The 2025 fantasy football season has given us two paths to success at tight end:
1. Draft Trey McBride
2. Punt, play the price game
McBride's big year has clearly left its mark. His 119 catches (and 161 targets) are records for the tight end position. His 302.4 total PPR points rank fifth all-time behind Rob Gronkowski (2011), Travis Kelce (2020, 2022) and Jimmy Graham (2013). McBride was ranked fourth on the Yahoo MVP list, a list of players most often ranked in the top 500 teams in Yahoo's public leagues. If you settled on McBride, you've picked a winner.
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But you need to scroll down the list of MVPs to find additional difficult points. McBride was in the top 37.2% of teams. After that, among the tight ends we see Harold Fannin Jr. (11.8%), Kyle Pitts Sr. (11.4%), Brenton Strange (9.8%) and Darren Waller (9.0%). It could be argued that Strange and Waller are largely on this list because they reflect how successful managers play, not because they necessarily led successful managers to success.
Top TE Scorers (up to 17 weeks)
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Trey McBride, Cardinals – 242.9 points per half percent
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Kyle Pitts Sr., Falcons – 158
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Dallas Goedert, Eagles – 155.1
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Travie Kelce, Chiefs – 152.5
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Harold Fannin Jr., Browns – 150.4
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Jake Ferguson, Cowboys – 146.1
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Tyler Warren, Colts – 145.4
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Brock Bowers, Raiders – 144.2
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Hunter Henry, Patriots – 140.7
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Juwan Johnson, Saints – 135.8
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George Kittle, 49ers – 127.6
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Dalton Schultz, Texans – 127.4
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If you put all the tight ends in the same basket, McBride is a WR5. Here he was the correct answer. But it's hard to predict where McBride's story might lead.
Kyler Murray couldn't consistently deliver the ball to McBride in the red zoneand while McBride and Jacoby Brissett have had a great couple of months this year, it's not a sustainable business model. The Cardinals are 3-13 and could fire their entire coaching staff. Can they mend fences with Murray, who is at a crossroads at the end of his age-38 season? Brissett is 33 years old, and for all his fun this year, Arizona went 1-11 on his watch.
McBride's ADP will rise to the 1st or 2nd tier next year and I don't think I'll pay for it. But even the draft season is still a long way off. This is all a pencil sketch; nothing has yet been written down in ink.
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More interviews on positional exit in 2025: QB | RB | WR | THAT
The only tight ends within reach of McBride this year on a per-game basis were injured stars: George Kittle, Tucker Craft and Brock Bowers. They played 10, 8 and 12 games respectively. Kraft would have been absolutely the right answer if he hadn't suffered a torn ACL in week nine.
Kittle could also have a special season if health allows. In his 10 games, he has a 52-599-7 mark, while his teammate Jake Tonjes has a 24-293-5 mark. Combining their stats is cheating because Tonges can also produce while Kittle is playing, but stick to the bit. The two tight ends combine for a nice line of 76-892-12 this year, which gives you around 200 fantasy points. On this board it would be a TE2 or WR8 if you combine the tight ends with the wide ends.
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Whatever they pay Kyle Shanahan, it's probably not enough. Throughout the year, his passing pieces were constantly damaged, but he continued to find ways to win.
2025 boom stalled
Beginners: Fannin was a miracle worker in Cleveland, settling into the TE5 position despite uneven quarterback play around him. I don't know if Kevin Stefanski will survive after a year, but he was creative with Fannin from day one to success. Tyler Warren (TE7) got off to a fast start and easily regained his ADP, while Colston Loveland (TE14) was more of a second-half star (three scoring games after Week 8). At first I was worried the Bears drafted the wrong tight end, but that seems silly now. Aurond Gadsden II (TE17) was part of a crowded tree with the Chargers but had a productive few weeks.
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The success of this rookie group encourages us to keep an open mind about future rookie classes. Kenyon Sadik from Oregon considered the No. 1 prospect for 2026.
Return: Sometimes it's hard to remember that Pitts is only 25. His season began late in the year when Drake London and Michael Penix Jr. both suffered injuries; in one four-game sequence, Pitts posted a 31-395-4 line (including a three-touchdown explosion in Tampa Bay). Pitts timed his resurgence well as he approached his free agency period. Out of nowhere, he finished TE2 this year. He was also second in goals scored (109), although that was a whopping 52 fewer innings than McBride.
Old and boring, but useful: The time-tested landing deodorant was the story of Dallas Goedert (TE3), Jake Ferguson (TE6) and Hunter Henry (TE9); In total, this trio produced 25 spikes. Six-point games were important for Goedert and Henry because they only had 82 and 80 targets, respectively.
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Sleeping: Juwan Johnson received a lucrative extension through the end of the year, and if you followed the money, you were rewarded. Johnson got off to a strong start and it was a legitimate signal, the start of a rewarding (if not exactly seismic) TE10 season. The Saints are gaining momentum, with Kellen Moore an experienced head coaching candidate and QB Tyler Shaw an exciting prospect despite being 26 years old.
2025 Tight end bust
Injuries still the most severe: Bowers didn't get his ADP back in the second round because he wasn't healthy, although Geno Smith was also a problem. Kittle and Sam LaPorta also missed significant time.
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Sometimes old is just old: The Broncos envisioned Evan Engram as the wild card in their passing game, but the joke was on them. Engram scored just one touchdown and had 47 catches that no one remembers. TJ Hockenson (51-438-3) wasn't helped by the mess in Minnesota's QB room, but he didn't have any explosiveness left. He averaged just 8.6 yards per catch. For some reason the Ravens extended Mark Andrews, I don't know why. Isaiah Probability is not the same player anymore, but he is five years younger. To be fair, his loss for the season was also due to Lamar Jackson, who was injured midseason and became ineffective after that.
Farewell to Kelsey?
Travis Kelce deserves his category after completing what is likely his final season in the NFL. His TE4 finish this year was mostly about playing every game; log 73-839-5 is good, but obviously below its peak. He's in the Hall of Fame and is probably on the Mount Rushmore for his incredible hard work. (What about Rob Gronkowski, Tony Gonzalez, Antonio Gates and Travis Kelce as the Fab Four? I like the sound of that.)
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If we look at Kelsey's season scans at at the bottom of his Football-Reference pageThis is what we get: TE8, TE7, TE1, TE2, TE1, TE1, TE1, TE1, TE2, TE1, TE3, TE10, TE4. This is simply absurd. I still think Gronkowski was the best tight end in NFL history when he peaked, but Kelce is easily among the best combined fantasy tight ends in history.
Too early in the 2026 rankings
1. Trey McBride
2. Brock Bowers
3. George Kittle
4. *Tucker Power
5. Tyler Warren
6. Kyle Pitts
7. Harold Fannin Jr.
8. Colston Loveland
9. Jake Ferguson
10. Dallas Products
11. Juwan Johnson
12. Oronda Gadsden II
