Brock Bowers, George Kittle, Sam LaPorta Top NFL TE Rankings by Coaches, Execs

After turning in arguably the best rookie year ever by a tight end, Brock Bowers has moved ahead of icons like George Kittle and Travis Kelce to be regarded as the best player at the position entering the 2025 season.

In a survey of coaches, scouts and executives conducted by ESPN's Jeremy Fowler, Bowers checked in at No. 1 among tight ends.

ESPN's Top 10 Tight End Rankings

1. Brock Bowers, Las Vegas Raiders
2. George Kittle, San Francisco 49ers
3. Sam LaPorta, Detroit Lions
4. Trey McBride, Arizona Cardinals
5. Travis Kelce, Kansas City Chiefs
6. Mark Andrews, Baltimore Ravens
7. T.J. Hockenson, Minnesota Vikings
8. Isaiah Likely, Baltimore Ravens
9. Dallas Goedert, Philadelphia Eagles
10. David Njoku, Cleveland Browns

Fowler noted Bowers got the slight edge over Kittle with more than 50 percent of the first-place votes. The Las Vegas Raiders star set NFL rookie records for receptions (112) and receiving yards by a tight end (1,194).

"Great person, hard worker, instinctive, great hands, matchup problem due to his speed and athleticism with elite [run after catch] ability," an NFC executive told Fowler about Bowers.

If you need to know how important Bowers was to the Raiders' offense last season, he accounted for a higher percentage of their first downs than Kelce did in any of arguably the six best seasons of his career.

Kittle, despite coming in at No. 2 overall, had the smallest disparity between his highest and lowest spot in the voting. His lowest ranking was fourth coming off back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons in 2023 and 2024.

Even though Kittle finished just behind Bowers in the overall ranking, he remains arguably the best all-around tight end in the league.

Per ESPN's Mina Kimes, Kittle's yards per target in 2024 was the best among all players and far ahead of every other tight end.

"He's shown that when he's healthy he's the most complete player at the position," an AFC scout said of Kittle. "Durability is the only thing that's really affected that. He embodies San Francisco's culture and that's why they keep paying him."

Despite being 31 years old, Kittle has shown no signs of slowing down. He has been named to the All-Pro team in each of the past three seasons and leads all tight ends with 25 touchdown catches during that span.

One player who continues to ascend is Sam LaPorta. The Detroit Lions tight end moved up a spot from last year to No. 3 overall. His counting stats dropped in 2024 from his rookie season (889 yards to 726), but his rate stats improved with nearly two more yards per reception from 2023 (10.3) to 2024 (12.1).

An NFC executive told Fowler they aren't concerned about the dip in production by LaPorta because the Lions had so many playmakers that it didn't afford him as many opportunities, but he's regarded as "a cornerstone player for a long time."

For the first time since Fowler started doing these rankings in 2020, Kelce was not among the top two tight ends. He is still a respectable fifth, but it is an indication that his production and performance have slipped recently.

That has opened the door for a new group of tight ends to make their mark on the game. This list is an indication of how deep the position is as we embark on the 2025 season.