We in the fantasy football community always like a reason to celebrate something, and this coming Sunday is National Tight Ends Day. (More on the origins below.)
Unfortunately, one of the best college TE prospects of this generation, Brock Bowers (knee), is on bye and has been injured. Arizona Cardinals star Trey McBride and the Detroit Lions’ Sam LaPorta also are taking a scheduled breather.
But the San Francisco 49ers’ George Kittle (more on him shortly), Indianapolis Colts star rookie Tyler Warren, and many more big names are in action. (Check our fantasy TE Week 8 rankings for the full breakdown.)
We’re using this occasion to look at how the position has performed for fantasy players this year, including the best and worst draft picks, and will offer rest-of-season predictions for our top names at the position.
Plus, we’ll take a quick look back at some historical milestones in fantasy scoring, from the top TE games this year to the best tight end fantasy performances of all time.
Keep reading for everything TE-related, and a fun look back at some historic fantasy performances at the position to honor George Kittle and Jimmy Garoppolo’s inside joke that became an NFL mainstay.
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What is National Tight Ends Day?
San Francisco 49ers star George Kittle helped conceive of the National Tight Ends Day holiday through an inside joke Week 2 of 2018 with then-QB Jimmy Garoppolo, who coined the day’s name, and fellow TE Garrett Celek.
Both tight ends scored a touchdown against the Detroit Lions, as Kittle promised, and the name stuck.
Given the NFL’s media power, the red-letter day became a Significant Event, celebrated annually in October.
This year’s occasion is this Sunday, Oct. 26, and the 49ers face the Houston Texans.
© Vincent Carchietta
Fantasy Tight Ends: 2025 value check
Best Fantasy TE Draft Pick
Jake Ferguson, Cowboys: Ferguson is smashing his ADP from draft season. Back in August, he was going as the third pick in Round 11. Ferguson is the TE1 through 7 weeks and is the second-highest in targets.
Even with CeeDee Lamb returning, Ferguson had an excellent fantasy showing in Week 7. There’s no reason he won’t be the TE5 or better after being taken off the board as the TE15.
Worst Fantasy TE Draft Pick
Brock Bowers, Raiders: I want to be clear, when Bowers returns after the bye week, he is expected to play. When he does, he’ll be the TE5 or better. However, with where managers (including myself) drafted Bowers, him not being the runaway TE1 is brutal.
We all knew the risk involved with taking a TE early in Round 2. Bowers was the 18th player off the board back in August. You took that risk to be rewarded with a huge positional advantage. Looking back on it, if you drafted Bowers at his ADP, you passed on other options like Jaxon Smith-Njigba. Unfortunately, Bowers has been hurt, but nonetheless, it’s a horrible pick looking back. (Fine, if you insist I include a non-injury selection, it’s T.J. Hockenson.)
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Top 10 Fantasy Tight Ends in PPR scoring through Week 7
1. Jake Ferguson, Cowboys (120.4 points)
2. Trey McBride, Cardinals (113.1)
3. Tyler Warren, Colts (101.5)
4. Dallas Goedert, Eagles (83.1)
5. Travis Kelce, Chiefs (80.5)
6. Tucker Kraft, Packers (79.9)
7. Sam LaPorta, Lions (74.9)
8. Hunter Henry, Patriots (73)
9. Zach Ertz, Commanders (71.9)
10. Harold Fannin Jr., Browns (67.4)
It’s hard not to want to mention the season Tyler Warren is having. If not for Jake Ferguson, Warren was second in line to be the best TE pick in fantasy drafts.
Players like Dallas Goedert and Travis Kelce should fall from their current overall. Goedert had a crazy TD spree to start the season, and Kelce injured the only other target threat in Xavier Worhty in Week 1. Now the Chiefs have Rashee Rice back as well.
Again, once Brock Bowers returns, he’ll be a top 5 TE easily. The Raiders may trade Jakobi Meyers as well, which would only free up more targets for Bowers.
Top 5 Tight Ends: Rest-of-Season 2025 (PPR)
1. Trey McBride, Cardinals
2. Tyler Warren, Colts
3. Brock Bowers, Raiders
4. Jake Ferguson, Cowboys
5. George Kittle, 49ers
Trey McBride is doing what we always knew he could if he could find the touchdowns. He’s caught 4 TDs thus far in this season…and it’s a career-high. In McBride’s first three seasons, he caught just six total TDs.
Bowers was already mentioned, but Kittle will also be fine the rest of the way. It’s important to note, this is not saying where they will finish on the season overall, it’s stating what they will be from here on out.
Best TE fantasy TE sleeper for the rest of 2025
Oronde Gadsden II, Chargers: After Week 7, any fantasy manager who pays attention knows Oronde Gadsden II’s name. However, he went under the radar up until last week, even though the signs were there.
In Week 7, he was hard to miss. Gadsden played a season-high 79 percent of the snaps and was targeted 9 times by Justin Herbert. Gadsden made the most of this and hauled in 7 receptions for 164 yards and a TD.
For the foreseeable future, the Chargers need to be a pass-heavy attack because their run game is virtually nonexistent. Gadsden will benefit from this, and if the volume sticks, he’ll be a solid TE1.
Click for our full group of fantasy football weekly rankings.
Best TE fantasy games in 2025
Per PPR scoring, through Week 7:
| Rk | Tight End | Game | FPTS | TGT | REC | YDS | TD |
| T-1 | Oronde Gadsden II, LAC | Week 7 vs IND | 29.4 | 9 | 7 | 164 | 1 |
| T-1 | Trey McBride, ARI | Week 7 vs GB | 29.4 | 13 | 10 | 74 | 2 |
| 3 | Hunter Henry, NE | Week 3 vs PIT | 29 | 11 | 8 | 90 | 2 |
| 4 | Pat Freiermuth, PIT | Week 7 at CIN | 28.1 | 6 | 5 | 111 | 2 |
| 5 | Mark Andrews, BAL | Week 3 vs DET | 27.1 | 6 | 6 | 91 | 2 |
| 6 | Dallas Goedert, PHI | Week 6 at NYG | 26 | 11 | 9 | 110 | 1 |
| 7 | Tucker Kraft, GB | Week 2 vs WAS | 24.4 | 7 | 6 | 124 | 1 |
| 8 | AJ Barner, SEA | Week 5 vs TB | 24.3 | 7 | 7 | 53 | 2 |
| 9 | Jake Ferguson, DAL | Week 5 at NYJ | 23.9 | 9 | 7 | 49 | 2 |
| 10 | Jake Ferguson, DAL | Week 7 vs WAS | 21.9 | 7 | 7 | 29 | 2 |
No surprise seeing McBride up at the top, but Gadsden being there is undoubtedly a pleasant shock.
Ferguson being on here twice should show how dominant he’s been in fantasy (he was just shy of having his name on here three times).
Interestingly, 7 of the 10 performances have two touchdowns. This depicts how TD-dependent the position is as a whole for those big fantasy days.
Best Fantasy TE games of all time (since 1960)
| Rk | Tight End | Date | OPP | FPTS | REC | YDS | TD |
| 1 | Kellen Winslow, SD | 11/21/1981 | OAK | 57.4 | 13 | 144 | 5 |
| 2 | Kellen Winslow, SD | 12/11/1983 | KC | 48.2 | 14 | 162 | 3 |
| 3 | Shannon Sharpe, DEN | 10/6/1996 | SD | 46.3 | 13 | 153 | 3 |
| 4 | Mike Ditka, CHI | 11/12/1961 | GB | 46 | 9 | 190 | 3 |
| 5 | Shannon Sharpe, DEN | 10/20/2002 | KC | 45.4 | 12 | 214 | 2 |
| 6 | Darren Waller, LV | 12/6/2020 | NYJ | 45 | 13 | 200 | 2 |
| 7 | Rich Caster, NYJ | 9/24/1972 | BAL | 44.4 | 6 | 204 | 3 |
| 8 | Todd Christensen, OAK | 10/16/1983 | SEA | 44.2 | 11 | 152 | 3 |
| 9 | Mike Ditka, CHI | 10/13/1963 | LAR | 44 | 9 | 110 | 4 |
| 10 | Keith Jackson, PHI | 9/17/1989 | WAS | 42.6 | 12 | 126 | 3 |
| 11 | Jimmie Giles, TB | 10/20/1985 | MIA | 42.6 | 7 | 116 | 4 |
| 12 | Taysom Hill, NO | 11/17/2024 | CLE | 42.5 | 8 | 50 | 0 |
| 13 | Antonio Gates, SD | 10/30/2005 | KC | 42.5 | 10 | 145 | 3 |
| 14 | Jackie Smith, STL | 10/13/1963 | PIT | 42.2 | 9 | 212 | 2 |
| 15 | Rob Gronkowski, NE | 10/26/2014 | CHI | 41.9 | 9 | 149 | 3 |
| 16 | Pete Retzlaff, PHI | 11/28/1965 | STL | 41.8 | 9 | 148 | 3 |
| 17 | Mark Andrews, BAL | 10/11/2021 | IND | 41.7 | 11 | 147 | 2 |
| 18 | Travis Kelce, KC | 12/16/2021 | LAC | 41.1 | 10 | 191 | 2 |
| 19 | Zach Ertz, PHI | 11/11/2018 | DAL | 40.5 | 14 | 145 | 2 |
| 20 | George Kittle, SF | 10/4/2020 | PHI | 40.1 | 15 | 183 | 1 |
This table was incredibly fun to make as a fantasy nerd. The biggest surprise was the fact that Rob Gronkowski, Travis Kelce, Mark Andrews, Zach Ertz, and George Kittle are nowhere near the top 10.
Kellen Winslow, who is an absolute beast, has the top two games of all time from the position. Shannon Sharpe and Mike Ditka are the only other two TEs who find themselves on this list twice.
When is National Tight Ends Day 2025?
Due to its inaugural celebration of the joke by Jimmy Garoppolo, George Kittle, and Garrett Celek for the first official instance in Week 8 of the 2019 season, it’s typically celebrated on the fourth Sunday in October to line up with that season window on the calendar.
In 2025, this means National Tight Ends Day will take place on Oct. 26.
