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Matt's tight end (TE) fantasy football start 'em, sit 'em picks for Week 1 of 2025. His TE lineups advice for Week 1 fantasy football start/sit decisions.
Welcome back, RotoBaller family. The 2025 season is officially here, and so are your weekly starts and sits analysis at each position.
The wait is finally over, and we are excited to get back to the weekly grind, breaking each position down and providing the fantasy analysis to help you win your weekly matchups.
With that all out of the way, here are your starts and sits at the tight end position for Week 1 of the fantasy football season.
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Week 1 Starts - Fantasy Football Booms
David Njoku - TE, Cleveland Browns vs Cincinnati Bengals
Last season, the Cincinnati Bengals allowed 111 receptions (NFL-High), 1,114 receiving yards, and 10 receiving touchdowns to opposing tight ends, leading to an average of 15.18 fantasy points per game. The past offseason did little to inspire confidence that the Bengals can suddenly stop the bleeding in 2025.
To start the 2025 campaign, the Bengals meet with AFC division rival, the Cleveland Browns. Looking back to last season, the Bengals allowed the 13th-most passing yards per game (236.2), and with Joe Flacco under center, you should expect that number to rise significantly. After all, this is the same Flacco who averaged 323.2 passing yards per contest in his last go around with the Browns in 2023.
During Flacco's time in Cleveland, David Njoku was a major benefactor, producing as the TE2, averaging 18.2 fantasy points per game, resulting in four consecutive weeks in which he finished as a top-four tight end in fantasy scoring. The Flacco to Njoku connection was very real as Njoku would earn a 24%total receiving market share and a 21.7% target share in games in which Flacco started.
Even if Flacco wasn't already named the starting quarterback for the Browns, Njoku totalled 18 receptions for 142 in two games against the Bengals last season, averaging 19.1 fantasy points in the process.
Dalton Schultz - TE, Houston Texans at Los Angeles Rams
You must play the matchups if you find yourself streaming the tight end position. While Dalton Schultz is no longer a sexy name in fantasy circles after producing five-year lows in receptions and receiving yardage, this week's matchup against the Los Angeles Rams is about as favorable as it will get.
Last season, no team allowed more fantasy production from the tight end position than the Rams conceded, 15.93 fantasy points per game. That production resulted from 110 receptions on 147 targets, resulting in 1,118 receiving yards.
While I am no doctor, it appeared at times last season that Schultz was laboring through an injury that may have affected his production. All indications throughout the offseason suggest he is as healthy as ever, and he should be considered a prime rebound candidate, especially in an unpredictable position. Throughout training camp, Schultz has been dominating and, even by DeMeco Ryans' own accord, appears to be back to being "the Dalton", who they thought they were getting from Dallas.
Hunter Henry - TE, New England Patriots vs Las Vegas Raiders
Sticking with the streamer tight ends approach, could I interest you in a little Hunter Henry? Every year, a tight end rises from the buried heap of ADP tight ends to produce top 10 fantasy production, and entering the 2025 campaign, no other tight end may be better position to do so than Henry and what better way to kickstart it all than with a date with the Las Vegas Raiders who have been historically kind to the position and to fantasy mangers.
Last season, the Raiders allowed the fourth-most fantasy points per game, 13.86. They were one of six teams to allow more than 100 receptions to the position (104) and more than 1,000 yards receiving (1,113). We've already highlighted two of the other above. See the pattern here?
Here is why Henry is positioned so well this season to experience a fantasy breakout. First, it's about opportunity. Sure, New England added Stefon Diggs, but outside of Diggs, there is no defined second option in the passing game. In fact, Henry led the Patriots in receptions (66), targets (97), and receiving yards (674) last season. As mentioned above, the only threats to volume in New England besides Diggs are draft picks TreVeyon Henderson in the backfield and Kyle Williams.
Second, it's volume. Last season, Drake Maye's 32.7% target share to the tight end position was the highest rate in recent memory, tipping that of Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce. In contests where Maye and Henry played together, Henry averaged 10.2 fantasy points per game.
QB Positional Target Tendencies: Tight Ends
- Drake Maye's best friend last year was Hunter Henry, who averaged 10.2 FPG (TE12) and 10.5 XFP/G (TE8) in his full games with Maye
- If Travis Hunter has snap limitations, Brenton Strange could see some 2024 Cade Otton usageFull… pic.twitter.com/afeEDkZNAY
— Jake Tribbey (@JakeTribbey) August 4, 2025
Week 1 Sits - Potential Fantasy Football Busts
Jake Ferguson - TE, Dallas Cowboys at Philadelphia Eagles
From one extreme to another, it's all about the matchups, and the Cowboys have a tough one this week against the Philadelphia Eagles. More than any other player, Jake Ferguson has the most challenging path to production facing this Eagles defense, which last year stifled the tight end position, allowing a futile 6.81 fantasy points per game. Over the entirety of the 2024 season, Philadelphia allowed just 68 receptions and a league-low 591 receiving yards.
While the Cowboys project to be one of the pass-heavier teams this season, Ferguson takes a hit in the passing progression with George Pickens more likely to ride shotgun with CeeDee Lamb this season.
Better days will be ahead for fantasy managers rostering Ferguson. In 2023, with a healthy Dak Prescott, Ferguson was in the top 10 in targets (102), receiving yards (761), and fantasy points, and led the NFL in red zone targets (24). This is just not the week to get cute.
Evan Engram - TE, Denver Broncos vs Tennessee Titans
One of the biggest offseason additions was Evan Engram's signing with the Denver Broncos, a team desperate for tight end production. Last season, the Broncos received 51 receptions and 483 receiving yards from the four tight ends they sent out on the field; the cast of characters is better left unnamed.
While it seems that Sean Payton and the Broncos will want an immediate return on their offseason investment, the matchup for Engram against the Titans isn't all that appealing. Tennessee was tough on opposing tight ends in fantasy, second only to the Eagles in terms of fantasy points against per game (7.98). On the season, the Titans allowed 636 receiving yards on 70 receptions and didn't concede any big fantasy weeks through the season. We got to see Engram in action against this Titans unit on December 8th. Engram would go on to haul in four passes for 33 yards and produce just 7.3 fantasy points in that contest.
Denver's offense is projected to be an upgrade from what Engram worked with last season in Duval County, but considering the matchup, there are streaming options out there with the odds in their favor.
Dalton Kincaid - TE, Buffalo Bills vs Baltimore Ravens
While the Baltimore Ravens allowed 963 receiving yards to the tight end position last season, that didn't translate to fantasy production. Despite the high yardage surrendered, the Ravens allowed the seventh-fewest (9.02) fantasy points per game.
Dalton Kincaid faced the Ravens twice last season, and considering the high receiving yards numbers, you would be led to believe that Kincaid was serviceable. That wasn't the case. In those two contests, Kincaid had six receptions for 58 yards, for fantasy purposes, roughly 3.2 fantasy points per game.
As good as both the Bills and the Ravens are, this figures to be a defensive battle. Baltimore started the season vulnerable on the back end; however, heading into the 2025 season, the Ravens' secondary looks like it could be a strength with the additions of Malaki Starks and Jaire Alexander, along with Marlon Humphrey, Nate Wiggins, and Kyle Hamilton, who figures to be the primary defense against Kincaid this week.
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