It’s officially the best time of the year, as NFL Best Ball is back on DraftKings.
This format gives players a chance to draft a fantasy football team for a season-long competition that requires no active in-season management, but still provides a full season of drama and competition.
You can find all the details, scoring and rules for the format here.
Below I have ranked my top-10 tight ends for the 2025 DraftKings NFL Best Ball season.
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1. Brock Bowers, Las Vegas Raiders
Bowers exploded onto the scene as a rookie in 2024, setting NFL rookie tight end records with 112 receptions for 1,194 yards and five touchdowns. He also finished with with a PFF receiving grade of 88.4, the highest ever for a rookie at his position.
Bowers should be a lock for another top‑three fantasy TE season in 2025. His QB play and coaching are set to improve dramatically with Geno Smith taking over as signal caller and Pete Caroll/Chip Kelly leading the offense. The Raiders also drafted generational RB talent Ashton Jeanty with the sixth overall pick, and now suddenly have an extremely formidable offense with Bowers, Jeanty, Smith and Jakobi Meyers.
Bowers could easily repeat the yardage and reception totals from last in 2025 while catching another 5+ touchdowns. He’s the closest thing to prime Gronk/Travis Kelce that we have seen in a long time.
2. Trey McBride, Arizona Cardinals
McBride broke out in 2024, catching 111 balls for 1,146 yards and two touchdowns. He led all NFL tight ends in receptions and yards, and was imperative to winning any money in best ball after posting 33.3 fantasy points in Week 17 against the Rams.
McBride always had issues in the touchdown department, as he’s caught only six TDs in his three-year career thus far. Some would say he’s due for major positive regression, but even dating back to college he’s never been a big time TD scorer. Either way, he’s going to be the No. 1 target on a good offense and plays half his games in a dome.
If McBride catches 100 balls again he’ll easily be a top-three TE on the year.
3. George Kittle, San Francisco 49ers
Kittle played 15 games for San Francisco last year and was basically the only pass catcher to stay healthy for most of the season. He caught 78 balls for 1,106 yards and eight TDs, and went over 20+ fantasy points eight different times, making him a true Best Ball darling.
The 49ers should be much healthier on offense in 2025 with Christian McCaffrey and Brandon Aiyuk set to return from injury, so Kittle’s volume might dip a little. However, his efficiency should remain elite, and the ADP gap between him and both Bowers and McBride is simply too wide.
Not much has to happen for Kittle to be the TE1 on the year.
4. Sam LaPorta, Detroit Lions
LaPorta posted 53 receptions for 663 yards and seven touchdowns across 16 games in 2024 — a pretty sizable step back from his rookie-year performance. However, he now has 17 TDs through 34 career games and will continue a massive red-zone threat for Jared Goff moving forward. The Lions simply ran the ball so much last season that it made it difficult for all of Detroit’s pass catchers to eat. If they limit David Montgomery’s touches a bit this season and let Gibbs take the reins, this offense should be a bit more pass happy in 2025.
Last season we had to pay a Round 3 price on LaPorta, but this year due to his underwhelming 2024 we can get him in the sixth. His Week 17 game against the Vikings is also quite enticing, as it should be one of the highest scoring of the week.
5. Travis Kelce, Kansas City Chiefs
Father Time looked to have really caught up with Kelce in 2024, as he failed to reach 1,000 receiving yards for the second consecutive year, while also averaging the fewest yards per reception of his career. While it’s certainly not encouraging, the Chiefs’ offense was also fundamentally broken last year, as Hollywood Brown got injured in preseason and Rashee Rice suffered a season-ending knee injury in Week 4.
With both those guys healthy as we head to training camp, Kelce’s aDOT should rise a bit this year and the touchdowns should 100% jump back up from the four he scored last year. Even entering his age 36-season, Kelce definitely has one last strong year in him, and for the first time in a long time we can draft him at the end of the seventh round.
6. Evan Engram, Denver Broncos
Engram really struggled with injuries in 2024, but still posted 47 receptions for 365 yards and a touchdown in just nine games for the Jaguars. Engram is 30 now, but will be in a much better situation this year after signing with the Broncos in the offseason. Courtland Sutton remains one the best deep threats in the NFL, which will allow Engram to soak up all kinds of short-area targets from Bo Nix.
Now locked into a Sean Payton offense, Engram is set for a bounce-back campaign in 2025. He caught 114-of-143 targets for 963 yards and four touchdowns in 17 games back in 2023, and it’s not inconceivable to think he could approach triple-digit receptions again for a team that’s been starving for a real pass catching TE.
7. T.J. Hockenson, Minnesota Vikings
Hockenson returned from his torn ACL in Week 9 last year and pretty much looked like himself. He caught 41 balls for 455 yards with only one touchdown in 10 games. He also posted a 5/64/1 line in the Vikings’ playoff loss to the Rams.
Now fully healthy entering training camp and with J.J. McCarthy under center this season, Hockenson could hit 70+ catches, 800+ yards, and 6-8 TDs. My only concern here is that there are a lot of mouths to feed in Minnesota, as all of Justin Jefferson, Jordan Addison, Aaron Jones and Jordan Mason are legit touchdown threats. There’s also a chance Kevin O’Connell leans a bit more run heavy than in year’s past.
Either way, Hockenson is locked as a top-10 TE and is a fine target in the eighth round of drafts.
8. Mark Andrews, Baltimore Ravens
People were panicking that Andrews looked completely washed through the Ravens first five games last season. He had a combined 10 catches for 120 yards and zero touchdowns over that stretch and was getting completely outplayed by backup TE Isaiah Likely. Something obviously kicked in for the former pro-bowler after that, because Andrews would go on to catch 11 touchdowns over the final 12 games of the regular season and finish the year as the overall TE6 in points per game.
Most people do not remember that Andrews was involved in a car accident shortly before the season started last year, which could have easily been what led to his slow start. He’s going to be 30 in September, but remains Lamar Jackson’s favorite red-zone target on a team that led the NFL in red zone trips in 2024 and that will likely again in 2025. Andrews was going in the fourth round last year and you can now draft him five rounds later this year.
9. David Njoku, Cleveland Browns
Njoku played just 11 games last year but still finished with a very respectable 64 catches for 505 yards and five touchdowns. The Browns QB situation should be a bit improved this year if Joe Flacco starts the majority of games, but either way Njoku will find a way to get his.
Njoku was the overall TE4 last season in fantasy points per game and scored over 17.1 fantasy points five different times. That will play in Best Ball formats, and you now draft the 29-year-old in the 10th round right now.
10. Tucker Kraft, Green Bay Packers
In his second NFL season last year, Kraft totaled 50 receptions for 707 yards and seven touchdowns and absolutely dusted Luke Musgrave for the Packers’ starting TE job. He averaged an impressive 14.1 yards per catch and led all NFL TEs in YAC per reception (9.3).
I am expecting a TE1-type year from Kraft this season as the full-time starter. With Christian Watson expected to miss the majority of the year and a pretty underwhelming group of WRs for Green Bay, Kraft could easily approach 1,000 yards receiving in his third NFL campaign.