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Luke's top six tight ends who can dethrone Brock Bowers as the redraft TE1 in 2025 fantasy football leagues. His candidates include George Kittle, Tyler Warren, and more.
When it comes to the tight-end position in fantasy football, there are typically only a few outliers who are capable of lapping the field when going head-to-head with your league mates. Having one of these outliers can be crucial in establishing a significant advantage, regardless of who you're going up against throughout the season and especially in the playoffs. For the 2024 season in Yahoo leagues, rookie tight end Brock Bowers was on 17.47% of championship-winning teams, while in ESPN leagues, Bowers was on 35.3% of championship-round teams.
Bowers undoubtedly established himself as a prolific tight end for years to come after finishing as the TE1 overall in only his rookie year. While there might be a new regimen in the Las Vegas Raiders offense, there’s still a high chance that he can continue to soak up 150-plus targets with Geno Smith at quarterback. However, everyone will be looking to find who is next up as the TE1 overall for the 2025 season.
Whether or not Bowers reclaims the top spot again at the end of the 2025 season will also depend on how much his competition rises to the challenge. With some intriguing veterans in the mix annually, could there be a new rookie to claim the TE1 overall spot for the third consecutive year?
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Who Can Dethrone Brock Bowers - Primed Fantasy Football Veterans
George Kittle, San Francisco 49ers
George Kittle has flirted with the TE1 overall spot in six out of his eight seasons in the league. While health has been an adverse obstacle toward allowing him to capture the top spot, Kittle hardly ever disappoints when he plays healthy. Since his second season in the league in 2018, in which he had 136 targets, Kittle has not cleared 100 targets since that follow-up season in 2019.
Within the past two seasons, Kittle’s efficiency increased with a yards-per-catch rate of 15.69 and 14.18 in 2023 and 2024 after trending around 13 YPC the prior four seasons. Not only has he proved to be a monster in YAC, coming in second overall among tight ends in 2024, but he has also increased his yards per target over the past couple of years to 11.33 and 11.77.
Kittle’s 11.77 YPT metric in 2024 was second in the NFL out of all qualified receivers and could be a clear indicator as to why he was the actual TE1 overall on a PPG basis.
With Deebo Samuel Sr. gone, Brandon Aiyuk coming back slowly to start the season, and the plethora of San Francisco wide receivers who are struggling with injuries on the depth chart, Kittle has great odds to operate as if he were the WR1 on this team rather than just a typical tight end. The 49ers even brought in another tight end from free agency, Luke Farrell, who was recognized as a good blocker in pass protection to allow Kittle to run more routes instead of staying in to block.
After a stellar 2024 season with 1,106 yards receiving and eight touchdowns, Kittle should have the opportunity to shine as a centerpiece in this 49ers offense after just signing another four-year extension for $76.4 million. If he stays healthy, there’s a great chance that he can dethrone Bowers and bring the gold medal back to the veteran tight ends on the season.
George Kittle (@gkittle46) is now the fourth-fastest TE in @NFL history to reach 5,000 career receiving yards after his first TD.
Check out some of his biggest plays from this season so far👇🔥 pic.twitter.com/lJV6qB1Dx4
— NFL Football Operations (@NFLFootballOps) December 20, 2022
Trey McBride, Arizona Cardinals
When the Arizona Cardinals brought in star rookie wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr., many were unsure how exactly that might impact Trey McBride. If McBride didn’t happen to miss Week 4 of the 2024 season, he likely would’ve finished as the TE1 overall despite only recording three touchdowns on the year.
After ending the season with 111 catches for 1,146 yards and two touchdowns receiving and one rushing, McBride would round out the season just 12.4 points behind Bowers on the season in half-PPR leagues. Harrison ended up having eight touchdowns on just 62 catches, which could easily translate to the concept that McBride is due for some positive regression in the receiving touchdown department.
McBride is currently the TE2 off the board in redraft leagues right now, but the question may still loom about Harrison taking an extra leap in Year 2 to demand more of the target share in the Cardinals offense. McBride has also mentioned the introduction of a more complex offense this year, while Kyler Murray has also mentioned using his legs more to scramble and move the chains.
Will these scenarios favor McBride in 2025 or take away from his potential upside? Regardless, McBride is a solid bet to dethrone Bowers as the TE1 overall and should continue to deliver on fantasy rosters consistently.
Trey McBride is a 6’4 tight end and has hurdles in each of his last 2 games.
You don’t see this stuff often.#BirdGang pic.twitter.com/sohoYAGKRm
— Cardinals Muse (@CardsMuse) November 4, 2024
Honorable Mention: T.J. Hockenson - MIN, Sam LaPorta - DET
Who Can Dethrone Brock Bowers - Primed Fantasy Football Rookies
Tyler Warren, Indianapolis Colts
Penn State product Tyler Warren was one of the most electrifying players to watch in the 2024 college season. Warren would do it all, catching eight touchdowns, rushing for four touchdowns, and even passing for a touchdown while running their Wildcat offense at times. After winning the John Mackey Award for 2024, the Indianapolis Colts drafted Warren as the 14th overall player off the board to be their new offensive star.
Warren has already been turning heads at camp and would likely have a higher ADP if it weren’t for the confusing narrative of who will be playing quarterback for the Colts this year. With Daniel Jones opening the season as their QB1, Warren could have a much more productive output than if Anthony Richardson Sr. were the QB1.
After such a stellar season from Bowers, many will forget that he was drafted at the TE10 off the board last season, on average. Expect Warren to make a name for himself this rookie year and potentially even push for a higher target share of the offense than we all initially expected.
Tyler Warren is an elite tight end prospect.
He’s cleaned up drops (15% in 2023 to 2.8% drop rate in 2024) and become an elite contested catcher (61.9%).
Warren is also a MONSTER after the catch, forcing 30 missed tackles in 2024.
TE1 for the 2025 Draft. pic.twitter.com/z5xmJ8df1O
— NFL Draft Files (@NFL_DF) January 17, 2025
Colston Loveland, Chicago Bears
With the 10th overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, Colston Loveland was the first pick selected by new Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson. Johnson was well known for his incredible offensive developments while offensive coordinator for the Detroit Lions from 2022 to 2024. This stint also included the 2023 season, when LaPorta produced the TE1 overall season as a centerpiece of the dynamic Lions offense.
Despite suffering a Type V AC joint dislocation that required surgery in January, Loveland has a reputation as being a stellar athletic profile in this year’s draft, which can be verified by watching his crisp routes on film. Coming off a 27.9% target rate in his final college season while earning every one of those through his smooth route running, Johnson should develop Loveland into a star by the end of the season at the latest.
Loveland will face tougher competition for targets compared to Warren, but with his current ADP at TE14 overall, the upside could be intriguing.
Former Bears TE Greg Olsen calls Colston Loveland the NFL’s “modern day TE.”
Says Loveland’s talent is like George Kittle, Travis Kelce and elite TEs of the league. 👀
(🎥: 89 podcast w/ Steve Smith Sr) pic.twitter.com/2TPtLUwwQw
— Bearsszn (@bearssznn) May 12, 2025
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