As you get ready for the upcoming fantasy football season, it’s time to get your Best Ball teams all set up and ready to roll! With passing games producing at extremely high rates across the NFL, it’s not just wide receivers that can benefit from points piling up. Tight ends are regular contributors in many teams’ passing games and can also be a consistent part of your winning Best Ball strategy.
To help you find success in your drafts, check out these 2023 Best Ball Tight End Rankings which can be used to identify sleepers, starters and scrubs. If you’re playing Best Ball on Underdog Fantasy Football, be sure to take advantage of the Fantasy Labs Underdog Fantasy promo code and get a $100 deposit bonus when you sign up.
If you love drafting fantasy football teams but aren’t a fan of season-long management, Best Ball is the perfect format for you. In this format, entrants draft a team of players in a snake format draft. Throughout the season, there are no waivers, substitutions, or trades. Each week your top scorers at each position automatically are moved into your starting lineup. Each team starts one tight end each week with the possibility of a second in the flex spot if they are the highest scorer available. Receptions are given 0.5 fantasy points per reception in standard Underdog scoring. Both receiving and rushing yards are 0.1 fantasy points per yard and 6.0 fantasy points per rushing or receiving touchdown
Getting the right tight end can be challenging since their production is directly tied to their role in the offense. Tight ends in new places or new offenses come with high risk, but they can also step right into a huge role and emerge as difference-makers if they’re in the right spot.
Here are the top 20 in my Underdog Fantasy Football Wide Receiver Rankings with some brief analysis at the bottom of the page.
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2023 Best Ball TE Rankings
- Travis Kelce, Kansas City Chiefs
- T.J. Hockenson, Minnesota Vikings
- Darren Waller, New York Giants
- Mark Andrews, Baltimore Ravens
- George Kittle, San Francisco 49ers
- Dallas Goedert, Philadelphia Eagles
- Kyle Pitts, Atlanta Falcons
- David Njoku, Cleveland Browns
- Dalton Kincaid, Buffalo Bills
- Pat Freiermuth, Pittsburgh Steelers
- Evan Engram, Jacksonville Jaguars
- Greg Dulcich, Denver Broncos
- Chigoziem Okonwo, Tennessee Titans
- Cole Kmet, Chicago Bears
- Dalton Schultz, Houston Texans
- Tyler Higbee, Los Angeles Rams
- Irv Smith, Cincinnati Bengals
- Mike Gesicki, New England Patriots
- Tayson Hill, New Orleans Saints
- Dawson Knox, Buffalo Bills
How I’m Drafting Tight Ends in 2023
Alone at the top
The easy consensus for the top spot is Travis Kelce, who has been the highest-scoring tight end in six of the past seven seasons. He is coming off a career-high 110 receptions last season and reached 1,000+ yards for the seventh straight season. He has averaged 8.4 touchdowns per year during that run of success and found the end zone 12 times last year.
He outproduced the second-best tight end (T.J. Hockenson) by 44% of Hockenson’s total, showing how vast the gap is between Kelce and the rest of the tight end options. Barring injury, it’s hard to see him not finishing as the top tight end again this season.
The question then becomes how early should you target him. Overall, I rank him No. 5 overall but would have no issue if you took him as early as No. 3 overall behind just the dynamic receiver duo of Justin Jefferson and Ja’Marr Chase. Kelce gets an added boost in value due to positional scarcity and enables players who draft him to focus on other areas instead of tight end depth since he’s been remarkably durable.
Other top options
Only one best-ball team per league gets to enjoy the full Travis Kelce experience, but there are other strong TE plays to consider if you don’t have a chance to grab the Chiefs’ superstar. T.J. Hockenson gets my second spot in his first full year in Minnesota. After joining the Vikings, he actually saw his targets per game increase from 6.1 targets to 8.6 targets per game. With Adam Theilen in Carolina, Hockenson should be heavily involved as a security blanket for Kirk Cousins from Week 1.
I also am very high on Darren Waller, who made the move to the Giants this offseason. He struggled to stay healthy last year, but if he’s on the field, he should be the Giants’go-to option in the passing game especially in the red zone. After last season, I trust Brian Daboll to make the most of Waller and feed him plenty of targets both in the red zone and in the middle of the field. His health is definitely a concern, but I like taking him early for his high-volume games and backstopping him with a solid second option.
Of the rest of the tier right behind Kelce, the one I’m lowest on compared to ADP is Kyle Pitts. I definitely acknowledge the upside, but I expect Atlanta’s offense to be extremely run-heavy and am not at all confident in their QB play.
Playing the Waiting Game
After Kelce goes extremely early, there’s usually a run on tight ends in the middle rounds. Depending on where you are in the draft and in your roster construction, you might end up missing out on all the “safe” options in the top eight. Don’t worry, though, there are still some options with good ceilings. Dalton Kincaid is one of the most intriguing options in this range because he offers such tantalizing upside in a top offense with the Bills. Buffalo drafted Kincaid with the No. 25 pick overall and hopes the big target from Utah can successfully make the leap to the pros. He and Dawson Knox will have to figure out how to co-exist, and he’ll have to carve out a role in an offense with plenty of mouths to feed, but he has big-play potential from multiple alignments. If you take a shot on Kincaid near the bottom of the top-10 tight ends, just make sure to pair him with an established play to help cover any early-season learning curve.
Second-year tight end Greg Dulcich is another name I like in this range based on the ceiling he brings at his ADP. He was a rookie last year and looked good when available, although he was limited by multiple hamstring issues. He drew 55 targets in 10 games, though, and hauled in 33 catches for 411 yards and two touchdowns. With Sean Payton in town to get the offense on track, Dulcich could emerge as a big-time target for Russell Wilson if the second-year tight end can stay healthy and establish his role.
Rookies to roll the dice on
If you are swinging for the fences with your second or third tight end late in drafts, there are three intriguing rookies that fall just outside my top 20. Sam LaPorta is expected to win the Lions tight end job and could step into Hockenson’s old role. LaPorta could be the team’s second pass-catching option behind Amon-Ra St. Brown to open the year. Reports out of camp have been great for LaPorta and have specifically noted his work in the red zone. If you can get him after 20 other tight ends have been taken, he brings an extremely high ceiling.
Another rookie to watch closely is Michael Mayer, who will be competing with Austin Hooper and O.J. Howard for the work vacated by Waller’s trade to New York. Mayer was excellent at Notre Dame, producing 2,099 yards and 18 touchdowns on 180 catches over three seasons. He has drawn Gronk comparisons, but rookie tight ends sometimes come along slowly in coach Josh McDaniels’ system, so there is both high upside and high risk unless you snag him as a late flier.
The Packers actually have two rookie tight ends worth watching in Luke Musgrave and Tucker Kraft. Musgrave is a pure athlete but is very unrefined. He could be great but could also take time. Kraft is a much more proven college player out of South Dakota State. He doesn’t have quite as high of an athletic ceiling but watch to see which rookie claims the job. You could take a flier on either of them in the final round of your best ball draft if you need TE depth, but LaPorta and Mayer both have clearer paths to playing time.
These rookies may take some time to settle in and find their role, but by the end of the season, they should be in a place to be regular contributors and come with high ceilings if they click and produce as go-to options in their teams’ offense. They’re my favorite sleeper options outside the top 20 listed above.
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