You could make the argument that since Madden began in 1988, the tight end has undergone the greatest positional change in the game of football. Once stationary stalwarts of the offensive line, in Madden 23, most passing plays have the tight end at least running a simple curl route. We’re going to break down the top 10 base elite tight ends in Madden 23.
Who are the best Core Elite tight ends in Madden 23
| Overall | Name and team | Position | Speed | Catching | Short route run | Medium route run | Run block |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 88 | Mark Andrews (Ravens) | TE | 83 | 87 | 85 | 86 | 81 |
| 87 | Travis Kelce (Chiefs) | TE | 82 | 86 | 87 | 86 | 67 |
| 86 | George Kittle (49ers) | TE | 84 | 85 | 84 | 85 | 83 |
| 85 | Kyle Pits (Falcons) | TE | 84 | 85 | 85 | 85 | 58 |
| 84 | Darren Waller (Raiders) | TE | 83 | 84 | 86 | 84 | 55 |
| 83 | Dallas Goedert (Eagles) | TE | 77 | 82 | 79 | 77 | 72 |
| 82 | Mike Gesicki (Dolphins) | TE | 79 | 82 | 78 | 80 | 58 |
| 81 | Dalton Schultz (Cowboys) | TE | 76 | 82 | 82 | 79 | 68 |
| 81 | Logan Thomas (Commanders) | TE | 78 | 81 | 77 | 79 | 58 |
| 80 | Evan Engram (Jaguars) | TE | 79 | 81 | 73 | 75 | 58 |
Related: What is Cred in Madden 23?
The person just missing this list is Steelers tight end Pat Freiermuth. He has an 80 overall rating with a rather impressive 70 Run Block stat, which is nice if you are dedicated to your ground game. Dallas Goedert is the most well-rounded in terms of cost-to-performance, in our opinion.
As you can likely tell from the table above, the key to passing with tight ends is to run them on short or medium routes. Let a drag route carry you from one side of the field to the other, or let an out route take you to the sideline. Many of the people on this list will be very good at Possession catching, which you can do by holding A on Xbox or the Cross button on Playstation. This is key to avoiding big hit stick tackles, as most tight ends don’t have a very high Carrying stat. Tight ends aren’t going to be able to be your entire passing offense, so make sure you check out our list of the best MUT wide receivers.
