Week 8 Fantasy Football Tight End Rankings & Projections: Travis Kelce Back on Top

The tight end position had two surprising games last week, while two high-ranking players added to their 2025 resume. All four players scored over 20.00 fantasy points, leading to the best top-tier tight end production of the year.

With Jacoby Brissett starting for the Cardinals over the past two weeks, Trey McBride started to hit his stride. He was the second-best tight end in Week 6 (8/72/1 on 11 targets) while reaching number one status in Week 7 (10/74/2 on 13 targets).

Best Week 7 Fantasy Football Tight Ends

Here are the top 12 tight ends in Week 7 by fantasy points (PPR):

Trey McBride (29.40)
Oronde Gadsden (29.40)
Pat Freiermuth (28.10)
Jake Ferguson (21.90)
Dalton Schultz (18.80)
Daniel Bellinger (17.80)
Tyler Warren (16.90)
Tucker Kraft (16.80)
Theo Johnson (15.60)
Noah Fant (14.40)
Cade Otton (13.50)
Kyle Pitts (13.20)

Jake Ferguson continues to gain short yards per catch (6.5) while remaining active in catches (51), targets (58), and touchdowns (6) for the season. He finished fourth in tight end scoring in Week 7 (7/29/2) by extending his scoring streak to four games. The return of CeeDee Lamb didn’t hurt his fantasy value. Ferguson is on pace to catch 124 passes for 811 yards and 15 touchdowns.

Best Fantasy Football Tight Ends in 2025

Here are the top 12 tight ends by scoring average in PPR formats:

Jake Ferguson (17.20)
Trey McBride (16.16)
Tyler Warren (14.50)
Dallas Goedert (13.85)
Dalton Kincaid (13.34)
Tucker Kraft (13.23)
Travis Kelce (11.50)
Kyle Pitts (10.75)
Sam LaPorta (10.70)
Hunter Henry (10.43)
Zach Ertz (10.27)
Dalton Schultz (9.73)

Each week, I’ll release my weekly depth charts and projections on Wednesday, with a neutral eye that is dictated by hinting stats from previous results or in-season injuries. These statistics represent baseline outlooks, with their potential already factored in. Touchdowns create impact scores and winning fantasy days, especially in non-PPR formats. Who scores them each week is the Holy Grail that the fantasy market searches for weekly.

My projections will be sorted into rankings, which won’t look anything close to the weekly consensus. My man, Matt Brandon, is in charge of finding a balance between my player outlooks and the public view of each week's rankings.

Week 8 Fantasy Football Tight End Projections

Here’s a look at our opening Week 8 top 12 tight ends projections:

Travis Kelce, Kansas City Chiefs

Last week, the Chiefs only looked Kelce’s way three times in a blowout game against the Raiders. He caught all of his chances for 54 yards, giving him a higher level of big-play ability over the past two weeks (14.7 yards per catch). Kelce is no longer the top target dog for Patrick Mahomes, but Kansas City now has the tools to fire 30+ points each week, giving the Chiefs’ receivers many chances to score touchdowns. I have Mahomes projected to deliver three passing scores this week, painting a higher scoring picture for Kelce in this week’s matchup.

2025 Tight End Fantasy Point Catch Stats — Shawn Childs

The Commanders sit 19th in fantasy points allowed (92.70) to tight ends, with Tucker Kraft (6/124/1), Kyle Pitts (5/70/1), and Jake Ferguson (7/29/2) having the most success.

Week 8 Waiver Wire Tight End

Week 8 Fantasy Football Waiver Wire Pickup: Oronde Gadsden, Los Angeles Charger — Los Angeles Chargers tight end Oronde Gadsden II (86) looks on after carrying the football against the Miami Dolphins during the third quarter at Hard Rock Stadium. | Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

Oronde Gadsden, Los Angeles Chargers

Earlier in the season, Gadsden teased in Week 3 (5/46), which led to him being picked up in many leagues. Unfortunately, two dull games (2/16 and 1/14) with only four targets pushed him back into the free agent pool. The Chargers looked his way eight times in Week 6 (7/68), putting him back on the fantasy radar. A chaser game by the Chargers led to him ranking second at tight end in Week 7 (7/164/1 on nine targets), highlighted by a 53-yard catch and a 15-yard touchdown. His success will surely make Gadsden the top tight end pick up this week in shallow short roster formats despite being on a bye.

Over the past week, while researching the short slate games on Thursday and Monday nights, I found reasons to play Pat Freiermuth (5/111/2) and Dalton Schultz (9/98). They finished third and fifth in tight end scoring this week.

In my projection system, I only rate two tight ends per team, which leaves Pat Freiermuth off my sheet for this matchup (PIT/CIN). His playing time has decreased over his last two games (50%, 50%, 70%, 28%, and 28%) while catching eight passes for 76 yards on 11 targets this season. Last year, he led the Steelers in receiving production (65/653/7 on 78 targets), with two highlight games (6/68/1 and 8/85/1) against the Bengals. His salary ($3,000) is favorable in this matchup.

The Texans have done a much better job of getting Schultz involved over their last three games (5/39, 5/30, and 5/60 on six targets in each matchup). Last season, he had five catches in only two of his 19 starts. His career resume paints a high picture, and Schultz did score 18 touchdowns over a 47-game stretch from 2021 to 2023.

Seattle has the worst tight end defense (89.00 fantasy points) of the teams playing tonight, with a favorable schedule in three games.

George Kittle (4/25/1)
Jonnu Smith (4/27)
Juwan Johnson (6/51)
Trey McBride (7/52)
Cade Otton (4/81)
Hunter Long (2/19

I sense that Schultz scores tonight, keeping in play as a low-priced roster filler at tight end or possibly at the flex position.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW OUR FULL WEEK 8 FANTASY FOOTBALL TIGHT END PROJECTIONS!

Week 8 Tight End Updates

Buffalo Bills Tight End Dalton Kincai — Buffalo Bills tight end Dalton Kincaid (86) warms up before a game against the Buffalo Bills at Highmark Stadium. | Mark Konezny-Imagn Images

Dalton Kincaid, Buffalo Bills

After turning in three limited practices this week, Kincaid should suit up against the Panthers despite still having a questionable tag.

Cole Kmet, Chicago Bears

A back issue will push Kmet to the sidelines in Week 8, giving Colston Loveland a clear path to start strutting his NFL stuff. Chicago had their rookie tight end on the field for a season 67% of their snaps last week, leading to three catches for 24 yards on four targets. Sunday is National Tight End Day in the NFL, so Loveland may very well score for the first time in his career.

Mason Taylor, New York Jets

With Garrett Wilson and Josh Reynolds ruled out, is this the week that Taylor breaks out?

David Njoku, Cleveland Browns

Njoku is trying his best to play this week, but Cleveland has a bye in Week 9. I left him with no projections against the New England Patriots.

Julian Hill, Miami Dolphins

Hill was scratched from this week’s game due to an ankle injury. I flipped his low projections to Greg Dulcich.