Week 1 NFL DFS TE Breakdown: Top Cash Game and Tournament Picks

Tight end is one of the most difficult positions to nail down each week. It’s a position where you can spend all the way up, pay all the way down, or look somewhere in between. Tight ends derive a bunch of their value from scoring touchdowns, which can be difficult to predict on a week-to-week basis.

In this piece, I highlight tight ends who stand out in our large suite of analytical fantasy tools, most specifically, our FantasyLabs Player Models. While the models are built for DFS contests, this is an all-purpose fantasy article with actionable information for all formats.

As news breaks throughout the week and we adjust our projections (powered by Sean Koerner), player ratings in our Player Models will change as the projections change. For updates, visit the models directly.

And don’t forget about the tools that FantasyLabs has to offer, like our Lineup Optimizer to effortlessly create up to 300 lineups, or use our Lineup Builder if you like to hand-build your lineups.

Or you can just use our NFL DFS sims to effortlessly create advanced lineups.

Finally, make sure to check out all the projections available for purchase (Chris Raybon’s come included with a FantasyLabs subscription) within the FantasyLabs Models. Subscribers now have the option to purchase Derek Carty’s THE BLITZ from our Marketplace. Projections from One Week Season and Establish the Run are available if you’re a subscriber to those specific sites (our optimizer is a separate add-on feature).

You can also combine them to create your own aggregate projections:

Top NFL DFS Cash Game Options

David Njoku ($4,700 DraftKings, $5,700 FanDuel)

Njoku is one of the most undervalued tight ends in fantasy, and he stands atop the value rankings at the position in Week 1. He’s first in projected Plus/Minus on DraftKings using Sean Koerner’s projections, and he’s No. 2 at the position on FanDuel.

Njoku has had to overcome a lot of subpar quarterback play throughout his career, and that probably won’t change in 2025. However, it’s possible that Joe Flacco is the team’s best starting quarterback since… Joe Flacco. Don’t forget how absolutely dominant he was for the Browns down the stretch in 2023. He started five of the team’s final six regular-season contests, and he averaged 323.2 passing yards and 2.6 passing touchdowns per game.

Flacco probably won’t be able to duplicate those numbers this time around, but he’ll be working in the same system under the same coaching staff as he did in 2023. Kevin Stefanski may be able to squeeze whatever juice Flacco has left out of his right arm.

Even if Flacco isn’t great, he simply needs to be better than whatever DeShaun Watson was to make Njoku a value. From Week 8 on last season – all games started by someone other than Watson – Njoku racked up a 24% target share and 42% of the team’s end zone targets. Njoku was the No. 4 TE in PPR points per game over that stretch, trailing only Brock Bowers, Tre McBride, and Jonnu Smith.

Njoku is available at a discount compared to all of the other top tight ends on the slate, particularly at just $4,700 on DraftKings. Additionally, he starts his season with one of the best possible matchups, with no team allowing more fantasy points per game to opposing tight ends than the Bengals.

Njoku is a bit more expensive than the typical value tight end, but he has the upside to warrant it. There’s also enough savings available at receiver that you shouldn’t need to completely punt the position.

Tre McBride ($6,200 DraftKings, $6,300 FanDuel)

It was extremely tight between McBride, Bowers, and George Kittle for the top spot at tight end in 2025. Kittle just narrowly edged the other two in terms of fantasy points per game, but the three players were separated by just 0.3 PPR points per game overall.

From a utilization standpoint, it’s hard to argue against McBride as the top option. He led all tight ends last season with a massive 91% route participation. He also led the position with a 29% target share, while he was tied for first in air yards share. McBride ultimately finished with 111 catches for 1,146 yards, both of which trailed only Bowers.

The only thing McBride didn’t do last year was catch touchdowns. He had just two receiving scores on the year, and they came in his final two games of the season. It’s almost unfathomable for someone to receive 147 targets and catch 111 passes and only get in the end zone once.

That makes a positive regression candidate in 2025. McBride had a ridiculous 8.5 expected touchdowns per PFF, which was second only to Travis Kelce. Ultimately, no TE underperformed their expected metrics by a higher degree, giving McBride the top spot in expected fantasy points per game.

That makes finding the extra $600 to get from Njoku to McBride on FanDuel well worth it. He ranks first on FanDuel in projected Plus/Minus at tight end, and he also has the highest ceiling projection in our NFL Models.

Now available: our NFL DFS SimLabs Lineup Generator that creates advanced DFS lineups using the power of simulation.

Top NFL DFS Tournament Options

Tucker Kraft ($4,000 DraftKings, $5,200 FanDuel)

Kraft is also definitely in cash game consideration if you can’t find the salary to get up to Njoku or McBride. It’s possible that Kraft is asked to carry a bit of a larger burden than usual for the Packers on Sunday. The team is already without Christian Watson, while Jayden Reed is questionable to suit up. Reed has been able to return to practice over the past few days, but even if he can play, there’s no guarantee he can handle his usual workload.

Kraft turned in a respectable sophomore campaign in 2024, finishing with 70 targets, 50 receptions, 707 yards, and seven touchdowns. Those numbers don’t exactly jump off the page, but he provided a pretty consistent floor for most of the year.

Ultimately, Kraft stands out as a solid target using Sim Labs. Only Njoku has a higher optimal lineup rate at the position on DraftKings. That said, Kraft isn’t expected to fly under the radar, with no other tight end currently projected for more ownership.

Brock Bowers ($6,500 DraftKings, $7,000 FanDuel)

Bowers was essentially a WR1 masquerading in a tight end’s body last season. Everyone knew how talented he was – he was considered by many to be one of the best players in last year’s draft – and he dominated basically from Day 1 at the NFL level.

His season really took off once Davante Adams was removed from the equation. Starting in Week 5, Bowers posted a 28% target share, and he averaged 7.1 receptions and 75.2 receiving yards per game. The list of players who have averaged more than 75 yards per game at the position is thin and full of future Hall-of-Famers. The only guys who have done it in the past decade are Kelce, Kittle, Rob Gronkowski, and Mark Andrews. Bowers nearly did it as a rookie.

The Raiders brought in minimal target competition for Bowers this offseason, so he figures to be the team’s alpha once again. Even better, they did upgrade his quarterback, moving from the awful trifecta of Aidan O’Connell, Marcus Mariota, and Desmond Ridder to Geno Smith. That’s one of the biggest upgrades at the position for any team this season, and it should result in another big campaign for their star tight end.

Contrarian NFL DFS Tournament Options With Upside

Chig Okonkwu ($3,400 DraftKings, $4,900 FanDuel)

Okonkwu is popping in Sim Labs as a potentially overlooked option in Week 1. No one at the position has a higher differential between their projected ownership and optimal lineup rate on DraftKings.

Okonkwu is someone who has garnered some sleeper consideration in the past, but he’s been an afterthought heading into 2025. However, he’ll have a new quarterback in Cam Ward, and we’ve seen rookie quarterbacks come out of the gates firing over the past few seasons. C.J. Stroud had a historic rookie season in 2024, while Jayden Daniels and Bo Nix were both excellent last year.

Can Ward do it in 2025? Probably not, but we won’t know for sure until they start playing the games. Even if he’s not a massive upgrade over the team’s options from last year, that could still work out for Okonkwu. He’s a big body with excellent athleticism – he ranks in the 92nd percentile for 40-yard dash time at the position – so he should be a nice safety blanket in Ward’s first start.

Brenton Strange ($3,400 DraftKings, $5,000 FanDuel)

The Jaguars will start their season with a strong matchup vs. the Panthers. They were sixth in PPR points per game allowed to opposing tight ends last season, and they were 31st in pass defense EPA overall. The Jaguars are implied for 25.0 points in this contest, which is tied for the fourth-best mark on the slate. 

Strange is expected to serve as the team’s No. 1 tight end this season after losing Evan Engram to the Broncos in free agency. That opens up a solid number of targets. Engram was third at the position with a 25% target share for the year, and Strange was a solid fill-in when Engram went down at the end of the season. He was targeted on 20% of his routes run across his final four starts, and he had double-digit fantasy points in two of them.

Strange is currently projected for modest ownership, but he trails only Njoku and Kraft in terms of optimal lineup rate.

George Kittle ($5,800 DraftKings, $6,500 FanDuel)

Kittle is the cheapest of the “big three” tight ends on DraftKings, yet he’s garnering the least amount of attention. That feels like a mistake. The 49ers are still operating without Brandon Aiyuk, while Deebo Samuel is now in Washington. The cupboard isn’t exactly bare without those guys, but Kittle figures to be the team’s No. 1 option in the pass game.

Overall, Kittle has played nine games without Aiyuk since the start of the 2022 season. In those contests, he’s averaged 88 receiving yards and roughly 16 fantasy points per game. He’s played six games without Samuel, and he’s averaged closer to 20 points in those contests. There’s no guarantee that Jauan Jennings and Ricky Pearsall will command the same target respect as their two counterparts, so Kittle could be busy on Sunday.

Pictured: David Njoku
Photo Credit: Imagn