With this look at tight ends, we’ve reached the end of the line in our positional roundtable series. A big thanks goes out to all our contributors — The Athletic fantasy football crew of Brandon Funston, Jake Ciely, Michael Salfino, Andy Behrens and Dalton Del Don — who are back one final time for this TE discussion.

Who is the best of the Big 3 at the position to target? Who is the best consolation prize if you don’t land Brock Bowers, Trey McBride or George Kittle? And who are the best candidates to be this year’s Jonnu Smith? Read on for our answers to these questions.

Check out our previous roundtables: quarterback | running back | wide receiver.

Note: All ADPs mentioned below are from Fantasy Pros.

If you were to target one of the three top-tier TEs, who would it be based on ADP: Brock Bowers (No. 16 overall), Trey McBride (No. 27) or George Kittle (No. 41)?

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Ciely: Kittle by a mile. I have all three in Tier 1, as Kittle led fantasy TEs in FPPG last year, and now there are even more wide receiver questions in San Francisco. I still have Bowers first overall, but the gap among all three is as slim as it gets, so give me the two-round discount.

Salfino: Do you even have to ask? I’ve been the president of the Kittle Fan Club for eons. Let’s look at Kittle’s stats without either Deebo Samuel or Brandon Aiyuk on the field the past three years — 147 targets; an AB-SURD 11.9 yards per target; 16 TDs (one every 9.2 targets); 78% receptions per target; target rate of 23.1%. So do the math. Five-hundred Niners’ targets (very conservative) equals 115 Kittle targets — 90 catches, 1,368 yards, 12 TDs

Behrens: I’ve actually landed all three in different leagues, so I can see no bad answer here. The best answer, however, is generally an Iowa tight end. Kittle carries the friendliest cost, and he’s always a good bet to lead his position in touchdowns, if not receptions.

Del Don: I’m a huge Bowers guy and expect a monster season, but No. 16 overall in 0.5 PPR is pretty steep. I’d slightly prefer Kittle at cost, as he’s the most efficient tight end in football and should see more targets with Deebo Samuel gone and Brandon Aiyuk coming off major surgery.

Funston: George Kittle, as easily the cheapest of the three, is the choice here. He should be utilized as much as ever this season with Deebo Samuel gone and Brandon Aiyuk targeted for a Week 6 return from injury. Kittle’s production consistency speaks for itself. His fantasy finishes at TE in PPR PPG for the past seven seasons are (working backwards from 2024): 1, 6, 2, 3, 3, 2, 3.

If you don’t land a Big 3 tight end, which TE would you target most heavily based on ADP?

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Ciely: Kyle Pitts. Don’t shoot the messenger, but… Pitts is nearly free now. That’s worth the gamble for two reasons. First, he still has Top 5 upside if the Falcons and Michael Penix can utilize him better. Second, Pitts would carry crazy trade value if he comes out of the gates with two or three big games. People will be scrambling to jump back on the bandwagon.

Salfino: The closest thing to Kittle later in drafts: Tucker Kraft (my TE7, market’s TE12). He has excellent speed (88th percentile at the position, according to the NGS radar), is great at yards after the catch (No. 1 in YAC over expected based on radar at catch point, at 2.7 yards per catch) and excellent in the red zone (a healthy 21% of team targets there, converting 6 of 11). But the Packers are 24th in rate of targets to TEs, about 4 points below average (because they are dumb).

Behrens: The middle tiers are loaded with playable upside options, so this is certainly not a minefield of a position. Colston Loveland is beginning to look like a featured receiver for Chicago, and he’s much more than a standard-issue catch-and-fall tight end. He’s the rare big-play option at this position.

Del Don: Tyler Warren is my TE7, so he’s easily my favorite target if I miss out on the Big 3. There’s a real chance Warren leads Indianapolis in targets as a rookie.

Funston: Mark Andrews hasn’t finished worse than sixth in half-PPR PPG at TE (min. 10 games) in any of the past six seasons, with five of those campaigns netting out in the Top 4. With Isaiah Likely’s preseason (and maybe early September) wiped out by a broken foot, Andrews should have a major role from the opening bell in his contract year. And even though it feels like we’ve been talking about him as long as we have Travis Kelce (35 years old) and Zach Ertz (34), he doesn’t turn 30 until early September. Getting him around his ADP as the No. 7-8 tight end off the board (right there with Evan Engram) is a price I’m happy to pay.

Who has the best chance to be this year’s Jonnu Smith — undrafted TE who could make a Top 5 splash this season?

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Ciely: I’ve mentioned Kyle Pitts, Brenton Strange and Theo Johnson in other pieces, so I’ll add one more: Ja’Tavion Sanders. What if the answer to, “Who’s the third option in Carolina’s offense?” is Sanders? Oh, and he has an athletic profile similar to Jonnu Smith’s.

If Sanders sees 111 targets like Smith did last year — asking a lot, but we’re aiming for a similar surprise — Sanders would definitely be in the 80+ receptions, 800+ yards and high-touchdown range of outcomes, pushing the Top 5.

Salfino: Juwan Johnson, at TE3 — I will follow the money here. All the chaos and bad QB play we expect in New Orleans could benefit Johnson, a hybrid WR/TE who just got a huge deal (three years, $31 million, with $21 million guaranteed). He did have 17 targets in his final two games of 2024. It’s a new coaching regime, but Dalton Schultz had 100 targets and 8 TDs one season under Kellen Moore in Dallas. There’s little competition for targets at tight end or really anywhere on the roster, and the Saints could be throwing a ton.

Behrens: Well, Top 5 would be a big ask for Brenton Strange, but he was a minor revelation for the Jaguars last season, snagging 40 of 53 targets. He’s unrivaled this year as the primary tight end in an ascending offense. If you’re expecting a bump in production under Liam Coen, then, by extension, you should anticipate a potential breakout from Strange. He’s become a camp fave of Coen’s, for what it’s worth.

Del Don: Brenton Strange gets a big opportunity in a Liam Coen offense with Evan Engram out of Jacksonville. Trevor Lawrence ranks in the Top 5 in Target% to tight ends over the past three seasons, and Coen’s scheme led Cade Otton to a career-best campaign last year. Strange is the late-round flier to target among fantasy tight ends this year.

Funston: Look, all the tight ends mentioned here are complete long shots to deliver a Top 5 season. So would it be wild if the player who did it was the same player that replaced the inspiration for this question in the Dolphin’s offense?

Is Darren Waller any more of a dice roll than Juwan Johnson, Ja’Tavion Sanders or Brenton Strange? Yes, Waller will be 33 next month, but he’s younger than two tight ends — Travis Kelce and Zach Ertz — who finished Top 8 in TE scoring a year ago. And he’s less than a year older than George Kittle, who is currently tabbed to be this year’s TE3 according to ADP.

I get that this is a ridiculous call, given that he hasn’t played more than 12 games in a season since finishing as the TE2 in 2020, sitting out (retiring) in 2024. And, apparently, Mike McDaniel plans to keep him in bubble wrap until the start of the season, as he’s yet to officially practice. But he’s listed atop the Miami TE depth chart, they have nobody inspiring behind him on said depth chart, and, among tight ends who have played at least 30 games over the past six seasons, Waller (64 games in that span) ranks fourth with a 12.99 PPR PPG mark. All I’m saying is that whenever Waller gets on the field for Miami, he’s at least worth your attention if you are playing in the TE stream.

(Top photo of Brock Bowers: Candace Ward / Imagn Images)