The time for focus on traditionally managed redraft leagues is a long way away. For the next few months, Best Ball will dominate the redraft fantasy football discussion. To prepare fantasy managers for months of drafting, here are our top 35 Best Ball TE rankings for the 2024 season.
Best Ball TE Rankings for the 2024 Season
Other Positional Best Ball Rankings: QB | RB | WR
1) Sam LaPorta | DET
2) Travis Kelce | KC
3) Mark Andrews | BAL
4) Trey McBride | ARI
5) Kyle Pitts | ATL
6) Evan Engram | JAX
7) George Kittle | SF
8) David Njoku | CLE
9) Dalton Kincaid | BUF
10) Brock Bowers | FA
11) T.J. Hockenson | MIN
12) Jake Ferguson | DAL
13) Dallas Goedert | PHI
14) Cole Kmet | CHI
15) Dalton Schultz | HOU
16) Jonnu Smith | MIA
17) Darren Waller | NYG
18) Tucker Kraft | GB
19) Michael Mayer | LV
20) Pat Freiermuth | PIT
21) Juwan Johnson | NO
22) Hunter Henry | NE
23) Luke Musgrave | GB
24) Gerald Everett | CHI
25) Chigoziem Okonkwo | TEN
26) Isaiah Likely | BAL
27) Taysom Hill | NO
28) Tyler Higbee | LAR
29) Cade Otton | TB
30) Logan Thomas | FA
31) Tyler Conklin | NYJ
32) Dawson Knox | BUF
33) Mike Gesicki | CIN
34) Noah Fant | SEA
35) Greg Dulcich | DEN
Top TEs To Draft in Best Ball Leagues
Evan Engram, Jacksonville Jaguars
It’s been quite the journey for Evan Engram over these past seven years. He posted one of the greatest rookie tight end seasons of all time with the New York Giants in 2017. Then, he struggled to stay on the field for the better part of the subsequent two seasons.
After consecutive dismal seasons in 2020 and 2021, Engram needed a fresh start. He got that in Jacksonville.
For the past two years, Engram has been the Jaguars’ primary TE. He’s experienced quite the renaissance, playing in all 17 games each year, and averaging 10.4 and 13.6 fantasy points per game. In 2023, he finished as the overall TE4.
While it’s unlikely Engram is able to repeat his 23.8% target share from last season, he can make up for a dip in volume with an increase in touchdowns. Engram scored just four times last year. Based on his yardage total (963), he should’ve scored about seven times.
With a little more TD luck, Engram can maintain an average of around 13.0 points per game in 2024, even with fewer yards and receptions.
Engram benefited from Calvin Ridley’s inconsistency and a bit from Christian Kirk’s injury. However, Trevor Lawrence, for all his struggles, is capable of supporting two fantasy-relevant wide receivers and a tight end.
Engram has proven to be reliable, and I expect him to once again be a focal point of the Jaguars’ passing attack.
Whereas many tight ends are asked to block, Engram ran a route on 97.2% of Jacksonville’s pass plays. In fantasy, we don’t want our tight ends blocking. Engram spent 45% of his time in the slot, which is not something we should anticipate changing.
He’s once again positioned to be a quality TE1 option in fantasy.
Dalton Kincaid, Buffalo Bills
The story of Dalton Kincaid’s rookie season is rather simple. He started out slow, as do many rookie tight ends, but he started to figure it out toward the middle of the season.
Then, Dawson Knox went down, forcing Kincaid into an increased role. Kincaid’s stretch as a fantasy TE1 came almost entirely with Knox out of action. Kincaid averaged 14.2 fantasy points per game in the five games where Knox was sidelined. He averaged a paltry 7.4 ppg in 11 games with Knox on the field.
Given Knox’s contract, he’s not going anywhere. However, the Bills drafted Kincaid in the first round. They clearly want him to be their tight end of the future, and it’s not as if he did anything as a rookie to suggest he isn’t good enough for that role. In fact, it was quite the contrary.
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Kincaid saw a healthy 17.7% target share. With Buffalo severely lacking at wide receiver, there’s only so much they can do to fix it in one offseason. I’m expecting Kincaid’s target share to surpass 20% this season.
Kincaid also ran 49% of his routes from the slot. Much like with Engram, we love it when our fantasy tight ends are lining up as receivers.
For much of the season, Kincaid was used near the line of scrimmage, as evidenced by his 6.0 aDOT (average depth of target), 28th in the league. There’s a lot of room for progression in both his volume and the way he’s used.
Tethered to Josh Allen on one of the league’s best offenses, fantasy managers should be excited to draft Kincaid in 2024 Best Ball leagues.
Cole Kmet, Chicago Bears
I feel as though I’ve been a bit unfair to Cole Kmet over the past two seasons. He’s never been someone I wanted to draft because I just never saw the upside. But to his credit, he’s improved each of his four years in the league.
Kmet did nothing as a rookie but finished as the TE21 as a sophomore, TE16 in his third season, and TE9 last year.
Now, to be fair, 10.7 fantasy points per game isn’t anything to write home about. However, Kmet did command a solid 19.3% target share, albeit in a low-volume offense. He also displayed a weekly ceiling he previously did not possess, posting games of 27.6, 17.9, and 23.5 fantasy points.
Basically, Kmet did enough last year to convince me he can be a solid TE1 in the right environment. Playing with Justin Fields on an offense that was second in the NFL with a 50% neutral game script run rate is not that environment. But — I think you might know where this is headed — things might be about to get a whole lot better.
The Bears currently hold the first overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, thanks to the Carolina Panthers. Nothing is set in stone yet obviously, but now they have traded Fields, it is fully expected that they will use that pick to select Caleb Williams.
Williams isn’t a statue in the pocket, but he’s not a running quarterback the way Fields is (ran the ball 9.5 times per game last year). Williams is not going to have many designed QB runs. He’s more of a tactical scrambler a la Patrick Mahomes. He can run when he has to, but he’s not exactly looking to take off.
This Bears offense may see up to an additional 100 passes attempted in 2024. Additionally, those passes are likely to be of higher quality with the best QB prospect since Andrew Luck under center.
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Williams is, of course, no guarantee to pan out. No prospect is (except Marvin Harrison Jr., probably). But we need to draft based on what is most likely to happen.
I think Williams is legit, and you should, too. Even with the addition of Keenan Allen, Kmet could still be the secondary target behind DJ Moore. Kmet is poised to continue his annual upward trajectory in 2024.