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Craig's fantasy football overvalued tight ends and potential draft busts for 2025. His top TE avoids include Tyler Warren, David Njoku, Dallas Goedert, Mike Gesicki, and more.
Drafting the right tight end might not win you a fantasy football title, but drafting the wrong one could cost you one.
Sure, tight ends are not as important as running backs, receivers, or quarterbacks in fantasy football. Never have been, never will, unless you are in a rare league that uses three tight ends in the starting lineup.
We all know the tight ends to draft (Las Vegas’ Brock Bowers, Arizona’s Trey McBride, and Detroit’s Sam LaPorta come to mind). So, who are the tight ends to avoid in fantasy drafts this upcoming season? Here is my take -- and please note, I am not a Penn State hater.
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Tight Ends To Avoid In 2025 Fantasy Football Drafts
Tyler Warren, Indianapolis Colts
Warren comes off an outstanding college career that culminated with him winning the 2024 John Mackey Award for being college football’s most outstanding tight end. He was the first tight end drafted this April when the Colts selected him with the 14th pick overall. In dynasty leagues, drafting Warren in the right round is a no-brainer due to his glorious future and tremendous upside.
When it comes to standard year-by-year leagues where there are no keepers, though, you should be wary of Warren. Why? Because who is getting Warren the ball? Anthony Richardson Sr. is supposed to be the franchise quarterback, but he threw more interceptions than touchdowns and completed less than 50 percent of his passes last season and just lost his starting spot to Daniel Jones. Richardson is a project passer, not a pocket passer. He is more interested in running than throwing, and he gets injured ALL THE TIME. Richardson is already hurt and we barely started the preseason!
So...can Jones go to get the ball to Warren on a better basis? Highly doubtful. Do you remember any New York Giants tight ends doing well the past couple of years with Jones at the helm? Plus, Warren is stuck in an offense that revolves around top tailback Jonathan Taylor and has three solid receivers in Josh Downs, Alec Pierce, and Michael Pittman Jr., who will split the targets with Warren.
Not all rookie tight ends burst out of the gate and become fantasy studs like Brock Bowers, either. Most need a year or two to learn the playbook and the ins and outs of NFL defenses before they make a mark. I like Warren’s future as an all-around tight end and expect him to have a Mark Andrews-like career. I would definitely temper my 2025 expectations, though, and allow someone else to spend a draft pick on him in standard leagues.
David Njoku, Cleveland Browns
Njoku has been a career Clevelander. Something has to be said for that. He has stuck it out despite dealing with the Deshaun Watson fiasco and general ineptitude within the organization. Credit to him for racking up 351 receptions for 3,769 yards and 30 touchdowns over his eight-year career in Drew Carey’s hometown.
My problem with Njoku is that his ranking in the preseason draft lists I have seen seems absurd. I have seen him as a TE6 or TE7, yet in eight seasons, he has only had more than 650 receiving yards once and has averaged under four touchdowns per year during his career. These are not the numbers of a TE6. Everyone is going overboard about how well Njoku can do with Joe Flacco as the starting signal caller.
I know Cleveland’s receiving corps is sparse on talent and experience, so Njoku should see an above-average amount of targets, but I would not expect him to have a breakout year at age 29. If he played a full season and was thrown to 123 times like he was in 2023, sure, but that only happened once in eight years. This is partly due to the fact that Njoku gets nicked up a lot.
David Njoku probably isn’t as “safe” of a pick as you think he is because of THIS guy https://t.co/ujY3mAHcGv
— Adam Koffler (@AdamKoffler) August 23, 2025
Adding to the issues is Cleveland’s muddled quarterback carousel. Is Joe Flacco the QB? How about Kenny Pickett? What about rookies Dillon Gabriel or Shedeur Sanders? And the final question – are any of the four better-than-average and able to elevate Njoku’s fantasy value? The bottom line is Njoku is no sure thing to be a top-6 TE in 2025, so let someone else in your league be the one who drafts him like he is.
Mike Gesicki, Cincinnati Bengals
Penn State product Gesicki had quite the bounce-back year in 2024. After being a part-time player and a fantasy zero for the New England Patriots during the 2023 campaign, Gesicki signed a one-year deal with Cincinnati and proceeded to have the second-best season of his seven-year career, racking up 65 receptions for 665 yards as Joe Burrow’s man over the middle.
Gesicki turned his solid season into $25 million after signing a three-year deal with the tightwad Bengals in the offseason. So, since the organization sank so many millions into him, you would think that would solidify him as the team’s top tight end and that he would have another decent fantasy season, right?
No, not right. Cincinnati already had former second-round pick Drew Sample on the roster as a capable backup for Gesicki. But then the Bengals inked veteran Noah Fant to a one-year deal after he was released by the Seattle Seahawks. Fant has averaged more catches and yards per season than Gesicki has over their careers. At best, Fant is going to cut into Gesicki’s playing time and targets. At worst, Fant and Gesicki could end up splitting snaps.
Joe Burrow to Mike Gesicki and Noah Fant Thursday pic.twitter.com/nbIneX2oUW
— Mike Petraglia (@Trags) August 21, 2025
Gesicki was no fantasy lock as it was. He is a TE2 on a fantasy squad because of his track record. But Fant’s arrival makes Gesicki almost undraftable in my mind in fantasy leagues now.
Pat Freiermuth, Pittsburgh Steelers
Pittsburgh’s talented tight end has been one of the few reliable pass catchers the Steelers have had over the past four years. While the Steelers have concentrated on fortifying their defense and offensive line while virtually ignoring their receiving corps in recent seasons, Freiermuth has been the one steady target quarterbacks Russell Wilson, Mason Rudolph, Justin Fields, Pickett, and Mitchell Trubisky could count on.
Freiermuth is a huge target with soft hands who can make the tough catches over the middle or inside the red zone. He has two seven-TD seasons and three 60-catch campaigns to his credit, plus he has only missed seven games over his four-year career.
The problem for Freiermuth is that Aaron Rodgers is his QB now, and the future Hall of Famer no longer has the legs or the arm to be capable of slinging the ball into Freiermuth’s bread basket like he used to during his Green Bay days. Rodgers brought down the fantasy values of wideouts Garrett Wilson and Davante Adams if he did anything in 2024.
But the bigger problem for Freiermuth is that Pittsburgh traded for tight end Jonnu Smith in the offseason, a tight end coming off a career season where he posted an 88-884-8 line. Those are numbers Freiermuth has never put up. And Smith is a favorite of offensive coordinator Arthur Smith, so will more pass plays be designed for Smith than Freiermuth? I do not want to find out, so I am staying away.
Other Tight Ends To Avoid
Dallas Goedert, Philadelphia Eagles
Goedert is a suitable TE2 to back up your main man on your fantasy roster, but his numbers have declined in each of the past three seasons. He is the third option in the passing attack of a run-first offense, and he has only averaged 3.5 TD per year since being in the NFL.
Darren Waller, Miami Dolphins
Waller walked away from football to become a music mogul. Now he wants to be the Jonnu Smith of 2025 and thrive in Mike McDaniel’s passing attack? After a couple of bone-shattering hits from Ronnie Lott-like safeties, he might go back to being the next Jay-Z.
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