Fantasy Football Breakouts: Tight End Sleepers (2025)

Andrew Ball takes an early look at which fantasy football tight ends will have breakout seasons in 2025. Which are sneaky TE1 candidates in 2025 fantasy football?

There's been little variance atop fantasy football tight-end scoring since the turn of the decade. Travis Kelce has been a top-5 tight end every season since 2020. George Kittle has finished outside that group once. Mark Andrews is routinely in the top six. T.J. Hockenson frequently finishes as a TE1. Toss in young stars Brock Bowers, Trey McBride, and Sam LaPorta, and it's rare for anyone else to break through.

But it does happen from time to time. Jonnu Smith's target share last season propelled him into the top five. Evan Engram found himself there in 2022 and 2023. Dalton Schultz was the TE3 in 2021.

Even if a top-5 finish is unattainable, finding a lower-end TE1 via a late-round draft pick or the waiver wire can turn your fantasy football roster from a pretender to a contender. Let's break down four tight ends who could have bigger roles in 2025.

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Cole Kmet, TE, Chicago Bears

Ben Johnson's creative offensive mind is leading Chicago into a new era. Gone are the days of Shane Waldron's screen passes to Gerald Everett. Gone (hopefully) are the days of Caleb Williams leading the league in sacks (improving the offensive line was a clear priority for Chicago).

Cole Kmet was a 2024 letdown (47 catches, 474 yards, and four touchdowns), just one season removed from career-high marks in two of those departments (and one touchdown shy of the third).

Cole Kmet target shares

2021: 17.2%
2022: 18.3%
2023: 17.5%
2024: 9.7%

Rebound coming in 2025 under Ben Johnson?

— Jared Smola (@SmolaDS) January 31, 2025

Kmet has already moved up one spot in Chicago's target pecking order, thanks to the departure of Keenan Allen. DJ Moore and Rome Odunze top the wide receiver depth chart. Kmet is halfway through a four-year, $50 million contract. The Bears are financially invested in his playing time.

Johnson should also invest in his production. Tight ends (mainly Sam LaPorta) were heavily featured under his tutelage in Detroit. LaPorta averaged 73 receptions on 101.5 targets for 807.5 yards and 8.5 touchdowns. T.J. Hockenson averaged 3.7 catches for 56.4 yards in the small seven-game overlap with Johnson in Detroit.

Is Kmet a Sam LaPorta-level player? He hasn't shown that he can reach that level yet. However, he could easily finish the 2025 season as a low-end TE1 compared to the middling TE2 range he's being ranked.

Jake Ferguson, TE, Dallas Cowboys

The bulk of free agency has come and gone, and Jake Ferguson remains the second option on the Dallas offense. Javonte Williams and Miles Sanders aren't usurping him. The wide receiver depth chart (apart from CeeDee Lamb) is Jalen Tolbert, Jonathan Mingo, Ryan Flournoy, Jalen Brooks, and KaVontae Turpin. Nobody from that motley crew is demanding targets.

Offensive weapons should be a priority for Jerry Jones and Co., but the Dallas front office hasn't made the logical choice in several seasons. It's a weaker draft for wide receivers, and the Cowboys don't need to waste a pick on a tight end, so Ferguson's status may be safe. If anything, the Cowboys could draft a top-tier running back early.

Ferguson's 2024 campaign was, to put it bluntly, a disaster. He was drafted as a top-10 tight end, injured his knee in Week 1 and missed Week 2, then quarterback Dak Prescott suffered a season-ending injury, and finally, a concussion cost Ferguson three more games.

There was zero threat of a running game when Prescott was the quarterback, leading to inconsistent scoring opportunities. Backup quarterback Cooper Rush didn't lean on the tight-end position like Prescott.

An improved running game (aka drafting a rookie in the first two rounds) will dramatically favor Ferguson's stock. The targets weren't an issue. He caught at least six passes in five of seven games with Prescott. The touchdowns never came. He finished the season with zero despite leading tight ends in red-zone targets in 2023. Prescott will look his way inside the 20-yard line in 2025.

Chig Okonkwo, TE, Tennessee Titans

Momentum built for the ultra-athletic Chig Okonkwo at the tail end of his rookie season. Could he be the next breakout fantasy star?

Quarterback inaccuracy contributed to underwhelming results in Year 2 and continued into the beginning of Year 3. Finally, in the fantasy playoffs, Okonkwo fulfilled his potential.

22 of his 52 receptions and 182 of his 479 yards came in those three weeks. He scored double-digit PPR fantasy points weekly en route to being the fantasy playoffs' TE4. Mason Rudolph (a slight improvement over Will Levis) started those games, and favorable matchups led to favorable results.

Now, the question is, once again, can Okonkwo translate a burst into sustained success?

The Titans appear poised to upgrade the quarterback position. Miami's Cameron Ward is the heavy betting favorite to be the first overall selection in the 2025 NFL Draft. It's difficult to imagine a scenario where Ward is worse than the incumbent.

ESPN sources: Tennessee will hold an additional private workout with potential No. 1 overall pick Cam Ward. The Titans have become increasingly impressed with Ward and, while they are expected to listen to offers for the No. 1 overall pick, it now would take an even stronger… pic.twitter.com/p60duUMemi

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 25, 2025

The rest of the offensive depth chart, as it currently stands, isn't impressive. Touchdown machine Nick Westbrook-Ikhine departed for South Beach in the offseason. He was replaced by Van Jefferson, who is on his fourth team since 2023. Former first-round pick Treylon Burks caught four passes in five games last season. It's the Calvin Ridley show, and the running game and an improved offensive line will keep the offense moving.

Okonkwo has floated in and out of the sleeper conversation for three seasons. Entering the final year of his contract, the breakout time is now or, possibly, never.

Brenton Strange, TE, Jacksonville Jaguars

The stars aligned for Brenton Strange this offseason. The Jaguars hired an offensive-minded head coach, Trevor Lawrence is on the mend, and starting slot receiver Christian Kirk and tight end Evan Engram were handed walking papers.

Former Commander Dyami Brown filled Kirk's spot on the roster. Engram's role was essentially left open, with the team adding Johnny Mundt, primarily a blocking tight end.

And it's not like the 6-foot-4 behemoth came out of nowhere. Jacksonville spent a second-round pick on Strange in 2023 because of an outstanding athletic score and blocking prowess. The plan all along was for Strange to sit atop the depth chart.

"He is someone who embodies exactly what we're hunting up, so we're glad to have him already on the roster. His strain, his finish on blocks are something that we're really excited about. When he's got the ball in his hands, he's not interested in going down when the first defender approaches.” - James Gladstone, Jaguars General Manager

It's no secret that the Jacksonville passing game will revolve around Brian Thomas Jr. Is it outlandish to believe that Strange is the second or third option? He's currently competing with Brown and third-year sixth-round pick Parker Washington for that role.

Strange's ADP could remain low because of inconsistent scoring in 2024. Engram missed eight games (four in Weeks 2 through 5 and four at the end of the season). While Strange's playing time spiked in those windows (72 percent of snaps and a hair under five targets per game), he disappeared occasionally. Through the bad games, he was the TE9 in the first window (thanks to two touchdowns) and caught 11 passes against the Jets in Week 15.

The ceiling may not be as high as other tight ends on this list, but if Strange takes a Year 2 to Year 3 jump, he could slide in as a low-end TE1.

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