Half PPR Rankings: TE

Kittle quietly jumped back over the 1,000-yard threshold for the first time since 2019, leading 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 90 targets, tied for ninth among tight ends. Kittle’s robust average of 7.5 yards after the catch coupled with Brock Purdy’s accuracy allowed the tight end to produce a career-high 11.3 yards per target, following five straight years between 8.9 and 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, though there is some risk of a down year in 2024 if he suffers regression in those areas and doesn't get more targets per game to make up for it. While Kittle is recovering from offseason core muscle surgery, McCaffrey and Samuel have their own checkered injury histories and Aiyuk is embroiled in contentious extension talks. There are a few avenues that could lead Purdy to pepper Kittle with more targets, but it's also possible those lanes don't open up until next offseason.

Kelce has been the gold standard at tight end for the better part of the last decade, but he looked like he'd lost a step for much of 2023 and finished 16 receiving yards short of an eighth consecutive 1,000-yard campaign. His postseason performance was vintage, however, as the 34-year-old had 355 yards and three touchdowns in four playoff games to help the Chiefs win another Super Bowl. Kelce missed the 2023 season opener with a knee injury and was rested for the regular-season finale, but he played 15 straight games in between, marking the 10th consecutive campaign in which he’s played at least that many. Even if Kelce’s best days are behind him, he should still be the most trusted pass catcher for QB Patrick Mahomes, after leading the Chiefs in targets (121), catches (93) and receiving yards (984) last season (each mark was top four among NFL tight ends). Free-agent signing Marquise Brown and rookie Xavier Worthy both are undersized speed merchants who don't figure to draw many targets in the parts of the field where Kelce thrives, while second-year pro Rashee Rice has a legal situation threatening his 2024 availability. Kelce remains the safe bet to pile up short and intermediate targets in Kansas City, with potential to rebound in the TD department (five last year) even if he doesn't get back to his peak volume (143.4 targets per season 2018-22).

Bowers is the best tight end prospect since Kyle Pitts in 2021, and arguably a more complete player. In fact, Bowers looked NFL-ready as a true freshman back in 2021, catching 56 passes for 882 yards and 13 TDs for the national champs. He finished his Georgia career with 26 receiving touchdowns and five more on the ground, deployed as a primary weapon in a way that's almost unheard of for college tight ends. Bowers also was praised for his effort as a blocker, though he was listed at just 230 pounds for most of his college career and weighed 243 at the 2024 Combine. A hamstring injury prevented the 6-foot-3 tight end from doing pre-draft workouts and perhaps creates some doubt about the relevance of his bulked-up weight at the combine, but that wasn't enough to deter the Raiders when Bowers was available at No. 13 overall. Vegas isn't the best locale for immediate fantasy value, as the Raiders have Gardner Minshew and Aidan O'Connell at quarterback and drafted 6-foot-4, 265-pound TE Michael Mayer in the second round last year. Bowers is much faster than Mayer and should immediately be one of the best tight ends at gaining yards after the catch, but it's nonetheless possible the rookie cedes some valuable snaps to the second-year pro. Young tight ends traditionally need a year or two to marinate anyway, though similarly talented players like Pitts (1,026 yards in 2021) and Sam LaPorta (10 TDs in 2023) have bucked that trend of late with big rookie seasons.

McBride had just 265 receiving yards as a rookie but emerged as one of the league’s most productive tight ends in the second half of 2023. Veteran tight end Zach Ertz hurt his quadriceps Week 7 and didn’t play for Arizona again, opening the door for the 2022 second-round pick to catch 66 of 85 targets for 655 yards and three touchdowns over the final 10 games. Prorated to 17 games, those numbers work out to 112 catches for 1,114 receiving yards and five TDs on 145 targets, which would've made McBride the TE leader for targets and yardage last year. He should have a bit more competition for Kyler Murray's attention with No. 4 overall pick Marvin Harrison replacing Marquise Brown as the No. 1 receiver and Zay Jones adding depth, but it mostly looks the Cardinals are counting on McBride and the rookie to carry their passing game. Few TEs across the NFL, if any, have a higher volume ceiling than McBride, who caught five or more passes in seven of the eight games Murray started last year.

Young tight ends often take a year or two to find their footing in the NFL, but LaPorta bucked that trend last season with 86 catches for 889 yards and 10 touchdowns on 120 targets. While he couldn’t quite catch up to Mike Ditka’s rookie-TE records of 1,076 receiving yards and 12 touchdowns, LaPorta’s 86 receptions became the new standard. No other tight end scored more than six touchdowns last year, and the second-round pick out of Iowa also ranked top five at his position for catches, targets and yards. WR Amon-Ra St. Brown is likely to lead the Lions in receiving volume again in 2024, but the 44-target gap between St. Brown and LaPorta last year was smaller than the 49-target gap between LaPorta and Jared Goff's third-favorite target, RB Jahmyr Gibbs. Being the clear second option in a top-notch offense should work out just fine, even leaving the 23-year-old tight end some room for volume growth relative to last year. While he's unlikely to outscore all other TEs by four TDs again, the ingredients are there for LaPorta to follow up his superb rookie season with another strong campaign.