It’s no secret that we love the tight end position here at Fantasy Alarm. It’s been making us money for years. So why wouldn’t we lean into that in tournaments like Underdog’s Best Ball Mania and try to squeeze the best possible value we can out of the position?

Last year, for instance, I took a team to 226th out of 672,672, which is the top 0.03% of Best Ball Mania V. And the only two tight ends that scored points on that team were drafted outside the top 12 in Hunter Henry and Pat Freiermuth. It might not be flashy, but that COMBINATION had only one week with under 5 points in this half PPR format. 

Week

Hunter Henry

Pat Freiermuth

1

2.8

4.7

2

14.9

5.9

3

1.9

5.3

4

2.2

14.2

5

4.2

7.7

6

11.6

2.6

7

13.2

6.1

8

7

2.9

9

9.1

BYE

10

1.9

9.2

11

9.3

2.4

12

6.9

7.9

13

11

15.8

14

BYE

12.3

15

4.5

9.7

16

11.9

3.1

17

0

7.5



 

This year, there are both early and late values that feel pretty solid at the right end position. If you want ALL of our rankings with a tiered grid to help with ADP, you can grab a copy of our 2025 Best Ball Guide. There are a lot more sleeper options in there, obviously. To get you started, though, here are some of the early values we like best at the tight end position. 


 

 

 

George Kittle, TE San Francisco 49ers

George Kittle consistently finishes as a top-5 tight end in fantasy. But anyone who has had him in redraft leagues where you actually set a lineup each week knows that it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. Not only does he typically miss at least a game or two with injury each year, but the nature of that 49ers offense can lead to inconsistency. The same guy who can go out and rip off big chunk plays or score multiple TDs can also catch one or two passes, like he did against the Bills and Cardinals last year. 

In best ball, that stuff doesn’t really bother us. We will have two or three tight ends in our stable to keep things afloat. We don’t care about the down weeks as much as we do the spike weeks. And George Kittle uniquely provides those as he’s not only an endzone target, but his athleticism allows him to rip off chunk plays. No active NFL tight end has more 40+ yard plays than his 18, and he’s the only one with multiple plays of 70+ yards. The next closest active TE besides Travis Kelce (also 18) is Jonnu Smith with 8.

We’ve always liked this scheme for Kittle as the fullback and blocking tight end usage highly consolidates the targets among the top two options. With Kyle Juszczyk back and Luke Farrell in town, that shouldn’t change. And, with the Deebo Samuel trade along with Brandon Aiyuk missing a chunk of the season with an injury, conditions should be pretty good for Kittle. 

 

 


 

Travis Kelce, TE Kansas City Chiefs

Fantasy football doesn’t always have to be hard. Our goal, especially for best ball where we are drafting many teams, is to find discrepancies in player pricing. And Travis Kelce as the TE7 right now at pick 100 in the 9th round is one I’m getting shares in early of before people figure out what is going on.

Travis Kelce might not be the Travis Kelce of old, who was going TE1 overall. But he’s still one of the focal points of his offense. He still got the third most targets last year despite not playing Week 18 - his 133 was 22 more than the TE4 in targets and 36 more than the tie at TE5-6. When I look at the tight ends going around him, like T.J. Hockenson, Jonnu Smith, Colston Loveland, etc. I’m more worried about their target competition than I am Kelce. 

And Kelce doesn’t need to be your “league winner”. As I mentioned in the intro, you don’t necessarily even need a “league winner”. I pieced things together with Hunter Henry and Pat Freiermuth. But Kelce could absolutely be a league winner if he and Patrick Mahomes put together a good stretch of fantasy gamers when it matters most in Underdog playoffs. Mahomes goes around pick 80 with Kelce at pick 100, so it’s never been easier to stack these two stars.

 

 


 

Mark Andrews, TE Baltimore Ravens

With these first three options here, it might feel like I’m chasing the old guys. And I am. The age curve being so brutal for running backs often makes us feel like it’s the same for other positions. But some of the top seasons from quarterbacks, wide receivers, and tight ends have come after the age of 30. And that’s especially true for Hall of Fame caliber guys - just look at the age 30 seasons for guys like Marvin Harrison Sr. and Randy Moss. 

Travis Kelce didn’t have his first 1,000-yard season until he was 27. Zach Ertz didn’t until he was 28th. Both of those guys were top 6 tight ends in receptions last year at 34. As of today, Mark Andrews is 29 years old. I firmly believe that his slow start last year was a combination of both his recovery from Tighrope ankle surgery and a car accident he was in right before the season. Over the second half of the season, he was a best ball force, scoring 11 touchdowns in 12 games.

The Baltimore Ravens did not add any major weapons. It’s still Zay Flowers and Mark Andrews at the top of that pecking order, with Rashod Bateman and Isaiah Likely contributing. Andrews could easily have a comeback season towards the top three tight end range, and the playoff drop is big motivation. I have no problem adding Mark Andrews to my tight end room at pick 107 on average, especially if I already took Lamar Jackson. 

 

 


 

Evan Engram, TE Denver Broncos

I love misconceptions. Anything that creates bias against a player and keeps his ADP low is going to be good for us. And when a player gets released, that creates a bias against that player. We’ll gladly take advantage of that.

Liam Coen has a fairly specific scheme, which originated in Los Angeles with the Rams and traveled with him to the Buccaneers and now the Jaguars. They like to use three WR sets with one inline, “two-way” tight end that can both block and run routes. It was Tyler Higbee in LA and Cade Otton with TB. They also use one of their top WRs primarily in the slot (like Cooper Kupp and Chris Godwin). Because of that, they had no need for Christian Kirk. And they had no need for “big slot” tight end Evan Engram.

Sean Payton, on the other hand, loves tight ends who play wide receiver. He calls them “jokers” in his offense as guys that can play “out of position” and create mismatches. Evan Engram might not be a good fit for Liam Coen, but he’s a perfect fit for what the Broncos want to do. Engram is very excited about this new “joker” role. And, if you check where we have him in the 2025 Best Ball Cheat Sheet, you’ll see that we’re very excited too. 
 

https://x.com/eazyengram/status/1900299044133416976

 

Mason Taylor, TE New York Jets

One of the cheat codes for upside plays has always been to look around and see who could be a top two target on their team. That’s been the path for the vast majority of difference-making tight ends. And, when you look at the New York Jets, there isn’t much going on after Garrett Wilson. Right now, I’d say it’s either Breece Hall or Mason Taylor.

Now, Taylor does not have a safe floor. In college, he was asked to play inline on 70% of his snaps and block on 16% of his pass plays. That is a blocking profile. But this is best ball where the floor doesn’t matter. And most of the guys you take in the last few rounds aren’t going to amount to much. Folks are starting to figure out that Mason Taylor has that path, which is why he goes at TE24. But that’s still an affordable price to pay. 
 

 

 

BONUS Elijah Arroyo, Seattle Seahawks

Everyone is going crazy for Colston Loveland and Tyler Warren. And rightfully so - those are good players. But some of these other rookie tight ends could make some noise, as we talked about with Mason Taylor. And Arroyo’s path could be opening up in a big way soon.

There are rumors floating around that Noah Fant could either be traded or released. Either one would free up $9.5M for the Seahawks. And the new regime in Seattle has been quoted as saying Arroyo is a guy they actually think could play split end, let alone tight end. That’s appealing for fantasy.

What’s even more appealing is that Klint Kubiak plans to use a fullback. That could highly consolidate the targets among the top couple of guys in this offense, like we see in San Francisco and Seattle. I’m not necessarily betting against Cooper Kupp, but for the people that are, they should be looking at the tight end. Whether it’s Fant or Arroyo (or maybe even AJ Barner), there is potential value to be had.