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Top 3 undervalued fantasy football tight ends for 2025. Three featured breakout TEs to target in 2025 fantasy drafts: Isaiah Likely, Pat Freiermuth and Chig Okonkwo.
In my last article, I highlighted four wide receivers set to break out in 2025. Check it out! This article is all about the tight end position. Which guys outside of the top 10 have a legitimate shot to break out next season?
Last season, it was Brock Bowers, Trey McBride, and Jonnu Smith leading the way at the position. McBride was squarely inside the top 10 in terms of average draft position (ADP), but Bowers and Smith would be considered major breakouts relative to their ADP.
In this article, we won't highlight guys who already broke out. Instead, we'll try to uncover some hidden gems that have top-10 potential at the position. Here are three tight ends who have breakout potential in 2025.
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Isaiah Likely, TE, Baltimore Ravens
Despite finishing as just the TE16 in 2024, Likely possesses immense upside in 2025. That upside increases exponentially if Mark Andrews is no longer a member of the Baltimore Ravens. According to General Manager Eric DeCosta, it sounds like there's at least a chance that could be the case.
My major takeaways from Eric DeCosta's press conference:
1) While he didn't outright say it, it felt like Eric DeCosta gave an appreciative farewell to Mark Andrews. He may have played his last game in Baltimore.
2) Ronnie Stanley will be re-signed, barring an unexpected…
— Sarah Ellison (@sgellison) February 25, 2025
With Andrews playing all 17 games in 2024, we didn't get too many glimpses of Likely as TE1. However, he flashed in multiple games, including in the first game of the season and the playoffs. Despite sharing the field with Andrews, Likely finished with a career-best six touchdowns. He also became Lamar Jackson's safety blanket.
Lamar. Likely. 24 yards.#PITvsBAL on Prime Video
Also streaming on #NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/7b8uerCkVK— NFL (@NFL) January 12, 2025
In his first two NFL seasons, Likely did get a chance to showcase his TE1 talent without Andrews on the field. In 10 regular-season games without Andrews, he averaged 3.5 receptions for 53.1 yards on 5.5 targets per game. He also caught seven touchdowns in those 10 games. That was good for 13 points-per-reception (PPR) fantasy points per game. That would have been good for TE5 in 2024.
Per PlayerProfiler, we also saw big spikes in both yards per route run (1.93) and target separation (2.41) from Likely in 2024 compared to his first two NFL seasons. His yards per route run ranked 12th among tight ends, while his target separation ranked fifth at the position.
Pat Freiermuth, TE, Pittsburgh Steelers
It didn't feel like it, but Pat F. quietly put together one of his best seasons as a pro. He finished the year with 65 catches for 653 yards and seven touchdowns on 78 targets. He notched career highs in both catch rate (83.3%) and fantasy points per target (2.16).
Muuuth TD 💪 @pat_fry5
📲 Stream on NFL+: https://t.co/COxKRnr6Mc pic.twitter.com/MnDna2h9PZ
— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) January 5, 2025
Per PlayerProfiler, he also had a career-high dominator rating of 25.7% in Arthur Smith's first year as the Steelers' offensive coordinator. Dominator rating is a pass-catcher's percentage of total team receiving yards and team receiving touchdowns. He became an even bigger part of the offense after the team's bye week.
From Weeks 1 through 8, Freiermuth averaged 33 yards on just 3.9 targets per game. From Weeks 10 through 18, he averaged 43.2 yards on 5.2 targets per game. His air yards per game also increased from just 20.1 before the bye to 35.1 after the bye. Needless to say, he became a more integral part of Pittsburgh's game plan as the season progressed.
As Brogan Noey of SteelerNation writes, "Freiermuth has all the tools to be elite - but the Steelers must use him like it." He'll look to build on his successful 2024 season, but will he truly break out in 2025? I think there's a chance he does.
Chig Okonkwo, TE, Tennessee Titans
From a nothing burger to a legitimate league winner, Okonkwo helped a lot of fantasy teams last year. From Weeks 15 to 17, the Titans' TE1 averaged 7.3 receptions for 60.7 yards on 9.3 targets per game. That equated to just under 15 PPR fantasy points per game during the fantasy football playoffs.
The question for Okonkwo has never been talent. We know he's talented, and we know he's a freak athlete. The question is, will the Titans give him consistent playing time to start the 2025 season that allows him to build on his late 2024 season momentum? It certainly seems so if you listen to head coach Brian Callahan at the end of last season:
#Titans HC Brian Callahan on the sudden rise of Chig Okonkwo: pic.twitter.com/ufeqfQMqrX
— The Coachspeak Index (@CoachspeakIndex) December 31, 2024
And then there are the splits with and without Will Levis under center in 2024. With Levis, Okonkwo either saw four or fewer targets or produced fewer than 30 receiving yards in nine of 11 games. With Mason Rudolph, he either saw five or more targets or produced over 40 receiving yards in four of seven games.
There was a monumental difference between a guy unwilling to get the ball out of his hands vs. a guy willing to quickly let it rip. Per Fantasy Points Data, Okonkwo was eighth among tight ends in first-read target share (22.8%) in the weeks Rudolph was under center. With Levis, that number was just 9.4%.
Now, it's unlikely that Levis or Rudolph will be the starting quarterback for the Titans in 2025. However, whoever is under center for Tennessee in 2025 is going to be better than Levis and will hopefully be able to get the ball out quickly (like Rudolph) to the pass-catchers. Right now, the top two pass-catchers on the team are probably Calvin Ridley and the explosive Okonkwo.
Will Levis to Chigoziem Okonkwo for a @Titans TD!
📺: #TENvsCHI on FOX
📱: https://t.co/waVpO8ZBqG pic.twitter.com/s4qQzaBXgL— NFL (@NFL) September 8, 2024
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