It wasn't easy to knock King Travis I off his pedestal atop all fantasy tight ends in his prime. But not only did Mark Andrews do it in 2021, it wasn't particularly close.

Granted, it was a "perfect storm" season—that year, Andrews was targeted a whopping 153 times—40 more than in any other season of his career. He had almost 35 more receptions than in any other season of his career.

Outlier or not, it was a dominant season. Andrews was the only tight end with 270 PPR points that year. And 280 PPR points. And 290 PPR points. And 300 PPR points.

Will someone please explain to me how Puka Nacua wasn't drafted until the fifth round in 2023? Explain it to me like I'm five.

Les Snead is a sorcerer.

Nacua has essentially been in rampage mode from the moment he hit an NFL field. As a rookie, he broke a record for receiving yards by a first-year player that had stood for over six decades and set a new high-water mark for rookie catches (since broken).

In 2025, Nacua led the league in receptions and receiving yards per game, topped 1,700 yards and claimed his first title as fantasy's highest-scoring wideout.

It won't be his last.

The 21st century has been so littered with outstanding quarterback play that there are signal-callers who had amazing seasons who don't get the run they should.

Daunte Culpepper's 2004 season with the Minnesota Vikings was one of those years.

In a season where the Vikings were led in receiving yards by Nate Burleson (no, really), Culpepper had the best season of his seven years in the Twin Cities—he led the league in passing yards, averaging almost 295 yards per contest. Culpepper paced the NFC in passing scores. And thanks to over 400 yards on the ground, Culpepper beat Peyton Manning for the crown of highest-scoring fantasy player overall.

Back in 1995, "The Greatest Show on Turf" was still several years away. The head coach of the Rams that year was Rich Brooks. The quarterbacks were Chris Miller and Mark Rypien. The team was—not great.

However, a 23-year-old Isaac Bruce was.

Miller and Rypien knew what they had in "The Reverend." In his second season, Bruce was targeted almost 200 times. Came up just short of 120 catches and 1,800 receiving yards. Scored 13 touchdowns. And didn't lead the league in any of those categories.

For what it's worth, Bruce did lead the NFL in receiving yards in 1996—with over 400 less than in this all-time fantasy season.

Sometimes, a player just catches lightning in a bottle. Explodes from nowhere into a supernova of fantasy points and then fades just as quickly back into obscurity. But man, it's fun while it lasts—even if it doesn't last long.

To be fair, James Wilder topped 1,000 total yards with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1983 and rushed for over 1,000 yards in 1985. But those seasons were nothing compared to what he accomplished in 1984.

That season, Wilder led the NFL in carries and added 85 receptions. All told, he touched the ball a staggering 492 times—the most by a running back in a season in the history of the National Football League.

By the time the 2000 fantasy season rolled around, the scourge of "Y2K" had passed.

It was the biggest nothingburger ever.

The scourge of Edgerrin James was only getting started.

After exploding into the NFL with an NFL-high 431 touches and 1,553 rushing yards on the way to Rookie of the Year honors in 1999, James did that one better the following campaign—he touched the ball 450 times, led the league in both rushing yards and total yards, caught a career-high 63 passes and scored 18 total touchdowns.

If that sounds like it equated to a lot of fantasy points, it did—he was one of two players that year to hit 400 PPR points.

To be clear, all the stuff that Megatron did with the Decepticons was messed up. Beating up on Optimus Prime. Trying to destroy the Earth. Not cool.

But the stuff that Calvin Johnson did while a member of the Detroit Lions was otherworldly in a good way—and Johnson's 2012 campaign was the best in NFL history in terms of receiving yards.

Johnson came one long catch from hitting 2,000 yards on 122 catches and over 200 targets. He averaged a mind-blowing 122.8 yards per game.

Had Johnson managed more than five touchdowns that year he'd be far higher on this list, but he was still fantasy's top receiver in PPR points.

For quite some time, tight ends were mostly afterthoughts in fantasy football—with a precious few exceptions, the position just didn't generate enough stats to matter.

But then Todd Christensen of the Raiders came along and paved the way for superstar tight ends to come.

In 1983, Christensen didn't just lead the position in catches. He led all NFL pass-catchers. Christensen surpassed 1,200 receiving yards, found the end zone a career-high 12 times and made the Pro Bowl for the first time.

That season, Christensen finished among the top-10 players overall in PPR points. And had more fantasy points than any wideout in the game.

Take that, Travis Kelce.

By the time the Indianapolis Colts thought it would be a good idea to trade Marshall Faulk, he had already established himself as one of the best backs in the game.

In 1999, Faulk made history.

That season, he joined Roger Craig as the only two backs in the history of the NFL to record 1,000 rushing yards and 1,000 receiving yards in the same season. Faulk's 5.5 yards per carry paced the NFL. Averaged 12 yards per catch. And logged a career-high 2,429 total yards.

It was the second of a ridiculous four straight seasons with 2,000 total yards for Faulk—and yet somehow still not close to the best fantasy season he had.

You may not know this, but according to sources with knowledge of the situation, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes is good at throwing a football.

The secret was out by 2022, of course—by then Mahomes had already posted one of the greatest statistical seasons by a quarterback in NFL history and won a Super Bowl. In 2022, he would win his second. And his second MVP. And post his second year with over 5,000 passing yards.

2022 is actually the only season that Mahomes has led the NFL in passing yards. He also led the NFL in touchdown throws, averaged over 308 passing yards a game, and captured the top spot among fantasy quarterbacks.