The top tight end rankings in the 2024 NFL Draft feature the first blue-chip TE prospect since Kyle Pitts and a level of depth that spans to the honorable mention section.
With the 2024 NFL Draft almost here, what does the incoming TE group look like, and who could surprise across the three days of the draft?
Ranking the TEs in the 2024 NFL Draft
The 2023 NFL Draft TE group boasted Bills first-round pick Dalton Kincaid and Michael Mayer, a prospect deemed worthy of first-round capital by many evaluators. Sam LaPorta also broke out as a rookie in the Lions’ offense.
Those prospects alone helped the 2023 class’ perception, but there’s reason to believe the 2024 NFL Draft class could be even deeper. Here’s a look at some of the top names in the 2024 tight end group.
10) Tip Reiman, Illinois
Once you reach the later rounds, blocking utility becomes a greater factor in TE evaluation. If a prospect has receiving upside and proven value as an in-line blocker, that’s enough to earn them a spot in a rotation. Tip Reiman fits that profile to a tee.
At the NFL Combine, Reiman turned heads with his 4.64 40-yard dash, 4.26 shuttle, 7.02 three-cone, and 10′ broad jump at 6’5″, 271 pounds. He might be the class’ best blocker with his explosiveness and tenacity, and he has strong hands and decent RAC ability.
9) Dallin Holker, Colorado State
Playing for the same team that produced Trey McBride a couple of cycles ago, Dallin Holker put up near-comparable production in 2023, racking up 64 catches for 767 yards and six touchdowns. His consistency is admirable, and his mode of success is mainly translatable.
At 6’3″, 241 pounds, speed and play strength in the RAC phase are fair criticisms of Holker, but he’s such a smooth athlete that it often doesn’t matter — his 6.83 three-cone is proof of this.
Holker effortlessly gathers passes in the short range and has extremely impressive contortion ability and coordination on higher throws.
8) Tanner McLachlan, Arizona
Receiving utility will always be valued from tight end prospects in the modern NFL, and naturally, Tanner McLachlan has plenty of that. In 2023, he logged career-high numbers, hauling in 45 catches for 528 yards and four touchdowns.
Tanner McLachlan is a TE prospect in the 2024 draft class. He scored a 7.66 #RAS out of a possible 10.00. This ranked 281 out of 1199 TE from 1987 to 2024. https://t.co/iFBMcltDCj pic.twitter.com/4piyhLXaJY
— Kent Lee Platte (@MathBomb) April 18, 2024
McLachlan himself is a former wide receiver, so his nuance as a separator is no surprise. At 6’5″, 244 pounds, he brings crisp 4.6 speed and good burst in open space, made clear by his 35″ vertical. His play strength isn’t quite NFL-caliber, but the framework is there to mold.
7) Theo Johnson, Penn State
In the 2023 cycle, Brenton Strange was a highly regarded sleeper at the TE position whom the Jacksonville Jaguars selected in Round 2 of the 2023 NFL Draft. Theo Johnson, Strange’s successor at Penn State, could follow a similar trajectory with his tools.
Johnson is still developing as a route runner, and focus drops can sometimes be an issue. But at 6’6″, 250 pounds, he’s a rare athlete with open-field speed, explosiveness, agility, and impressive contact balance in space. Johnson has the upside to be a dynamic weapon.
6) Erick All, Iowa
An injury caused Erick All to miss most of the 2022 season. Then, after transferring to Iowa, he missed nearly half of the 2023 season with a different injury — but not before he put up 21 catches for 299 yards and three scores in seven games.
At 6’4″, 252 pounds, and 33″ arms, All has the physical profile NFL teams crave, and the Iowa TE pipeline was good for him. In his limited 2023 film, All showcased improved route-running chops and solid hands over the middle. He’s also an imposing blocker, so if he can stay healthy, All could be a gem in the 2024 class.
5) Cade Stover, Ohio State
2023 was a resetting year of sorts for Ohio State’s offense, with C.J. Stroud departing for the NFL. Luckily, the Buckeyes had lots of continuity outside of their QB position.
Marvin Harrison Jr.‘s presence goes without saying, but Cade Stover was also an asset in 2023. He achieved career-high yardage numbers with 576 yards and five scores on 41 catches.
Reliable is the word that most often comes to mind when watching Stover’s tape. Though he’s not the most dynamic athlete in this TE class, he’s a versatile player with superb coordination and hand strength, enough burst to work up seams, and the physicality and toughness to churn out yards after the catch. As a bonus, he’s also a stellar blocker.
4) Ja’Tavion Sanders, Texas
If Texas’ offense in the summer of 2022 was the “Dream Team,” then the 2023 Longhorns squad was the “Dream Team 2.0.”
Bijan Robinson was a big loss, but besides Quinn Ewers, the Longhorns featured WRs Xavier Worthy and Adonai Mitchell and a strong, youthful rotation at RB. They also had one of the nation’s best tight ends in Ja’Tavion Sanders.
Sanders quickly became a favorite target of Ewers’ across the 2022 campaign, amassing 54 receptions for 613 yards and five touchdowns as a redshirt freshman. In 2023, he caught 45 passes for 682 yards and two TDs — averaging over 15 yards per catch.
At 6’4″, 249 pounds, Sanders offers great size and length. He’s a high-effort blocker in space, but the bulk of his appeal comes from his fleet-footed athleticism, elite-catching instincts, and dynamism as an RAC threat.
3) Jared Wiley, TCU
TCU’s passing offense took a step back in 2023 after losing Max Duggan, Quentin Johnston, and Derius Davis, but that didn’t stop Jared Wiley from having a career year and rising into the top five of our latest 2024 NFL Draft TE rankings.
At 6’6″, 250 pounds, Wiley — a former Texas recruit — caught 47 passes for 520 yards and eight scores in 2023. He’s always been a smooth athlete at his size, but in 2023, he showed improved route-running ability and conversion chops in the red zone. He’s a perfect fit as a move TE and seam threat in the modern NFL.
2) Ben Sinnott, Kansas State
Ben Sinnott‘s name still isn’t a mainstream one in the 2024 NFL Draft TE class, but he’s arguably one of the top three most compelling prospects at his position. And his strong Combine showing helped bring his name to the forefront.
Sinnott put up a respectable 31 catches for 447 yards and four touchdowns in 2022. In 2023, he improved on those numbers with 49 catches for 676 yards and six touchdowns. At 6’4″, 250 pounds, with 4.68 speed and a 40″ vertical, the athleticism and nuance are there to be a stellar NFL contributor.
Sinnott is one of the most functionally versatile tight ends in this group. He can block or catch passes from just about anywhere, and he’s not an ambiguous “master of none.”
Sinnott is a visibly explosive athlete with exceptional corrective twitch in his movement. He’s also an impressively detailed route runner with RAC value and natural hands-catching ability.
Who Is the Best TE in the 2024 NFL Draft?
There’s plenty of depth in the 2024 NFL Draft TE class, but there’s one prospect who stands alone at the top of the TE group. For two years now, evaluators have had premonitions of his first-round-worthy report.
1) Brock Bowers, Georgia
It’s Brock Bowers, then everyone else. It always was, and it always will be.
Bowers dominated at the collegiate level since stepping on the field as a true freshman. Through three seasons, the Bulldogs star amassed 175 catches for 2,538 yards and 26 touchdowns, to go along with 19 carries for 193 yards and five additional scores.
An ankle injury knocked Bowers off the field early in the 2023 campaign, but he returned in less than a month after tightrope surgery and picked things back up without breaking a sweat. Bowers remains a blue-chip prospect with top-five ability in the 2024 NFL Draft.
At 6’3″, 243 pounds, Bowers doesn’t have elite size — but that’s one of the only knocks in his profile. He’s a functional route runner who best operates when he can use his elite explosiveness to exploit seams. In that role, Bowers has extraordinary catching instincts, vise-grip hands, and brawling RAC ability. And he doubles as a game-changing blocker.
Things like alignment versatility, natural slot ability, and receiving value helped Kincaid become a first-round pick in 2023. Bowers fits a similar mold, but he’s younger and has even greater tools at his disposal. It stands to reason that he’ll likely go off the board very early and develop into an explosive weapon in the NFL.
Honorable Mentions
- Jaheim Bell, Florida State
- McCallan Castles, Tennessee
- David Martin-Robinson, Temple
- AJ Barner, Michigan
- Mason Fairchild, Kansas
- Brevyn Spann-Ford, Minnesota
- Trey Knox, South Carolina
- Devin Culp, Washington
- Jack Westover, Washington
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