Fantasy Football Rankings 2023: Tight End Positional Breakdown
TJ Zwarych breaks down 2023 fantasy football rankings for tight end, and tells you three tight ends to pay attention to in your upcoming fantasy drafts.
Happy summer RotoGrinders! Whether you’re grinding Best Ball drafts, prepping for DFS or fine-tuning your draft strategy for a season-long league, the debut of June typically marks the beginning of NFL fever.
Thankfully, the Rotogrinders team has you covered with positional breakdowns for quarterbacks, wide receivers, running backs and the all-important tight end position. An often forgotten position, a good set of Fantasy Football tight end rankings can make or break your draft. Whether it’s sneakily drafting a potential stud late or locking in Travis Kelce early, tight ends can be the key to separating your team from the pack en route to a Fantasy Football Championship.
It’s time to sit back, relax in the sun and take in the Fantasy Football tight end rankings that can help you take down your friends this season. Grab a cold drink, set up your league, use Sleeper Fantasy promo code GRINDERS for a $100 deposit match to partake in some fantasy games throughout the season and let’s get into the nitty-gritty.
Fantasy Football Tight End Rankings 2023
| Player | Team | Rank | ADPrk | ADP | FPTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Travis Kelce |  KCC | 1 | 1 | 4.00 | 251.42 |
| Mark Andrews |  BAL | 2 | 2 | 38.00 | 211.84 |
| T.J. Hockenson |  MIN | 3 | 3 | 40.00 | 196.88 |
| George Kittle |  SFO | 4 | 4 | 56.00 | 150.30 |
| Dallas Goedert |  PHI | 5 | 5 | 67.00 | 149.66 |
| Kyle Pitts |  ATL | 6 | 6 | 68.00 | 149.05 |
| Darren Waller |  NYG | 7 | 7 | 82.00 | 148.58 |
| Dalton Schultz |  HOU | 8 | 10 | 102.00 | 144.87 |
| Pat Freiermuth |  PIT | 9 | 9 | 96.00 | 135.39 |
| Evan Engram |  JAC | 10 | 8 | 85.00 | 133.82 |
| Chigoziem Okonkwo |  TEN | 11 | 14 | 121.00 | 133.02 |
| David Njoku |  CLE | 12 | 11 | 107.00 | 130.22 |
| Cole Kmet |  CHI | 13 | 12 | 118.00 | 115.88 |
| Greg Dulcich |  DEN | 14 | 15 | 133.00 | 111.81 |
| Juwan Johnson |  NOS | 15 | 18 | 160.00 | 111.67 |
| Gerald Everett |  LAC | 16 | 17 | 159.00 | 109.18 |
| Tyler Higbee |  LAR | 17 | 16 | 143.00 | 106.32 |
| Dawson Knox |  BUF | 18 | 13 | 120.00 | 104.43 |
| Dalton Kincaid | BUF | 19 | 19 | 174.00 | 104.35 |
| Hunter Henry |  NEP | 20 | 20 | 221.00 | 103.57 |
These Fantasy Football tight end rankings are courtesy of the RotoGrinders projections team, last updated in June 2023.
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Three Tight Ends To Watch In Fantasy Football Drafts
Mark Andrews
It’s likely that Travis Kelce will once again finish as the top standard and PPR scoring tight end this season. However, his early first-round ADP creates a situation where if he doesn’t finish in the number one spot by a fairly wide margin, your team likely didn’t do too well this season. While he’s been the epitome of safety throughout his career, that doesn’t cut it for a top 5 draft pick in Fantasy Football drafts. It’s absolutely bonkers to me that a player of Andrew’s caliber is getting picked in the late 3rd or early 4th round of drafts in comparison to the early first-round ADP of Kelce. With Lamar Jackson secured as the starter with a new long-term contract, Andrews is poised for another terrific season with an upside that can match Travis Kelce.
It seems like his last year’s numbers are being held against him in drafts this season. Although Andrews only had 5 touchdowns last year, these all came with Lamar Jackson under the helm. While Mark Andrews doesn’t possess the same fantasy point floor as Travis Kelce, the difference in opportunity cost between these two players provides a huge edge to those who are able to secure Andrews in the 3rd or 4th round, as opposed to selecting Kelce early in the 1st. Early in the Ravens’ 2022 season, both Lamar Jackson and his tight end were healthy and clicking. Andrews was able to secure all 5 of his touchdowns and over half of his total yards in the first 6 games of the year. Now that his superstar QB is healthy, has a new contract and is poised for a breakout year, I think Andrews has a chance to eclipse Kelce as 2023’s top tight end. With a much lower opportunity cost, waiting for Andrews instead of selecting Kelce early is a no-brainer.
Greg Dulcich
Dulcich burst onto the scene with the Broncos last year, playing in only 10 games and still managing 411 yards and 2 TDs in his rookie campaign. The touchdowns left much to be desired, however, we now have a new regime in Denver. It’s no secret how much Sean Payton loves to use his tight ends in the red zone, we all remember Jimmy Graham right? While Dulcich isn’t quite the 6’7 beast Graham was, he had at least 8 targets in 4 of the 10 games last year. Even if you assume he doesn’t take a step forward, but just replicates his last season’s numbers over an entire year, he’s still one of the top values at his ADP of 133.
It’s not inconceivable to think Dulcich might take another leap forward with his own game in year 2 either. There’s no reason why the yardage and targets shouldn’t be there like they were last season, and if Payton continues to heavily target tight ends in the red zone as he did with the Saints, the second-year tight end could be in for a huge breakout season.
Gerald Everett
If I can’t get Mark Andrews in the late 3rd or early 4th round of my drafts, I want to sit back and wait for one of these later tight ends. The 10th-round range looks pretty juicy with young, high-upside talents like Greg Dulcich and Chigoziem Okonkwo. However, if I miss out on the two young potential studs, there’s still one stand out towards the end of the draft. With an ADP of 159, Gerald Everett provides a safe, steady option that has the opportunity for a huge breakout year. New Chargers Offensive Coordinator Kellen Moore is poised to not only speed up the offense but also finally allow the canon arm of Justin Herbert to push the ball downfield more often.
Moore’s offense has frequently allowed tight ends like Daulton Schultz to sign previously during his tenure in Dallas. While the 28-year-old Everett isn’t likely to finish as a top 5 player at his position or anything like that, the value for his ADP is still fantastic. He’s being drafted as the 17th tight end in most leagues right now, however, I definitely view Everett as a mid to low-end TE1 throughout the season. Similarly to Dulcich, if nothing were to change from their role last season, I’d love the value of where they’re being drafted. However, if Everett is to see some increased targets and potentially more down-the-field looks in this new offense, he has the ability to drastically outperform his ADP and contribute to a Fantasy Football Championship.
Looking for Best Ball info and analysis? Check out our Best Ball QB rankings for Underdog Fantasy.
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