3 Best Late-Round Tight End Picks for 2025 Fantasy Football Drafts

Perhaps more than any other position, tight end tends to have a handful of elite difference-makers and then quickly drops off into a sizable but unexciting middle class.

In 2024, only Brock Bowers, Trey McBride, and George Kittle cracked 1,000 receiving yards and averaged 12+ half-PPR points per game, and they're unsurprisingly the first three tight ends going off the board this season. Add in Sam LaPorta, the overall TE1 in 2023, and we have just those four being drafted in roughly the first 50 picks, per FantasyPros' consensus average draft position (ADP) data.

If you miss out on those guys, it isn't a bad strategy to wait things out at a position that otherwise tends to be filled with low-yardage, touchdown-dependent options. Beyond that Bowers/McBride/Kittle group, 10 different tight ends averaged 8-10 half-PPR points per game last season, so there were plenty of serviceable TEs to go around.

Let's look at three tight ends who could pay off at their ADP outside the top 100 picks.

Best Late-Round Tight End Picks in Fantasy Football

Tyler Warren, Colts

ADP: 114.0 (TE12)

Tyler Warren feels like the perfect late-round TE1 target in 12-team formats.

Yes, we're talking about a rookie who's coming into an Indianapolis Colts offense filled with question marks due to a shaky QB room that will be led by either Anthony Richardson or Daniel Jones. He'll also have to compete for targets with Josh Downs and Michael Pittman Jr., who both logged over 100 targets in 2024. Indianapolis also essentially went with a committee approach at tight end last year, as none of their TEs exceeded a 50% snap rate for the campaign.

Despite all this, the Colts didn't spend the 14th overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft on Warren to have him twiddle his thumbs on the bench. An ESPN report during OTAs noted how often Warren was touching the football and specifically stated, "Any doubts about him having a notable role were erased in the first week of OTAs." More recently, he's already getting glowing reviews during training camp.

Last season at Penn State (including the postseason), Warren earned a sparkling 93.4 receiving grade from PFF, and he averaged the second-most yards per route run (2.78) among college TEs with at least 50 targets. We saw Bowers (2024 first-rounder) blow up as a rookie last season, and LaPorta (2023 second-rounder) did so the year before that, so it isn't unheard of for a first-year TE to make his mark right away.

Given his surrounding situation, Warren obviously isn't guaranteed to find success immediately, but swinging and missing on a tight end this late will hardly derail your campaign, and the potential reward is much higher than most -- if not all -- of the veterans going ahead of him in the middle rounds.

Colston Loveland, Bears

ADP: 130.0 (TE15)

Warren wasn't even the first tight end taken in the 2025 NFL Draft, as Colston Loveland was picked 10th overall by the Chicago Bears. Considering he goes to a team now coached by Ben Johnson -- the guy who helped LaPorta to his 2023 breakout campaign as the Detroit Lions' offensive coordinator -- this could be a fruitful landing spot for Loveland.

However, whether it proves fruitful right away is the concern, and that's why his ADP falls after his fellow rookie.

Loveland enters training camp following offseason shoulder surgery, and while early reports are positive, the Bears will likely be cautious with their top-10 draft pick. Further, the Bears already have a solid veteran tight end in Cole Kmet, a wideout room featuring D.J. Moore, Rome Odunze, and rookie Luther Burden III, and a pass-catching RB in D'Andre Swift.

Even with coach Johnson's scheme hopefully lifting Caleb Williams and the Bears' offense to new heights, there are lot of mouths to feed, which could limit Loveland's fantasy impact in Year 1.

Still, similar to Warren, the talent could be there to break through. Although Loveland didn't see the same volume as Warren in his final collegiate campaign, he posted the third-best PFF receiving grade (90.6) and third-most yards per route run (2.67) among tight ends.

Barring some pretty strong indications that he'll be a focal point immediately, Loveland probably isn't someone to plug into Week 1 lineups outside of deep formats. His ceiling is likely better than any of the other tight ends you'll find this late, though.

Dallas Goedert, Eagles

ADP: 131.0 (TE16)

Although Dallas Goedert will never wow us with his final stat line, he consistently performs as a low-end TE1 when healthy.

Dating back to 2019, he's averaged 7.7, 8.5, 9.1, 9.5, 7.6, and 8.3 half-PPR points per game. No, he's unlikely to ever win you your fantasy matchup, but he provides a solid floor for a guy being drafted as the TE16. He remains the clear No. 3 option on the Philadelphia Eagles behind A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith and logged a 22.1% target share and 70.7% route rate across his eight full games last year.

Part of his depressed draft price is likely due to him consistently getting sidelined due to injury, as he's missed three or more games in four of the last five seasons. That's not great for someone entering his age-30 campaign.

However, with that missed time already baked into his ADP, it's not like we're taking a huge hit if Goedert is out for a few games. Goedert was drafted as a mid-to-late TE1 in each of the past four seasons, too, so this isn't a bad discount we're getting.

Goedert is admittedly a boring pick who doesn't give that "shiny new toy" feeling of a Warren or Loveland. But with some better injury luck, it isn't outlandish to see him outperforming his ADP. It can't hurt that Goedert has been excited about his usage this offseason with new OC Kevin Patullo, as well.

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