TE Rankings

Kelce has been the gold standard at the tight end position for the better part of the last decade, but he looked like he lost a step for much of the 2023 regular season and finished 16 receiving yards short of an eighth consecutive 1,000-yard campaign. His postseason performance suggested concerns over the 34-year-old tight end slowing down were overblown, however, as Kelce compiled 355 yards and three touchdowns in four playoff games to help the Chiefs capture their second straight Super Bowl. Kelce missed the 2023 season opener due to a knee injury and was held out of the regular-season finale since the Chiefs were locked into their playoff seed, but he suited up for all 15 games in between, marking the ninth consecutive campaign in which he’s played at least that many games. Even if Kelce’s best days are behind him, the star TE is still locked in as the most trusted target for QB Patrick Mahomes, as Kelce’s 121 targets, 93 catches and 984 receiving yards all led the Chiefs in 2023, and each mark ranked in the top four among NFL tight ends. Kelce's mix of production and availability gives him an elite floor, especially for a tight end, and he could even be due for a bounce-back season in the touchdown department. The 6-foot-5 TE's five TDs last season tied his lowest mark in the last seven years, and he scored at least eight times in each of the other five seasons over that span.

Young tight ends often take a year or two to find their footing in the NFL, but LaPorta bucked that trend with 86 catches for 889 yards and 10 touchdowns on 120 targets as a rookie in 2023. The second-round draft pick out of Iowa couldn’t quite catch up to Mike Ditka’s rookie tight end records of 1,076 receiving yards and 12 touchdowns, but LaPorta’s 86 receptions were the most by a first-year TE in NFL history. No other tight end scored more than six touchdowns last year, and LaPorta also ranked top-five at the position in catches, targets and receiving yards. Amon-Ra St. Brown is likely to lead the Lions in targets again in 2024, but the 44-target gap between St. Brown and LaPorta in 2023 was smaller than the 49-target gap between LaPorta and Jared Goff's third-favorite target, Jahmyr Gibbs, which suggests LaPorta has the inside track to once again work as the second option in Detroit's passing game in 2024. LaPorta finished fourth among TEs with 16 red-zone targets and tied for second with 10 targets inside the 10-yard line, so he's unlikely to outscore all other TEs by at least four TDs again, but the ingredients are there for LaPorta to follow up his superb rookie season with another strong campaign.

Andrews was on pace for another excellent season in 2023 before a lower-leg injury ended his regular season in Week 11. He returned in the playoffs and is healthy heading into 2024, which will be Andrews’ age-29 season. Despite missing the last seven weeks in 2023, Andrews still tied for second among tight ends with six touchdowns, and his 544 receiving yards through 10 games worked out to a 925-yard, 17-game pace, which would have been good for fifth at the position. Andrews’ 153-target, 1,361-yard season in 2021 looks to be an outlier, but he has also posted yardage totals of 852 and 847 yards over the last five campaigns while averaging 7.4 touchdowns over that five-year stretch. His second-highest target total was 113 in 2022, and Andrews was on pace to exceed 100 targets again in 2023 while working as Lamar Jackson's co-favorite target alongside wide receiver Zay Flowers. Isaiah Likely filled in admirably after Andrews went down, but Likely hasn’t cut into Andrews’ playing time or production much over the past two seasons, so a healthy Andrews has the right mix of skill and situation to remain among the top performers at his position in 2024.

Kittle quietly jumped back over the 1,000-yard threshold for the first time since 2019 and led all tight ends with 1,020 receiving yards last season. He also tied for second at the position with six touchdowns, making the most of pedestrian volume. With plenty of other mouths to feed in San Francisco -- namely Christian McCaffrey, Brandon Aiyuk and Deebo Samuel -- Kittle had to settle for just 90 targets, which was tied for ninth among tight ends. Kittle’s elite YAC ability (7.5 average yards after catch per reception in 2023) coupled with Brock Purdy’s accuracy allowed Kittle to post a career-high 11.3 yards per target, well above the 30-year-old tight end’s previous best mark of 10.1 YPT. He also tied a career high with 16 games played, a mark Kittle previously reached in only 2018. From a health and efficiency perspective, 2023 was about as good as it gets for Kittle, but increased volume in 2024 could help offset any potential declines in those categories. While Kittle's currently recovering from offseason core muscle surgery, McCaffrey and Samuel have their own checkered injury histories, while Aiyuk's embroiled in contentious extension talks and could want out, so there are a few avenues that could lead to increased attention from Purdy for Kittle.

McBride had just 265 receiving yards as a rookie, but the 2022 second-round draft pick out of Colorado State emerged as one of the league’s most productive tight ends in the second half of his sophomore season. Zach Ertz hurt his quadriceps in Week 7 of 2023 and didn’t suit up for the Cardinals again, opening the door for McBride to post 66 catches for 655 yards and three touchdowns on 85 targets over the last 10 games of the season. If McBride could sustain that 10-game pace over a full 17-game season, it would work out to 112 catches for 1,114 receiving yards on 145 targets. Both of those 17-game target and yardage totals would have led all NFL tight ends in 2023, and only Evan Engram (114) had more receptions. Arizona let top wide receiver Marquise Brown walk in free agency, which could open up even more targets for McBride on a rebuilding Cardinals team that could find itself playing from behind a lot again in 2024 after finishing 4-13 each of the past two seasons. Few if any TEs across the NFL have a higher volume floor than McBride, who had at least six catches in six of the eight games started by Kyler Murray last year.