Dynasty Buckets, A Different Look at Tiers: Tight Ends

Below, you'll find tight ends grouped by bucket, along with the tier in which they currently reside in the Footballguys Dynasty Rankings for a little added fine-tuning.

We conducted our second review of the tight end buckets on June 24.

For this third edition, I've used the comments to note players who might move up and down as we progress through training camp and the preseason. I'm paying extra attention to the youngsters right now. The 2025 rookie tight end class is loaded with potential, and over the past few years, we've added players like Sam LaPorta, Brock Bowers, and Trey McBride to the mix at the position. Part of the reason I like to bucket players in the offseason is that it helps me get a look at which young players might be poised to join the league's established starters. The sooner you can figure that out in a dynasty league, the cheaper the players will be to acquire. Once everyone knows they're good, it's too late to get a deal.

We don't see quite as much movement between tiers this month as we did last month, but we still see more at tight end than at other positions. I think part of that is just the nature of the position. It is shallower and more volatile than any other position, and a player can play a significant number of snaps but have a role that rarely involves them touching the ball. On top of that, the infusion of youth over the past few seasons has speculators going wild, leading to some unpredictability and inconsistency when we try to set our ranks. As the Kelces, Kittles, and Andrews of the world age and slide down the ranks, the youngsters jockey for position to climb, leaving a lot of opinion regarding who ultimately belongs where.

But you're reading this today, so you're already ahead of the game.

Let's get to the buckets.

Starters (with Footballguys tier in parentheses)

• Brock Bowers, LV (1)
• Trey McBride, ARI (1)

Even within a bucket full of starters, these two stand alone.

• T.J. Hockenson, MIN (1) Tier 2 last month
• Sam LaPorta, DET (1) Tier 2 last month
• Tyler Warren, IND (1) Tier 3 last month, Tier 2 the month before
• George Kittle, SF (1) Tier 2 last month
• David Njoku, CLE (2) Tier 3 last month
• Mark Andrews, BAL (2) Tier 3 last month
• Tucker Kraft, GB (2) Tier 3 last month
• Jonnu Smith, MIA (3) 
• Evan Engram, DEN (2) Tier 3 last month
• Colston Loveland, CHI (1) 

Hockenson, LaPorta, Warren, and Kittle all jump this month to the top tier in our consensus ranks. I think this signals a little bit of clarity and comfortability for our rankers with those players. After Bowers and McBride, they seem like your safest bets for both short, medium, and long-term production.

How far can Loveland and Warren ascend in their rookie years? That's still what I'm watching out for the most as I consider this bucket. Andrews, Kittle, Njoku, Smith, and Engram are aging, while Kraft has been solid enough but not the ballyhooed prospect coming in that Loveland and Warren have been. There is a lot of room for shuffling in this bucket. I think the rookies will find their way to the Hockenson/LaPorta tier, even if they never quite get to Bowers and McBride.

The question then becomes: Who else could join them up here?