As the offseason rolls along, we are laying the groundwork for early best ball drafts, new dynasty startups, and everything else under the fantasy sun as we gear up for the next NFL season.
Below you will find 2023 fantasy football tight end rankings along with a profile for every ranked tight end.
These tight end rankings will move and be updated throughout the offseason as the landscape changes. I also have more detailed player write-ups in the tiers breakdown.
Fantasy Football Rankings:
2023 Fantasy Football Tight End Rankings:
Updated August 14
1. Travis Kelce: It all starts here. Kelce has outright led all tight ends in scoring in six of the past seven seasons. The one time that he did not (2021) he was second. Kelce will turn 34 in October, but Father Time has not come calling yet. Last season, Kelce set career-highs in targets (152), catches (110), and touchdowns (12). His 1,338 yards were his second most in a season, which also was his seventh consecutive season going over 1,000 yards receiving. No other tight end in league history has had more than four 1,000-yard seasons over their entire career, let alone seven in a row.
2. Mark Andrews: Andrews led the team in targets (113), catches (73), yards (847), and touchdowns (five) in 2022, but he was beaten up along the way and saw an impact in his output last season. Over the opening six weeks of the season, Andrews caught 39-of-57 targets for 455 yards and all five of his touchdowns. He was once again neck-and-neck with Kelce in terms of output over that span as the league’s most productive tight end. Andrews was even leading the position in yards per route run (2.32) and target rate per route (29.1%) over those weeks. Then Andrews picked up shoulder and knee injuries and was never quite the same the rest of the season. Over the remaining 10 games he played, Andrews caught 39-of-66 targets for 465 yards and zero touchdowns. Baltimore has added target competition, but Andrews (turning 28 in September) is still at the heart of the apex of his career.
3. T.J. Hockenson: Minnesota traded for Hockenson at the trade deadline last season, and he immediately became their second receiving option in the passing game. From Week 9 through the end of the regular season, Hockenson was second among all tight ends in targets (86), catches (60), and receiving yards (519) behind only Kelce. His 21.8% share of the Minnesota targets over that span was third at the position. He ran the most pass routes in the league (36.1 per game) over that span while his 1.44 yards per route run was 15th. Hockenson’s 8.7 yards per catch and 6.0 yards per target with the Vikings were the lowest rates of his career. Hockenson will look to find a marriage of efficiency and volume this season.
4. Darren Waller: Dealing with hamstring issues for nearly the entirety of the 2022 season, Waller was limited to just nine games, catching 28-of-43 targets for 388 yards and three touchdowns. Waller will turn 31 this September and has now missed 14 games over the past two seasons. While active last season, Waller was stuck in a field-stretching role. His 13.4 air yards per target were a career-high while 32.6% of his routes were go routes, the highest rate at the position. That will surely revert to his prior career norms transitioning to the Giants and playing with Daniel Jones. In New York, Waller should easily sit on top of the target pecking order for as long as he can remain on the field.
5. Kyle Pitts: After a 1,000-yard season as a rookie, Kyle Pitts took a step back in his second season in the league. After he averaged 4.0 receptions for 60.4 yards per game as a rookie, Pitts only averaged 2.8 receptions for 35.6 yards per game last season. He also only appeared in 10 games due to injury to further compound matters, leaving him with 28 receptions for 356 yards and two touchdowns for the season. Pitts was still sixth among all tight ends last season in yards per route run (1.72 yards). Pitts was targeted on 28.5% of his routes, which led all tight ends that ran 100 or more routes last season. He also only ran 20.7 routes per game, which was 28th at the position. Every signal that Atlanta has given us this offseason screams that they are bunkering in on being a run-first team, leaving Pitts to rely on efficiency over volume paired with potentially limited quarterback play.
6. George Kittle: The Kittle experience is one we have come to live with at this point. His highs are among the best at the position. He was fifth among all tight ends in yards per route run (1.73 yards), and the only tight ends to average more yards after the catch per reception with as many catches as Kittle had were Dallas Goedert and Evan Engram. Kittle had six games as a top-six scorer and four of those were finishing that week first or second in points scored. But we also take on the low weeks with Kittle in this low-volume San Francisco passing game. Kittle had another six weeks as the TE20 or lower. His 5.7 targets per game were 11th at the position.
7. Dallas Goedert: Goedert was fourth among all tight ends in yards per route run (1.83). He averaged 7.6 yards per catch after the reception (fourth) and was third among all tight ends in yards after the catch (420) despite missing five games. The rub is that he is still forced to live on limited opportunities compared to his peers. Goedert ranked 24th in target rate per route run (18.0%) while his 5.8 targets per game were 10th, which limited him to just two top-six scoring weeks.
8. Pat Freiermuth: After a solid rookie season in which he caught 60 passes for 497 yards and seven touchdowns, Freiermuth caught 63-of-98 targets for 732 yards and two scores as a sophomore. Despite the lack of receiving scores (a common theme for the Steelers in 2022), Freiermuth jumped up from 8.3 yards per catch and 6.3 yards per target as a rookie to 11.6 yards per catch and 7.5 yards per target this past season. He established himself as a target earner in his second season. He was targeted on 22.6% of his routes (seventh among tight ends) while averaging 1.69 yards per route run (seventh).
9. Evan Engram: Engram set new career highs with 73 receptions and 766 yards. His four touchdown receptions were the most since catching six in his rookie season. Engram closed 2022 on a high note. After catching 42-of-59 targets for 386 yards and two touchdowns over his first 12 games of the season, Engram collected 43-of-56 targets for 504 yards and three touchdowns over his final seven games through the postseason. Engram still did have 11 games with 40 or fewer receiving yards last season and the team added another viable target in Calvin Ridley, but Engram offers spike-week potential at a limited position that is inherently filled with low floors.
10. David Njoku: Njoku averaged a career-high 44.9 yards per game (eighth among tight ends) while catching a career-high 72.5% of his targets. Njoku was 13th among tight ends in target rate per route run (20.0%) and 12th in yards per route run (1.57).
11. Dalton Kincaid: Kincaid was a hyper-productive pass catcher and it resulted in him being the first tight end selected in the draft and the only one in the first round. Kincaid lined up in line on just 35.4% of his snaps, the second-lowest rate in this class. 55.1% of his snaps came lined up as a slot receiver with another 9.5% lined up out wide (seventh). He averaged 2.52 yards per route run from the slot, which led this class. Kincaid can immediately push Dawson Knox for playing time as well as pushing for snaps as the primary slot receiver in Buffalo, but he still is likely behind the eight ball in terms of being the primary tight end in one-TE sets for the Bills. While Kincaid lands in a potentially fantasy-friendly spot, rookie tight ends are a tough investment for redraft purposes. We should expect him to be a volatile producer, but one capable of spike weeks at the position.
12. Chigoziem Okonkwo: Okonkwo only played 37% of the offensive snaps as a rookie, but he was more than effective on the snaps he did play. Among all tight ends in the NFL to run 100 or more pass routes last season, Okonkwo was first in yards per route run (2.63) and second in targets per route run (26.9%). Okonkwo only played 50% or more of the snaps in two games as a rookie but posted games of 4-54-0 and 4-69-0 those weeks. Tennessee could outright be a wasteland for fantasy points, and we could see Will Levis take over for a stretch of the season. Okonkwo also needs the Titans to play him much more in one-TE sets, something his size (6-foot-2 and 244 pounds) can limit in a run-first scheme. He was 47th in run blocking grade at PFF last season and ran just 66 pass routes in one-TE sets as a rookie. He did lead all tight ends in target rate per route (31.8%) on that small sample, but it is a potential thorn in preventing a true second-year breakout in addition to the Titans potentially being an offense we want to avoid.
13. Greg Dulcich: While active in Weeks 6 through 16 as a rookie, Dulcich was the TE10 in fantasy scoring and TE9 in expected points scored. He had five top-12 scoring weeks over those 10 games with three weeks lower than TE16. From a rate perspective, there is plenty of room to build. Dulcich was 26th in target rate per route (17.5%) and 25th in yards per route run (1.30) at the position over that span. Like Chig Okonkwo, Dulcich’s primary potential thorn as a full-time player comes down to his involvement in one-TE sets. As a rookie, Dulcich was 83rd out of 84 qualifying tight ends as a run blocker. Denver immediately added Chris Manhertz in free agency and Sean Payton was able to trade for his draft crush Adam Trautman, two players who are block-first players. We want our guys running routes over blocking for fantasy, but we also want them on the field firsthand as a starting point.
14. Dalton Schultz: Schultz is a solid baseline tight end that is reliant on volume to elevate his station in fantasy. Averaging 10.1 yards per catch for his career, Schultz did outright pace all tight ends in two weeks last season (his two games with multiple touchdowns), but he also had eight weeks as the TE20 or lower. Leaving Dallas to join the Texans, Schultz has live odds to lead Houston in targets next season but will also have to produce playing with a rookie quarterback. There have been just nine TE1 scoring seasons attached to a first-round rookie passer (out of 64 instances), but one did come last season via Freiermuth to keep the lights on.
15. Cole Kmet: Kmet received 19.2% of the Chicago targets last season, which was fifth among all tight ends. He also tacked on seven touchdowns after catching just two touchdowns over his first two seasons in the league. The other side of the coin is that Kmet was targeted on just 16.2% of his routes (40th among tight ends) paired with running just 25.1 routes per game (20th). Kmet played the second-most snaps among all NFL tight ends, but 53.9% of those snaps were spent blocking, the highest rate among tight ends we have touched on so far. With the addition of potential target-hog D.J. Moore, Kmet feels like he will be stuck as a touchdown-or-bust fantasy play.
16. Sam LaPorta: LaPorta accounted for 30.4% of the Iowa receptions (second in this class), 28.1% of the target (second), and 32.0% of the receiving yards (first), LaPorta checked out of Indianapolis in the 92nd percentile athletically. 56.9% of LaPorta’s yardage came after the catch, which was a higher rate than Michael Mayer (42.7%), and Dalton Kincaid (46.1%). Landing in Detroit, LaPorta has a clear runway to be the primary tight end on the roster while Detroit targeted their tight ends 36.1% of the time inside of the 10-yard line, which was fifth in the league.
17. Tyler Higbee: Higbee set career highs in targets (108) and receptions (72) in 2022 as he was force-fed more opportunity given the offense a year ago. While Higbee was fifth among all tight ends in catches last season, his 8.6 yards per catch ranked 59th while his 5.7 yards per target were 58th. He also blocked 50% of his snaps, a rate only trailing Kmet among the players we have covered. Higbee will be 30 years old with just one season of scoring more than three touchdowns (with a career-high of five), but the Rams have no real depth at wide receiver, either, leaving Higbee set up to be a floor-based PPR option.
18. Gerald Everett: Everett set career highs in targets (87), receptions (58), and receiving yards (555) to go along with four touchdowns. The downside is that his 1.41 yards per route run ranked 20th among tight ends a year ago despite being targeted on 20.2% of his routes, which ranked 12th. Everett also was impacted by the availability of Keenan Allen. On 186 routes run with Allen on the field, Everett received just 10.6% of the team targets as opposed to a 14.4% target share on 258 routes with Allen off of the field. Everett still carries an attachment to Justin Herbert while new offensive coordinator Kellen Moore utilized the tight ends in Dallas as positive marks for upside.
19. Juwan Johnson: Johnson enjoyed a breakout season in 2022, After catching just 17 passes for 198 yards and four touchdowns over his first two years in the league, Johnson caught 42-of-65 targets for 508 yards and seven touchdowns. Johnson was rewarded with a two-year contract this spring. Johnson played just 39.8% of his snaps at inline tight end with one tight end on the field last season, but he ran a route on 65.3% of the New Orleans dropbacks in one-TE sets, which was 12th at the position. Johnson is not far off from the archetype of player Darren Waller was converting to tight end, who broke out with Derek Carr (albeit with far less target competition).
20. Luke Musgrave: Musgrave entered the season on the Mackey watch list, but his senior season was cut short to only two games due to a knee injury. While Musgrave was only on the field for 50 total pass routes in 2022, he was out of the gates with 3.52 yards per route run (which would have been tops in this class on an extended sample) while drawing a target on 31.3% of his routes (which would have been third). In that two-game sample, he posted games of 6-89-1 and 5-80-0. Musgrave should immediately be the primary pass-catching tight end for the Packers.
21. Michael Mayer: Mayer was the second youngest and most productive tight end in this draft class. After posting a 71-840-7 line over 12 games as a sophomore in 2021, Mayer came back this past season to catch 67 passes for 809 yards and nine touchdowns. No tight end in this class averaged more receptions (5.0) and receiving yards (58.3) per game throughout their collegiate careers than Mayer. With Darren Waller traded, the Raiders traded up to grab Mayer at the front of the second round. With Jimmy Garoppolo’s affinity for throwing over the middle of the field and on the intermediate levels, Mayer can immediately contribute once he clears Austin Hooper for full-time snaps.
22. Tyler Conklin: Conklin was second on the team with 87 targets last season, catching 58 passes for 552 yards and three touchdowns. His 1.13 yards per route run was 33rd among all tight ends to run 100 or more pass routes, but 17.2% of his targets were also deemed inaccurate, which was the highest rate among all tight ends to have as many targets as Conklin did on the season. New York tight ends collectively ranked 13th in receptions (80) and are getting a massive quarterback upgrade. Conklin is one of just 11 tight ends to have more than 500 receiving yards in each of the past two seasons.
23. Taysom Hill: Hill was the TE9 in overall fantasy scoring among tight ends (TE12 in points per game), but he had just three weeks in which was higher than TE10 in weekly scoring. Hill is listed as a tight end, but he is far from an actual tight end. Hill played 148 snaps at quarterback and another 24 in the backfield. He played 51 snaps in line with 40 in the slot and 61 lined up out wide. Hill ended up running 123 pass routes and was targeted just 13 times all season. Where Hill made his impact was once again as a runner, turning 96 carries into 575 yards and seven touchdowns. The addition of Jamaal Williams (who led the NFL in rushing scores last year) does threaten Hill’s goal-line usage while the addition and investment into Derek Carr may mean that he does not come off of the field in the red zone as much as the previous New Orleans quarterbacks the past few seasons.
24. Hayden Hurst: Hurst averaged a career-high 4.0 receptions per game in 2022 while his 31.8 yards per game were the second-most of his career. Unfortunately, Hurst was still unable to make a fantasy impact. He was the TE21 in points per game (8.1). The biggest thorn for Hurst is that he just doesn’t create explosive plays. He averaged just 8.0 yards per catch in 2022 (66th among tight ends) while he has just 14 career touchdowns. Carolina has a wide-open passing tree to at least create a path to targets.
25. Noah Fant: Fant led the Seattle tight end group, catching 50-of-63 targets for 486 yards and four touchdowns. His 2.9 receptions per game were his fewest since his rookie season while his 28.6 yards per game were the fewest he has averaged over his four years in the NFL. Fant is playing this season in his fifth-year option and will be an unrestricted free agent afterward.
26. Jake Ferguson: Ferguson is expected to be the frontrunner to replace the vacated pass-catching role left open by Dalton Schultz. Ferguson only ran 104 pass routes as a rookie, but his 1.67 yards per route run was higher than what Schultz posted (1.38) while he was targeted on 21.2% of those routes. That ranked 11th among all tight ends last season to run at least 100 routes. The one looming threat is how much 2023 second-round pick Luke Schoonmaker cuts in Ferguson’s ability to take on a full-time role since Schoonmaker projects to be involved as a blocker in the run game.
27. Trey McBride: Most rookie tight ends start slowly and that was the case for McBride. Among all tight ends to run 100 or more pass routes, McBride was 59th in target rate per route (12.3%) and 55th in yards per route run (0.84). When Ertz was absent from Week 11 through the remainder of the season, McBride was 28th out of 38 tight ends in yards per route run (1.04) and 24th in target rate per route (15.5%).
28. Dawson Knox: Knox caught 48-of-65 targets for 517 yards and six touchdowns in 2022. His 14.2% target per route rate ranked 48th among tight ends while his 1.11 yards per route run ranked 37th. Knox has scored 15 touchdowns in the past two seasons during the regular season. That could make Knox a potential threat to Dalton Kincaid’s upside, but also a potential look at the scoring upside Kincaid could have.
29. Cade Otton: Otton caught 42-of-65 targets for 391 yards and two touchdowns in his first season. His 9.3 yards per catch were 48th among tight ends while his 4.1 yards after the catch per reception sat 49th. There may not be much dynamism here, but Otton is going to be given a larger role in 2023 with the release of veteran Cameron Brate. In the six games that Brate missed last season, Otton ran a pass route on 86.8% of the team dropbacks.
30. Isaiah Likely: Likely caught 36-of-60 targets for 373 yards and three touchdowns as a rookie while only playing 40% of the offensive snaps. Likely was 10th among all tight ends last season in targets per route (21.4%). In the three games that Likely played 50% or more of the snaps due to injuries to Andrews, he had games of 6-77-1, 1-24-1, and 8-103-0.
31. Hunter Henry: After a productive season in 2021 with New England (50-603-9), Hunter Henry saw a decline across the board off of his numbers in 2022, catching 41-of-59 targets for 509 yrds and two touchdowns. Henry played a higher snap rate (76% up from 68% in 2021) but not many pass catchers escaped the wake of this lackluster passing game a year ago. Henry is in the final season of the three-year contract he signed with the team.
32. Jelani Woods: Woods was selected in the third round (73rd overall) last season, catching 25-of-40 targets for 312 yards and three touchdowns. While the counting stats were modest, Woods was targeted on 19.3% of his routes (12th among all tight ends to run 200 or more routes) while averaging 1.51 yards per route run (also 12th among that group). Woods only played more than 60% of the snaps in two games as a rookie and more than 38% of the snaps just four times. But he flashed for 8-98-0 on nine targets in the game he played the most snaps of the season in Week 12 against the Steelers. In the other game in which he played more than 60% of the snaps, Woods caught 3-of-5 targets for 43 yards. The addition of Anthony Richardson can prevent a full breakout due to his accuracy and top-down passing volume concerns.
33. Irv Smith Jr.: Smith is a former second-round pick and will still only be 25 years old at the start of the season but had just 91 career receptions over his rookie contract with the Vikings. Cincinnati only targeted their tight ends 16.3% of the time in 2022, which was 30th in the league, but with Hayden Hurst leaving via free agency, he led the unit in targets (68) which would be a new career high for Smith if he can match that opportunity.
34. Mike Gesicki: Gesicki was lost in Miami’s new offense in 2022, averaging just 1.9 receptions for 21.3 yards per game. His 52 targets were his fewest in a season since his rookie season. He played just 45% of the offensive snaps, his lowest rate since his rookie campaign. Gesicki is a great athlete that has played more slot receiver than inline tight end over his career but has failed to live up to early expectations. Since entering the league in 2019, Gesicki has played just 19.9% of his snaps at inline tight end, the lowest rate of all qualifying tight ends.
35. Zach Ertz: While healthy in Weeks 1 through 9, Ertz was the TE5 in overall scoring. Due to the long window of missed time by DeAndre Hopkins and Arizona being in jailbreak game scripts weekly, Ertz was leading the NFL in pass routes run and was second in targets. Those elements were helium for Ertz ranking 18th in target rate per route (18.7%) and 25th in yards per route (1.09). Ertz will turn 33 during this season, is coming off a torn ACL, and averaged a career-low 8.6 yards per catch. Coming off the injury paired with the absence of Kyler Murray, the potential that Hopkins is still on the team, and Trey McBride still hanging around, Ertz comes with plenty of red flags.
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