Before you jump into your drafts, make sure you have a trustworthy set of rankings. Although fantasy football rankings aren’t everything, they provide an important baseline to help guide your selections throughout your draft. Here are our fantasy TE rankings for PPR leagues, including a couple of highlighted players worth further discussion.
Ranking the Top Fantasy Tight Ends
1) Travis Kelce | Kansas City Chiefs
2) Mark Andrews | Baltimore Ravens
3) Sam LaPorta | Detroit Lions
4) Trey McBride | Arizona Cardinals
5) Dalton Kincaid | Buffalo Bills
6) George Kittle | San Francisco 49ers
7) Kyle Pitts | Atlanta Falcons
8) Evan Engram | Jacksonville Jaguars
9) David Njoku | Cleveland Browns
10) Jake Ferguson | Dallas Cowboys
11) Brock Bowers | Las Vegas Raiders
12) Dallas Goedert | Philadelphia Eagles
13) Pat Freiermuth | Pittsburgh Steelers
14) Dalton Schultz | Houston Texans
15) T.J. Hockenson | Minnesota Vikings
16) Luke Musgrave | Green Bay Packers
17) Jonnu Smith | Miami Dolphins
18) Hunter Henry | New England Patriots
19) Taysom Hill | New Orleans Saints
20) Cole Kmet | Chicago Bears
21) Chigoziem Okonkwo | Tennessee Titans
22) Greg Dulcich | Denver Broncos
23) Tucker Kraft | Green Bay Packers
24) Isaiah Likely | Baltimore Ravens
25) Cade Otton | Tampa Bay Buccaneers
26) Tyler Conklin | New York Jets
27) Noah Fant | Seattle Seahawks
28) Colby Parkinson | Los Angeles Rams
29) Ben Sinnott | Washington Commanders
30) Juwan Johnson | New Orleans Saints
Who Are the Best Tight Ends To Draft in Fantasy?
George Kittle, San Francisco 49ers
Just once, can we see George Kittle as the featured component of a passing attack? It’s so difficult to advocate for fading Kittle when he’s the best tight end in football, an elite pass catcher, and just a really fun dude.
Kittle was easily the star of Netflix’s “Receiver,” and he’s awesome. The problem is his offense.
It certainly is strange to call one of the best offenses in the NFL a problem, but volume is king, and Kittle has none of it.
MORE: Try PFN’s “Who Should I Draft?” Tool
Over the past two seasons, the 49ers’ neutral-game-script pass rate was just 53%, tied for eighth lowest in the league. Additionally, Kittle’s target share, which was at least 25% from 2018-2021, fell to 19.8% and 21% in the past two years.
Kittle had to average 15.7 yards per reception last season just to get himself into mid-TE1 territory. Any drop in efficiency would likely spell disaster. As fun as it is to roster and root for him, the cliché is true — there are just too many mouths to feed in San Francisco.
Brock Bowers, Las Vegas Raiders
It’s difficult to tell if the fantasy community is being reasonable with generational prospect Brock Bowers as a TE1 (barely) or overrating what rookie tight ends can do based on what Sam LaPorta did last season.
The upside case for Bowers is easy to make. He looks like an elite talent, and the Raiders lack any sort of top-end pass catcher behind Davante Adams. Bowers could start the season hot and earn the de facto “WR2” job ahead of Jakobi Meyers.
The downside case for Bowers is just as easy to make. He’s a rookie TE, and LaPorta aside, rookie tight ends rarely matter for fantasy.
Las Vegas drafted a talented TE in Michael Mayer in the second round last season. It’s possible Bowers doesn’t play a full complement of snaps, limiting his volume.
Meanwhile, the performance of Raiders quarterbacks, which has been an abject disaster in training camp, bleeds into the regular season, dragging Bowers down even further.
Ultimately, Bowers is a risky selection. However, no tight end going as late as he is in fantasy drafts carries the potential he does.