• George Kittle is still the NFL’s premier tight end: Kittle led the NFL with a 90.7 PFF grade, the fourth grade over 90.0 of his career.

• A big rookie season for Colston Loveland: The Bears’ 2025 first-round pick impressed in his first campaign, earning the third-highest grade among tight ends.

• 2026 NFL Draft season is here: Try the best-in-class PFF Mock Draft Simulator and learn about 2026’s top prospects while trading and drafting for your favorite NFL team.

Estimated Reading Time: 25 minutes

With the 2025 NFL season wrapped up, we’re breaking down the top tight ends by overall PFF grade one final time. Including the postseason, these were the league’s best.

After nine seasons in the NFL, George Kittle remains at the top of the food chain. Kittle is the prototypical tight end. He can run-block, he can pass-block and most of all, he can catch the football.

Even though he played in just 12 games in 2025, Kittle was a force. He caught 58 passes for 634 yards and seven touchdowns, and his 85.3% catch rate was the fourth-highest among tight ends.

Kittle is just omnipotent at this point. He’s earned a PFF grade of over 90.0 in four of his nine seasons in the NFL, and hasn’t compiled a grade under 84.0 since his rookie season. The question for Kittle now, though, is how he recovers from a torn Achilles suffered against the Philadelphia Eagles in the wild-card round. Let’s hope the veteran can get back to his best.

Injuries have befallen Dalton Kincaid for two straight seasons now, but the former first-round pick continues to flash potential. His 86.8 PFF grade in 2025 was a career-high, and Kincaid caught 48 of 60 targets for 682 yards and seven touchdowns in 14 games. Kincaid also had four games with a PFF grade over 85.0, and his 86.1 PFF receiving grade was fourth among tight ends.

Kincaid doesn’t have the same prowess as a blocker as Kittle and some of the other top tight ends in the NFL, but the Bills continue to utilize him as a receiver first and foremost. He lined up in the slot on 160 of his 369 snaps in 2025, and Kincaid is likely the most important weapon in the Bills’ passing game. His connection with Josh Allen (90.5 grade; 3rd) was money throughout the season, and Kincaid’s 14.2 yards per reception were second at the position.

3. Colston Loveland, Chicago Bears: 84.0

Historically speaking, it’s hard for rookie tight ends to make a significant contribution in their first season in the NFL. Don’t tell that to Colston Loveland. The Bears rookie started slowly but found his groove as the season progressed, becoming one of the most impactful tight ends in football by season’s end.

Loveland caught 70 of 106 targets for 906 yards and six touchdowns in 2025, the ninth-most catches and third-most receiving yards among tight ends. The former Michigan tight end is a shifty, big-play machine. Loveland averaged 12.9 yards per reception in his rookie season, the fourth-most at the position, and was a valuable weapon for Caleb Williams (76.9 grade; 14th) down the stretch. From Week 17 to the divisional round, Loveland earned 47 targets. He’ll be a major player for years to come.

4. Jackson Hawes, Buffalo Bills: 83.1

The Bills drafted Jackson Hawes in the fifth round of the 2025 NFL Draft, but the rookie receiver made an immediate impact as a blocker, giving Buffalo a completely different dimension and wrinkle to the offense. No team had six offensive linemen on the field more than the Bills in 2024 (15.2%), but that number dropped to just 1.8% in 2025, and Hawes was a big reason why. The rookie tight end compiled a 78.1 PFF pass-blocking grade in 2025, eighth among tight ends. His 74.2 PFF run-blocking grade was also third at the position.

Hawes made minor contributions as a receiver, catching 16 passes for 187 yards and three touchdowns, including never tallying more than two catches in a game. But he didn’t need to do much as the team’s third receiving tight end. He helped the Bills have one of the top rushing attacks in the NFL, and presents a potential shift for the Buffalo offense moving forward.

Though he hasn’t reached the heights of his explosive rookie season, Sam LaPorta is still one of the best tight ends in the NFL. LaPorta played in just 10 games in 2025, with a back injury cutting his season short. In that stretch, LaPorta caught 40 of 45 targets for 489 yards and three touchdowns,

LaPorta has routinely been one of the best receiving tight ends in the game for the last three years, and that carried over into 2025. The former Iowa Hawkeye had zero drops this season and caught all seven contested targets. Like Kittle, hopefully we’ll see LaPorta back to his best in 2026.

Trey McBride had a historic season in 2025. McBride set the tight end record for receptions in a season, catching 126 passes for a league-leading 1,239 yards, with 11 touchdowns, the second-most in the NFL. In a disastrous season for the Cardinals, McBride was the only bright spot.

McBride was a vacuum for the football, hauling in a league-leading 21 contested catches on 36 targets while only dropping one pass all season. The one area of his game that had lacked was the ability to get open and convert in the end zone, but McBride was a scoring machine with 11 touchdowns. What a season, and one that ended with his first-ever first-team All-Pro selection.

7. Brock Bowers, Las Vegas Raiders: 78.8

A knee injury cut Brock Bowers’ season in half, with the former 13th overall pick playing in just 12 games in 2025. Still, the former All-Pro was still a nuisance for opposing defenses. Bowers caught 64 passes for 680 yards and seven touchdowns in 2025, and his 78.8 PFF grade was seventh among tight ends.

The Raiders’ offense struggled for large stretches of the season, and that impacted Bowers. But, he still managed to have one of the best receiving performances against the Jaguars in Week 9, catching 12 of 13 targets for 127 yards and three touchdowns on a 93.6 PFF grade. He’ll continue to be one of the NFL’s elite tight ends for years to come.

The season started strongly for Packers tight end Tucker Kraft until a torn ACL cut it short after just eight games. Before that, Kraft was having a career year and likely heading toward a potential All-Pro selection. Through eight games, Kraft had 32 catches for 489 yards and seven touchdowns, and was the top receiver for Green Bay.

Kraft’s dynamism and ability to create yards after the catch are what set him apart. His 4.8-yard average depth of target was 42nd out of 49 tight ends, but Kraft led all tight ends in yards after the catch per reception with an astounding 10.8 yards. He turned almost everything into a first down, and he led all tight ends in total yards per reception. An unreal feat.

With Kittle banged up for half the season, the 49ers leaned into 2022 undrafted free agent Jake Tonges for production at the tight end position. Tonges entered the 2025 campaign with just one target in his career, all the way back in 2022, but he deputized tremendously for Kittle.

Tonges caught 40 passes for 366 yards and five touchdowns in 17 games, despite playing eight contests with fewer than 10 total offensive snaps on the field. Like Kittle, Tonges is a strong run-blocker, compiling a 74.4 PFF run-blocking grade in 2025 — the fifth-highest among tight ends. Tonges registered four games with a PFF grade over 80.0, and he also compiled a 90.3 PFF grade in the divisional round against the Seahawks.

Despite being third on the Ravens’ tight end depth chart, Charlie Kolar still manages to have a positive impact on offense. He’s not a massive contributor in the passing game despite catching a career-high 10 passes for 142 yards and two touchdowns. Where Kolar makes his money is in the Ravens’ excellent running game.

Kolar’s 71.5 PFF run-blocking grade was 15th at his position, with the fourth-year tight end excellent at sealing the edge and allowing Derrick Henry (80.4 grade; 14th) to bounce outside or keep his feet churning north to south. The former fourth-round pick is a free agent this offseason and could make some money as a strong run-blocker.

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Like several tight ends on this list, Brenton Strange felt the force of the midseason injury, trimming his season in half. From Weeks 1-5, Strange was a consistent contributor, barrelling toward a career-best campaign in his third year with the Jaguars before landing on injured reserve.

That career-high year still manifested. Strange caught 48 passes for 549 yards and three touchdowns in 2025 and was instrumental in Jacksonville’s passing game. He was also one of the best run-blocking tight ends in the NFL, as his 85.6 zone PFF run-blocking grade paced the position. A strong season for an ascending tight end.

For the first six weeks of the season, Colby Parkinson was pushed down the Rams’ depth chart and was rarely a voice in the passing game. But as the season progressed, the former Seahawks’ fourth-round pick became a regular feature in the offense, and really stepped up when fellow tight end Tyler Higbee went down with an injury.

From Week 12 to the end of the postseason, Parkinson caught 36 passes for 437 yards and a league-best seven touchdowns at the position, averaging 8.0 yards after the catch per reception — the second-most among tight ends. Even in an offense packed with star talent, Parkinson found a role.

AJ Barner started the season as an intriguing breakout candidate on an equally interesting team. He ended it by scoring the opening touchdown in Super Bowl 60, and as a Super Bowl champion. Barner had a promising second season in the NFL, catching 58 passes for 586 yards and seven touchdowns, the sixth-most at the position.

Barner flashed his athleticism after the catch, averaging 5.3 yards after the catch per reception, and relished his role as the team’s designated short-yardage sneak artist. The former fourth-round pick can hopefully take another step forward in his third season.

The Falcons have been waiting for a leap from Kyle Pitts since his rookie season. Pitts eclipsed the 1,000-yard receiving mark back in 2021, but had struggled to recapture that form in the years since. However, the former No. 4 pick had arguably the best season of his career in 2025.

Pitts caught a career-high 88 passes — 20 more than in his rookie season — for 928 yards and five touchdowns. There was more consistency in Pitts’ game, but his 7.5-yard average depth of target was also the lowest of his career. Pitts heads into free agency on a head of steam.

The Cowboys’ offense was excellent in 2025, and though he flew under the radar, Brevyn Spann-Ford contributed to that success on offense. The second-year tight end had just nine catches for nine yards and a touchdown in 2025, but he excelled as a run-blocker for the Cowboys — especially on zone run plays. Spann-Ford’s 75.6 zone PFF run-blocking grade was 13th among tight ends.

Spann-Ford had five separate games with a PFF grade over 80.0 in 2025. He flashed a little as a receiver toward the end of the season, catching two passes of over 20 yards in the final two games of the year.

Dalton Schultz has been a positive face for the Texans’ offense since arriving in 2023, and the veteran tight end had his best season in Houston in 2025. Schultz caught a career-high 87 passes for 836 yards and three touchdowns, and his 73.1 PFF grade was his foremost since 2021.

Schultz has one of the safest sets of hands in the league, too. His 1.1% drop rate in 2025 was seventh among tight ends, and Schultz averaged a career-high 1.57 yards per route run. He’ll continue to be a safety net for C.J. Stroud (65.0 grade; 31st).

The Patriots’ offense struggled in the postseason, but it beat up defenses during the regular season. Hunter Henry played a major role in New England’s offensive success in 2025. The veteran tight end had one of the best seasons of his career, catching 69 passes for 880 yards and eight touchdowns, and his 75.3 PFF receiving grade was his best since 2017 — Henry’s second year in the league.

His work as a receiver in New England’s offense was pivotal in helping Drake Maye (80.7 grade; 8th) develop in his second NFL campaign. Henry tallied the fourth-most contested catches among tight ends (14), and his 5.4 yards after the catch per reception was his best mark since his rookie season.

The days of Travis Kelce being among the NFL’s elite are long gone. The veteran tight end is in the twilight of his career at 36 years old, and 2025 could well be Kelce’s final season in the NFL. If that’s the case, he still ended his career playing at a good level. Kelce caught 76 passes for 851 yards and five touchdowns in 2025, placing sixth in receptions and yards among tight ends.

Kelce’s 11.2 yards per reception were his best since 2022, and his 5.7 yards after the catch per reception was his best mark since 2021. This wasn’t elite Kelce, but it was a nice reminder that the four-time All-Pro tight end could still make an impact, even without Patrick Mahomes (76.0 grade; 16th).

Darnell Washington is one of the most imposing players in the NFL. The 6-foot-6, 311-pound tight end is built like an offensive tackle but rumbles like a steam engine in space. The former Bulldog is still work-in-progress as a receiver, but set career highs in catches, yards and touchdowns with 31 receptions for 364 yards and a score. His 7.4 yards after the catch per reception were second among tight ends. Washington’s size makes him so hard to take down on first contact, and his 12 missed tackles forced were fifth.

Washington mostly shines as a blocker. His 73.1 PFF run-blocking grade is ninth among tight ends, and his 68.4 PFF pass-blocking grade was a career high. If he continues to develop as a receiver, Washington could be a force to be reckoned with.

Mike Gesicki, CincinnatiBengals: 70.8

Mike Gesicki had a fairly quiet season compared to 2024. Gesicki missed a few games in the middle of the season and had already started the year slowly. He was playing catch-up by the time he returned in Week 12, but Gesicki was a major component in the Cincinnati offense for the rest of 2025.

Gesicki caught 28 total passes for 307 yards and two touchdowns in 2025, and he dropped zero of his 42 targets. The former second-round pick is one of the better pure receiving tight ends in the NFL, and his 54.5% contested catch rate was 27th at the position.