TE standard rankings for 2023 fantasy football

Like the NFL regular season, the fantasy football season is about to begin. We are working through the preseason and evaluating how players are being used on their respective teams. Tight ends are already tough to determine their value year in and year out. Now, we have a new class of rookie tight ends to make it more convoluted. With that in mind, here is how we are handling the tight end position for 2023 fantasy football leagues that use standard scoring.

2023 Fantasy football rankings: Top 60 TE standard

Each season tight end is a tough spot for fantasy footballers. There just aren’t enough top options to go around for most leagues. Things do even out a bit in standard leagues though, as Travis Kelce outscored the second place tight end by over 100 fantasy points in PPR, while outscoring the second TE by just 66 points in standard scoring.

That second place tight end was TJ Hockenson in PPR and George Kittle in standard. Kittle’s 11 touchdowns were what mattered as he had 50 fewer receptions than Kelce. We also know that tight ends are targeted in the red zone due to their size and ability in short yardage, so touchdowns are out there to be had. Unfortunately, touchdowns are extremely hard to predict, as they aren’t a “sticky” statistic from year to year. That means we still have to go after tight ends who get a lot of work, as targets are a statistic that stays consistent.

Does that mean you don’t draft Kittle? No, but it does mean you can’t count on him as much as tight ends that see more passes thrown their way, especially in redraft where big touchdown weeks aren’t as helpful as consistent points week in and out.