One of the quiet storylines of the 2023 NFL Draft is the quality of tight ends entering the league. Drafting tight ends in the first round is not typically where teams go with their selections. Since 2011, only nine TEs have been taken in Round 1, and only two years since 2000 have seen three TEs selected in the first, 2002 and 2017.

This year the expectation is two, and more likely three, tight ends are taken before Round 2 begins. The TE position has grown to be an integral part of the NFL offense. The two teams in this year’s Super Bowl, Kansas City and Philadelphia, each sport a dynamic weapon at the tight end position in Travis Kelce and Dallas Goedert that both teams spent a second-round selection on.

The top of the board is led by Michael Mayer, Dalton Kincaid and Darnell Washington, three names we feel confident you’ll know quite well by season’s end.