Before getting into why it might not be a good idea to draft tight ends in the early rounds, I want to preface this by saying that this does not take away from the talent that specifically both Brock Bowers and Trey McBride have. Drafting specifically a tight end in the early rounds means you are giving up depth at either the RB or WR position
Specifically looking at Brock Bowers to start, he had a great season for fantasy, finishing as the TE1 overall with 262.7 fantasy points in PPR leagues and averaging 15.5 points per game, especially for a rookie tight end. These numbers are amazing. In 2024, Brock Bowers was being drafted on average at the 95th overall pick, so somewhere in the 9th or 10th round in fantasy, and now for the upcoming 2025 season, he is the 13th overall pick, basically at the top of the 2nd round in most leagues. Drafting Brock Bowers at the 13th overall pick would mean you are giving up so much potential at the WR and RB positions, especially when he is being drafted alongside guys like Amon-Ra St. Brown, Malik Nabers, Ladd McConkey, Brian Thomas Jr., and so many more guys.
You are giving up lots of upside by not taking one of these WRs or any of the RBs that were not mentioned. Again, this is not to say that Brock Bowers is not a good player, but think about it and ask yourself, are you willing to give up a WR or RB so early on in fantasy drafts?
What this reminds me of is back in 2023, after Travis Kelce had a historic season in 2022, everyone thought you had to draft Travis Kelce because he would help you win your fantasy league. In 2022, he definitely did that, so his draft stock went up to being in the first round of fantasy after having 316.3 fantasy points in the PPR league in 2022. In 2023, he only got you 219.4 fantasy points. Big expectations were definitely missed. Again, with the tight end position, there are tight ends who go undrafted or are drafted way later in fantasy drafts and end up finishing close to or just outside of the top 10, guys like Jonnu Smith, Zach Ertz, Pat Freiermuth, Tucker Kraft, and many more.
We did a deep dive into Brock Bowers because he is a much higher pick than Trey McBride. Still, with Trey McBride, it is going to be the same idea, which is when you look at the guys he is being drafted ahead of, for instance, guys like Bucky Irving, James Cook, Tee Higgins, A.J. Brown, Breece Hall, and even Kyren Williams, you have to ask yourself again, do you want to take a tight end when there are so many significant name values that all have the potential to finish inside the top 10 within their position.
Personally, I think I would rather go with almost all of those other names I just mentioned. In the first instance, it builds depth at those positions that matter the most in redraft leagues. RBs and WRs, in general, are the most valuable positions in fantasy because in typical fantasy leagues, you start more of these positions, and you can only start one tight end.