2025 Fantasy Football Winners & Losers: Tight Ends
Each year we dissect the season that was. The ups and downs. The injuries. The new hotness. The free agent super signing. The big trade that did or didn’t pan out. The studs and duds of our fantasy football frenzy. This look back is essential before starting to dive into 2026. Who would you put in each of these categories and why? Comment below.
SEASON MVP
Trey McBride (Cardinals) – We expected a monster year for McBride, but this…? Whoa! He had 18.6 PPR points per game. Three players were tied for second with 14.7 – Brock Bowers, George Kittle and Tucker Kraft. The massive difference was that McBride played all 17 games. The others missed five, six and nine games respectively. McBride outpaced Kyle Pitts who was TE2 overall by 105 PPR points. Arguably the most dominant tight end season ever; in relation to his competition.
1ST HALF MVP (Week 1-7)
Jake Ferguson (Cowboys) – Fergulicious was a beast to start off the season. He had a modest 7.3 PPR points Week 1 and 12.3 in Week 6, but had between 17-24 the other four games with at least six targets in all but one game as well as six touchdowns over that period. He was solid in the second half too, but had a 0 in Week 8 and a bye in Week 10. Drafting him as the TE14 was an absolute steal, value and first-half league winning move.
2ND HALF MVP (Weeks 8-14)
Brock Bowers (Raiders) – Like every other category, this could/should/would be McBride, but for the sake of sharing the wealth, let’s go with the only bright spot for Las Vegas this season. Bowers (and McBride) both had bye weeks, but thereafter, Bowers went for 43(!!!) PPR points against the Jaguars with 12/127/3 on 13 targets. Whoof. He was a Top10 TE in four of the next five games with three of those being Top6. If not for missing three games, the league’s worst offensive line, an overrated Geno Smith and zero efficacy by the Raiders on offense, Bowers could have won your league for you. We’ll try again in 2026. He’s obviously not the issue.
FANTASY PLAYOFF MVP (Weeks 15-17)
Kyle Pitts (Falcons) – Again, this is McBride’s category, but I’m in a good mood and we need some Kyle Pitts love in fantasy football. For TE standards, Pitts was “mid” over the first 14 weeks, but once the fantasy playoffs hit, he scored a massive 40 PPR points with 11/166/3 on 12 targets vs. the Buccaneers. It was a game all of us kept saying to ourselves, “why hasn’t this been the case every game?!”. Nonetheless, he either won your week, or kicked you out. Week 16 he went 7/57/1 before dudding in the fantasy championship. To his defense, the Rams were one of the best teams vs. TEs all season, so you may have streamed someone else. Regardless, drafting him TE15, or picking him up off waivers was a league-winning get. Let’s hope we get an encore in 2026 with the Falcons, or elsewhere… 49ers in place of George Kittle? Kansas City in place for a retiring Travis Kelce? Who knows.
BREAKOUT
Dallas Goedert (Eagles) – Drafted as TE16 and finishing TE6. Goedert has historically seen an uptick in opportunity and production when either AJ Brown or DaVonta Smith missed time, but Smith played every game and Brown only missed Week 8. Goedert had two touchdowns that game. He led TEs with 11 touchdowns on the season. His overall turnout was front-loaded, scoring seven touchdowns in the first eight games, but only four more rest of the year; however, all of those came in the fantasy playoffs. Like most TEs, Goedert had a few duds, but for the most part, he was startable and effective weekly. If AJ Brown leaves in 2026, I expect a monster opportunity for Goedert with a new Offensive Coordinator (TBD as of this writing).
BUST (DRAFTED AS TOP15 WR)
T.J. Hockenson (Vikings) – Just like Justin Jefferson, if you told me, “T.J. will play all but one game on a potent Vikings offense”, I’d be thrilled to draft him TE6. As we know… that simply wasn’t the case. Well, the ‘play all but one game’ part was, but the ‘potent offense’ part was a farce. Hockenson somehow ended as the TE26 in PPR points per game. WHAT?! He had three total touchdowns and just two games with 50+ receiving yards. The Vikings were a joke all season. We can forgive Hockenson for this, but drafters will certainly be skeptical come August debating Hockenson and a number of streamable TEs. Let’s not completely forget though that Hock has three Top4 finishes in his career and saw his lowest Yards Per Reception at 8.6 in 2025. If that returns to 10+ ypr, he should turn out to be a value pick in later rounds.
SLEEPER (DRAFTED ROUND 8+)
Hunter Henry (Patriots) – Henry was drafted TE19 and finished TE14. Not a huge increase, but the fact that he played every game, only had three “bust games”, but six games of 10+ PPR points is worth the acknowledgement here. He was Drake Maye’s most consistent option and was tied for second among TEs (with George Kittle) with seven touchdowns. I’m loving that from my, “eh, what the hell, why not” streaming TE pick in the 13th Round.
BEST DRAFT PICK VALUE (BASED ON ADP)
Juwan Johnson (Saints) – This is one of my favorite categories to research and write about. Johnson was drafted as the… TE37 (essentially undrafted) behind teammate Taysom Hill, Noah Gray, Ja’Tavion Sanders, Terance Ferguson and Tyler Conklin among others. Whoops! Johnson finished as the TE12 in PPR points per game. He played every game and outside of Chris Olave’s bounce back campaign, was the only consistent option for the Saints (pour one out for Alvin Kamara). Johnson started the season with TE4 and TE3 weeks. He cooled off for about a month, but then was a Top12 TE six of the next 15 weeks including the fantasy playoffs. He only had three total touchdowns on an inept offense, but at least seven targets in half of his games. If you waited on TE or happened to scoop him off waivers, you most likely had positive weeks and some unexpected booms along the way. Johnson had a great repertoire with Tyler Shough. I anticipate that getting better in 2026.
ROOKIE STANDOUT
Tyler Warren (Colts) and Harold Fannin Jr. (Browns) – Let’s give a shout out to two of the rookies here. Both finished tied as TE9. One is obviously, Warren was drafted TE10 with high expectations coming out of Penn State. Over the first seven weeks of the season with Daniel Jones Healthy, Warren was TE3 behind only above-mentioned Ferguson and McBride. Over the back half, Warren was TE13. Not terrible, but fell off. Meanwhile, Fannin surpassed David Njoku (who was drafted one spot ahead of Warren preseason) and rallied to TE10 from weeks 1-7 and TE6 from Week 8 on. Rarely do rookie TEs produce with consistency at a high level in fantasy. Both of these guys did that. Let’s hope it carries over to 2026.
WHAT IF…
Tucker Kraft (Packers) stayed healthy.
Kraft was lost for the season to a torn ACL in Week 9. Upon his season-ending injury, he was TE1 over the first eight games with 33 points in Week 8. Kraft was the Packers’ main threat when healthy with six touchdowns in eight games. He had two TE1 overall performances and two other Top10 finishes during that time. The Packers abandoned the TE position almost completely in the second half of the season. Kraft will be a focal point once again assuming he’s ready for 2026. By the dip in Dynasty while you can.
KEEP YOUR EYE ON ________ FOR 2026
Colston Loveland (Bears), Brenton Strange (Jaguars), Oronde Gadsen Jr. (Chargers), AJ Barner (Seahawks), Theo Johnson (Giants) and Mark Andrews (Ravens). All of these tight ends finished between TE15 and TE25 in PPR points per game. They all showed flashes of TE1 potential, but also had weeks that they disappeared. Each has either WR dominance ahead of them, or QB questions, or both. They’re all excellent late-round options should their ADP fall there. Great upside players with little risk on draft day; most likely.
Be sure to check out Razzball Football’s updated rankings: QB | RB | WR | TE | DEF
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