The hardest position to fill in fantasy football remains the tight end slot, as there are only so many tight ends in the NFL who could deliver comparable production to their wide receiver counterparts. That being said, five notable TEs in the league should never be passed up and are likely to fly off the draft boards as early as the end of the third round.

Nitrobetting is here to take your bets into the end zone this 2023 NFL season. This time, let’s count down the five best tight ends to draft in the first few rounds of the 2023 NFL fantasy football season.

Top 5 Fantasy Football TEs to Draft this 2023 NFL Season

Which TE would you rather have in fantasy?

Chigoziem Okonkwo or Evan Engram pic.twitter.com/DoKsvqgzOy

— PFF Fantasy Football (@PFF_Fantasy) June 29, 2023

Travis Kelce

For the past half-decade or so, no tight end has had a grasp of the title of the consensus No. 1 fantasy TE as Travis Kelce. The two-time Super Bowl winner remains Patrick Mahomes’ favorite target as the Chiefs look to repeat as +580 favorites to win Super Bowl LVIII. Last season, Kelce led all tight ends in virtually every category in a landslide, finishing with new career highs of 110 receptions and 12 touchdown catches to go with 1,300 receiving yards. By the way, he was also the only tight end last season to crack the 1,000-yard receiving mark.

Mark Andrews

It was a down year for Lamar Jackson and the Ravens in 2022, and prolific tight end Mark Andrews also took a hit to his numbers in the process. Still, the former unanimous All-American selection out of Oklahoma had the third-most receptions (73) and yards (847) among all TEs last season. With a healthy (and handsomely paid) Lamar back in the fold, Andrews can still be widely regarded as an elite fantasy tight end in both standard and PPR leagues.

George Kittle

As San Francisco’s proven scoring machine in the team’s passing game, George Kittle rounds out the consensus Big Three of fantasy TEs. The Niners, who are currently +370 favorites to win the NFC this upcoming season, will continue to rely heavily on the four-time Pro Bowl selection’s big-play potential. Kittle appears to have a low floor in standard leagues with limited catches compared to his peers, but he still finished with 11 TD catches and led all starting tight ends with an average of 12.8 yards per catch last season to make him an attractive early-to-late second-round pickup in both standard and PPR fantasy leagues alike.

T.J. Hockenson

The midseason trade between the Lions and the Vikings did little to impede T.J. Hockenson’s momentum as one of the NFL’s fastest-rising tight ends. In his last seven games in Detroit, the former eighth-overall pick out of Iowa averaged over 15 yards per catch. That took a dip when he arrived in Minny (8.7 YPC), but Hockenson was used more often in short-yardage situations as he racked up 60 catches for the Vikes. In turn, Hockenson finished only second behind Kelce with 129 targets, 86 receptions, and 914 receiving yards last season to virtually become the fourth pillar of top fantasy TEs of 2023.

Kyle Pitts

Picking the fifth spot of the best fantasy tight ends was tough, as one could make a case for other candidates such as Darren Waller, Dallas Goedert, and Even Engram. However, Atlanta’s Kyle Pitts still stands out as the one TE that has the highest upside for a true breakout campaign. The highest-drafted tight end in NFL history (taken fourth overall by the Falcons in 2021) suffered a serious knee injury that limited him to just 10 games played last season. A healthy return and an average of nearly 14 yards per catch across his first two years in the pros is enough of a reason to go for Pitts’ high-ceiling potential to be taken over the more stable floors of production that other mid-tier TEs can provide.

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