Where and When to Target TEs

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  • By Jon Mosales

    Last Updated on June 17, 2025 3:19 pm by Jon Mosales | Published: June 17, 2025

    It seems like an eternal battle every season about the value of TEs.  Last season was supposed to be the big TE comeback and then no TE in the league scored more than nine points in Week 1.  We finished with four players that averaged 10+ FPPG in .5 PPR scoring and the goal here is find out if it’s worth it to go grab one of them this season.

    The Big Three

    Brock Bowers, George Kittle, Trey McBride

    We can safely agree that if you are going to big on TE, you want one of Brock Bowers, Trey McBride or George Kittle.  They were the only three players with over 1000 yards of receiving and are a clear tier above anyone else.  Bowers was a rookie and it the clear-cut TE1 as he was able to thrive despite the worst group of QBs throwing him the ball in the league.  Bowers is behind Kittle in ADP, but that’s just because Kittle has more of a proven track record and has finished as a top-five TE six of the last seven seasons.  McBride might be in the best situation, but his inability to get a rec TD until the end of the season really hampered his overall fantasy value.

    If Kittle (ADP 19), Bowers (ADP 21) and McBride (ADP 35) are all in the same tier, how do you not love McBride a round later.  If we’re are trying to separate the differences between the three then Kittle is the best player, establishing new career bests in catch rate (83.0%) and yards per target (11.8), but is also 31 and headed for a decline sooner rather than later.  Playing the guessing game of when a player is going to fall off is usually a losing proposition, but with three options to choose from, I can’t see myself choosing the oldest player.  Next we have Bowers, who is teaming with value, but I also thought the same of Sam LaPorta last season.  Now Bowers doesn’t have as much competition for targets as LaPorta, but once bitten, twice shy.  His 23.6% TS was second for TEs and while the Raiders did add RB Ashton Jeanty and Jack Bech and I could see that number go up with Geno Smith, who had the 4th most passing yards last season.  The Raiders only had 19 passing TDs last season and Bowers got five of them, if you are going to use a second-round pick on Bowers, you have to hope that numbers nearly doubles.

    McBride is the player that really pops off the page.  Between Kittle, Bowers and McBride, the QB situations are all about the same. They all threw around 20 TD passes and Smith had 470 more passing yards than Murray.  Murray has never had more than 26 passing TDs and of the 21 last season, McBride only had two.  Despite ranking second in red zone targets, McBride finished with only two receiving touchdowns.  The three TEs finished within a point in FPPG, but McBride had the unluckiest season.  ARI hasn’t made any biggest acquisitions to threaten McBride’s role as ARI was 1st in targeting TEs at 34% last season.   I will and always will be a TE truther and think the positional advantage you get by having an elite player there vs. the rest of the league who is shot gunning the position is unparalleled.


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    June 17, 2025, 3:19 pm