's a key any tight end that's getting over 100 targets, that's a guy in your top 10. So if you think a guy's going to get over 100 targets, you need to go grab them. Grab them. And I have Kittle at three at four. Here we go, the Swifty boy toy with a man bun. It's Travis Kelsey. We all love to hate him, but the guy produces 133 targets last year. That's huge. Not a lot of touchdowns, though. Let's face it, mahomes has kind of lost a little bit of his accuracy. He can throw that intermediate ball, which is great for Travis Kelce, but the deep ball, he just can't hit it anymore. And Travis, if he puts on a couple extra touchdowns, man, he's pushing top three status. So as a number four tight end, you know, this is a great guy to go get, and you can get him right now in the seventh that's amazing value. That's somebody you need to target, and guess what? So Will everyone else? My number five tight end is Hawkinson. I see Hawkinson with kind of a bounce back gear for a couple of reasons. One, Jefferson's kind of banged up. Addison is suspended. Naylor is hurt. They're looking for wide receiver help, and they have a rookie quarterback. And what do rookie quarterbacks love? They love tight ends. Everybody loves tight ends, but rookies especially so I see him bumping up in his overall number of targets. I think he's going to be healthier. I hope he's going to be healthier. I mean, he's a supreme talent. I want him to be healthy, and this gives him an opportunity to finish here at the number five spot, and number six I have Tyler Warren. This is a reach for me. I'm not really. I like this kid. I really do, but I'm not sure that he has the right opportunity Indy. Now let's face it, Indy's a train wreck, and everyone knows it. They're starting at quarterback, Daniel Jones. Now the reason why I like Daniel Jones starting here is he doesn't run the ball a lot like Richardson, so you know, he's going to be more of a pocket passer, and last year, he really targeted tight ends. So I think that this kid has an opportunity to get into the top 10, and I'm willing to reach on him. He's going in the 10th round. So if I'm grabbing him early on, that's a little bit of an overpay. So he's going in the 10th round. So if you want to make sure you get them, maybe target them in the eighth or the ninth, but I have them as the sixth overall tight end off my board, and number seven, I have la porta. You know, I'm a Detroit fan. Love la porta. There's just too many targets. Everyone's getting touchdowns between st brown Williams and, of course, Gibbs and Montgomery too. So there's just not enough touchdowns to go around for la porta last year, he had seven. That's a lot, but he only had 78 targets. Correction, he only had 83 targets, which is pretty good, but that's really his ceiling in this offense, unless someone gets hurt, all right. And number eight, I have Andrews now. I think Andrews makes a little bit of a comeback this year, he was always nursing something you know felt like and he only had 69 targets. His biggest problem was he had to share time with likely, but likely seems like he might be hurt, where he might not play week one, maybe week two, if it is a lingering injury. Right now, Andrews is healthy. He's still a great target. Jackson levels him, and the big thing you get from with Andrews is that red zone target 11 touchdowns last season. That's huge. That's what propelled him to a sixth finish overall. I will say, though, a lot of that came in the second half of the season, so I'd like to see him spread that out, but he went six straight games with a touchdown. So if you can get Andrews at number eight, and he's going in the eighth round, so that's easy to remember. He's a great pickup. And number nine, I have David and joku now. Cleveland, we all know is a train wreck. They'll probably go through three different quarterbacks this season, but he got 100 targets last year. He's one of their best receivers, and that's with only playing 11 games. So he does get banged up, and the reason is is because his quarterback play is so terrible. They usually throw the ball in traffic and he gets hit right in the head. It's terrible. I've seen him get laid out so many different times because the quarterbacks aren't protecting him. Be that as it may. He pushed for 100 targets, almost in 11 games, five touchdowns. He was averaging 13 and a half a game, if he could do that for the entire season. That's a top five finish from last year. So think about those numbers. At number nine, he's a great pick. And number 10, I have one of my favorites, which is Kate Otten. Why do I think Kate on is going to be great this year? Well, he only had 87 targets last year, four touchdowns. Yeah, those are decent numbers. They're not going to get you into the top 10, but why I think he's going to be better this year is because one, he's healthy. Two, the rest of the wide receiver court isn't you have Ibuka and you have Evans Godwin now McMillan and other guys have issues. This elevates Kay Dawn's potential, and he's that warm safety blanket for his quarterback, just like he was last year. I think he pushes 100 targets. And when I see or I think they're gonna get 100 targets, I think top 10. At number 11, I have Hunter Henry, as you know, I think Drake May is gonna have an excellent season. He's gonna need pass catchers to do that. Hunter Henry finished three attempts shy of 100 targets. That's really good. Now he only got two touchdowns, but I think that's gonna double. That might even triple this year, if you think about it, caught 66 of 97 targets last year, and he only had two touchdowns. If he had six touchdowns, that would have put him in the top 10. So he definitely has top 10 ability and capability. I think the opportunity is going to be here this year. May is going to be even more special. And number 12, I have Ferguson from Dallas, not to be confused with the other Ferguson. I don't think Ferguson is going to have another goose egg at touchdowns, as he did last year. I mean, that was just a complete outlier. Jake had 86 targets, almost 500 yards receiving, zero touchdowns. That is not going to happen. I mean, I think he might have been. He might have been one of only five tight ends in the entire NFL that didn't have a touchdown last year. That's not going to happen again. If you give him five touchdowns, he leaps into your top 15, which is exactly where I have him at 12, and number 13, I have Kraft from Green Bay, Kraft, who wasn't really utilized as much as I thought he should have been last year. Only 70 targets. But guess what? Seven touchdowns. He caught 50 of the 70 balls. That's a really high percentage, and only seven touchdowns with the Green Bay wide receiver core that is completely decimated right now. I mean, the only one that's that's even healthy is golden right now. And they're even talking about Dobbs trading him, and they're like, No, we're not going to trade him. And yet, it's out there. So everyone's hurt. Golden is the only one, and he's a rookie who's healthy. Who are you going to look to? You're going to look to that warm safety blanket, and that's gonna be craft. So I think Kraft pushes for 100 targets and probably seven, maybe even eight, touchdowns, and number 14, I have Zach Ertz. Zach's a competitor. He's a warrior. I'm worried about his age. I know he's only on a one year contract with Washington this year, so it's kind of a prove it year for him. Yeah, but you know what? Last year, he did prove it. He had 91 targets, caught 66 for seven touchdowns. He put in a top 10 finish at number 15. I have Goddard out of Philadelphia. Now, Goddard is hurt a little bit. I am worried about his week one. I think he's gonna be fine. I think he'll get back. Isn't that the same for every single pass catcher for Philly. I mean, right now, who's the starter? Johan Dotson. I mean, that's, that's the only guy right now who's not even hurt. So, you know, when we look at Philly right now, we need some pass catchers. And you know, Goddard's a warrior. I think he gets back in there. He had a rough year. Last year, he only played 10 games, and he's already hurt. So this is kind of a scary pick here. This is a name that we know we feel good about. You're taking your risk if you go here. But it's Philly's offense, and you want exposure to that. Let's say you don't get AJ, you don't get Devonta. You want to get somebody from this high powered offense, they're going to score points or to number 16, I have Ingram now. He's moving on to Denver and I like Ingram. I'm a big fan. He's turned 30 now he's on the back side of the curve, but I think, I think, I still think he has a lot of talent. There's some competition there at the tight end position, but everybody's raving about him. And I think Bo Nix is a really good passer. And again, he targets tight ends. Ingram's a really big target, good in the red zone. I think he's going to get a lot of touchdowns. I don't think he's going to push 100 targets. This isn't going to be some revival of two years ago when when Ingram had this gigantic year out of nowhere. Well, not really. I did predict that. But be that as it may, I think Ingram is in a good position to to excel on a new team, and 16 position is really good for him. And number 17, I have giuseki. Yes, I know he has a little bit of competition and a rookie that comes up, but he has Burroughs trust. Last year he had kind of an off year. Didn't have a whole lot of touchdowns, but he was a solid receiver. He saw 83 targets. That's kind of his ceiling now. That gave him like a 15 finish last year. So I have them here at 17. There's just too many miles to feed in Cincinnati. Yes, they are going to have to score a lot of points. Did you see how decimated their defense was the other night? And they just lost another player. Whoa, it's going to be a train wreck. You need to target, since he's defense with any offensive player you have this year, all right? And number 18, I have strange Jacksonville. Obviously, they have their Alpha wide receiver. They have Hunter, which I don't really have a whole lot of faith in. They don't know what their running back situation is. So here comes strange, who had a decent year last year, and I think could have a really nice bump up year this year and reach the top 20. And that's why I've got him here. It's as simple as that. Again. Don't try to overthink it. At number 19, I have Jonas Smith. Now, Jonah Smith was a top five last year. This year, he moves on to a new team where friarmuth, who is the town favorite, is there, and you have Aaron Rodgers, who traditionally does throw to tight ends, but not all that often, especially if he's got an alpha like DK out there. So I think Joe knew is going to be an awesome target in the red zone. I just don't see him getting a lot of catches and a lot of targets throughout the season. I think he's going to cut his targets in half, because fryer move. Fryer move is a really good tight end. So I think between the two of them, Rogers, it hurts them. I think they see like, maybe 5060, targets, maybe 40 catches. You know, three, four touchdowns a piece. It's going to be an off year for Jonah Smith and number 20, I have Dalton Schultz out of Houston. Again, this is a situation where I'm looking at it from there. Who's going to catch the ball. Somebody has to everybody's hurt. Mixing is out. Chubbs, not gonna run the ball very well. You've got Nico, he looks good, but Kirk, he's usually hurt half the time. Dalton, Schultz, you know, he can put up some decent numbers. He's got a good rapport with his quarterback. I mean, I don't expect him to catch more than like 60 balls, maybe get like, four or five touchdowns, but this is a top 20 finish we're talking about here. And there's your top 20. Now I want to throw in a couple more names. If you're in a deep league best ball or you're worried about some of these guys, there are a couple of guys to keep on your radar that could potentially, you know, crack the top 20 and tight end is one of those positions where normally there's a lot of movement in 10 through 20. Anything can happen with these guys. A couple guys you need to look at is Mason Taylor. He's the Jets rookie. I think he's got a really good opportunity. Now, you know how I feel about fields at quarterback, but when you've got a really bad quarterback, what does he like to look at? Tight ends. Another guy to take a look at or think about, is Jawan Johnson. There's nobody else on New Orleans that's going to go after him in the at the tight end position. He's the de facto number one. Their quarterback play is a train wreck. But you've seen him in the red zone. He gets those Fluke touchdowns. So if you're in a league where you're going to need a backup to cover that bye week, and if he's playing like Carolina, that's a great opportunity to target that. Another guy to think about is Theo Johnson, New York Giants tight end. He's really talented. Daniel Jones, target him a lot last year. Unfortunately, he just has some issues with injuries, but right now he's healthy. Now here's a surprise that was not in my top 20. Kincaid. I don't think he gets a lot of targets. There's too many miles to feed in Buffalo. And I think last year he had a really off year, 75 targets, but only 44 catches for two touchdowns. That's not going to crack the top 20. Last, but not least, Arroyo out of Seattle. Yeah, he's a rookie. He's got some competition, but I think he could be somebody that could be, you know, a good bye week replacement for you, but he's not a starter. You'll notice I didn't talk about any Chicago tight ends, because they're not going to get any targets, because Caleb Williams is terrible, and of course, I didn't say the word pits, and that'll do it for our show tonight. As always, I want to give a shout out to the men and women in uniform who protect the freedoms that we hold dear. Thank you for your service and sacrifice, and thanks for listening. If you enjoyed this show. Follow us on X YouTube, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts, so you can stay up to date on our latest content. And until then, remember, established dominance isn't just a catchphrase, it's a commitment. Are you ready? You you.