Biggest Fantasy Football Tight End Surprises: 2nd-Year TE Breakout Stars and Sleepers for 2025 Drafts

Top 2nd-year tight end breakout stars and sleepers for the 2025 fantasy football season. Target these top TE picks in drafts: Brock Bowers, Jonnu Smith, and Zach Ertz.

Usually, you know what you're getting at tight end. Travis Kelce and Mark Andrews finish top three at the position in fantasy football. Young guys struggle to get going. Jonnu Smith fails to live up to the hype that I've personally had for him for years now.

None of those things happened in 2024, though. Kelce and Andrews took a step back. A rookie finished as the overall TE1. Smith finally had the true breakout campaign that his truthers had been waiting on. It was a weird year for the tight-end position.

Below are six big surprises at tight end from the 2024 fantasy football season.

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Brock Bowers, TE, Las Vegas Raiders

We knew going into 2024 that there was a chance Brock Bowers broke out as a rookie, even if tight end is the skill position with the steepest learning curve for rookies. What we didn't know was that Bowers would finish as the overall TE1 in his first NFL season.

If you're a "points per game is what matters, not total fantasy points" person, Bowers falls one spot to TE2, behind only George Kittle. However you slice it, this was a special season for the Georgia product.

Again, we knew going in that Bowers was good. His versatility was a huge part of his game in college. Still, there's a reason young tight ends, especially ones who make their living on their receiver skills, usually take a bit to get going. The increased importance of blocking at the next level means young tight ends have more to learn than, say, an outside receiver or a running back.

But Bowers adjusted nicely to the league, catching six passes for 58 yards in Week 1 and following that up with nine catches for 98 yards in Week 2. Overall, Bowers had 50 or more receiving yards in 11 of his 17 games.

Bowers is a weapon that the Raiders can use in a variety of ways. While many thought it might take a bit for him to be fully unleashed, he was able to make an impact immediately and is the No. 1 dynasty tight end going forward.

Jonnu Smith, TE, Miami Dolphins

I'm sure that a thorough search of the RotoBaller archives will come up with numerous examples of me hyping up Jonnu Smith, but every year it seemed less and less likely it would happen. I'm fairly sure 2024 was the first year that I gave up on the dream.

But 2024 continued the pattern of me getting my Smith projection wrong. Just this time, it was because I stopped hyping him up and he responded by delivering his best NFL season, finishing as the overall TE4 behind Bowers, Kittle, and Arizona's Trey McBride.

The Jonnu Smith signing was quietly one of the best of 2024.

Not only did he ball out but he was technically released by ATL so he didn't count against comp picks. Signing a different TE could have wiped out a comp pick from Robert Hunt, Christian Wilkins, or DeShon Elliott. pic.twitter.com/Phfnurs0ax

— Andrew Cooper (@CoopAFiasco) February 16, 2025

Smith caught 88 passes for 884 yards and eight touchdowns this past season, by far his best NFL season. His previous high for receptions and yards came last year when he caught 50 passes for 582 yards with the Atlanta Falcons.

But between quarterback Tua Tagovailoa being limited to 11 games by injury and Jaylen Waddle having his worst NFL season, Smith became a reliable, go-to option for the Dolphins, leading the team in receptions and touchdowns.

Will it happen again? A healthy Miami offense should lead to Smith being the third option, which would reduce his production next season. However ... the words "healthy Miami offense" feel cursed, right? The Dolphins never seem to have everyone healthy at once, so don't count out another strong Smith season in 2025.

Zach Ertz, TE, Washington Commanders

If you thought the days of Zach Ertz being a reliable NFL tight end were over, 2024 proved that at least for one season, you were wrong.

After a frustrating 2023 season that saw him limited to just seven games and a career-low 187 receiving yards, most people didn't think much of his offseason move to the Commanders.

But Ertz looked reenergized in Washington, catching 66 passes for 654 yards and seven touchdowns. It was his most receptions and yards since 2021 and his most touchdowns since 2018.

Maybe it will wind up just being a one-year blip at the end of Ertz's career, but it was nice to see one of the best tight ends of the 2010s have one more big showing here in the 2020s.

Tucker Kraft, TE, Green Bay Packers

The Packers have a major issue with roster construction: they have too many pass-catchers. None are elite. There's just a lot of mouths vying for food in Green Bay.

So, give Tucker Kraft credit for managing to stand out for the Packers this past season. The second-year tight end caught 50 passes for 707 yards and seven touchdowns. He was fourth on the roster in targets, but only six back of Dontayvion Wicks, who led the team.

Kraft also finished second on the team to Jayden Reed in both receptions and receiving yards while leading Green Bay in receiving touchdowns.

I don't think people understand just how good Tucker Kraft was in 2024.

Brock Bowers led all Tight Ends with 1,194 yds & 5 TDs on 153 targets.

If Tucker Kraft had gotten the same amount of targets (10.1 YPT) he was on pace for:
109 REC
1,545 Yards (NFL Record 1,416)
15 TDs pic.twitter.com/pKsjvWkOWf

— Packerfan Total Access- Clayton (@packers_access) February 20, 2025

On a per-play basis, Kraft was very good. Per PlayerProfiler, he ranked second at the position in yards per target and fourth in fantasy points per target. He may not have gotten as many looks as he would have on a team with less receiver depth, but he made the most of his chances.

Cade Otton, TE, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Cade Otton missed the final three games of the 2024 NFL season but still managed to finish as the overall TE13 because of what he did during the rest of the year.

Otton finished the 2024 season with 59 catches for 600 yards and four touchdowns. Those might not be the most spectacular numbers, but in a year where it felt impossible at times to find fantasy production at tight end, having Otton on your roster was nice.

Between Week 3 and Week 9, Otton was especially good. In that seven-game stretch, he averaged 6.1 receptions for 59.4 yards and 0.6 touchdowns per contest.

Otton's a pretty middle-of-the-road tight end when it comes to athleticism, but the Buccaneers gave him plenty of high-value opportunities where his lack of speed wasn't an issue. He had 15 red-zone targets, the eighth most among tight ends.

While he didn't have the most efficient season and had some drop issues, overall it was a successful year for the third-year player out of Washington.

Mike Gesicki, TE, Cincinnati Bengals

No one would blame you for writing Mike Gesicki off before the 2024 season. After five seasons in Miami, Gesicki moved to New England in 2023 and promptly had his worst season since his 2018 rookie campaign, catching 29 passes for 244 yards and two touchdowns.

The Bengals signed Gesicki last offseason, but only to a one-year deal for $2.5 million. That's the kind of deal that says "Fine, we'll take a chance on you, but we don't feel good about it."

Mike "sticky-icky" Gesicki was 2nd among tight ends behind only Brock Bowers with 261 slot routes in 2024.

Will Gesicki be a TE1 in 2025? pic.twitter.com/5ODtWoLZOy

— PlayerProfiler (@rotounderworld) February 16, 2025

But Gesicki proved the doubters wrong in 2024, posting one of his best seasons. His 65 receptions were the second most he's had in a season and his 665 receiving yards were his third most. It wasn't an elite season for the veteran tight end, but it was a strong year overall.

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