Trey McBride Fantasy Impact 2025
The Arizona Cardinals tight end Trey McBride is a fantasy football ‘riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma. ’ Last season, the Cardinals’ passing offense averaged 214.1 passing yards per game, ranking them 18th in the league. They were 22nd in passing attempts, averaging 31.9 per game, and the tight end was playing on the field with Marvin Harrison Jr., touted as a “generational talent”.
Yet, McBride, who only finished with two receiving touchdowns, finished as TE3 in standard fantasy leagues and TE2 in PPR formats. McBride’s stats were buoyed by being targeted 147 times, finishing the season with 111 receptions and 1146 receiving yards, despite his touchdown inadequacies.
2025 OFFENSE
The Cardinals went all out on defense in their 2025 pre-season. They did not add an offensive player that is projected to start the season, but did resign a couple of familiar faces.
They focused on depth and familiarity on the offense, resigning wide receivers Greg Dortch and Zay Jones, with Jones to a one-year contract and Dortch to a restricted free agent tender (more on McBride later). They also bought the services of quarterback Jacoby Brissett on a two-year contract.
On the offensive line, among the most meaningful were Jake Curhan, Valentin Senn, and Jeremiah Byers signing and drafting Hayden Conner in the sixth round.
Pro Football Network has the Cardinals offensive line ranked sixth with an 84.3 grade to start the season, “The epitome of a good offensive line, there were no real standouts, just a solid consistent unit” …even though their quarterback holds the ball at the seventh highest rate against the blitz.
The status quo seems to be pointing to McBride retaining his role as Kyler Murray’s safety blanket. But is that going to be enough, again?
BETTING ODDS
Currently, DraftKings has the Cardinals –115 that their win total goes over 8.5 and –105 for the team to go under 8.5 wins. They are also +130 to make the playoffs and +475 to win the NFC West.
McBride’s future betting odds are more interesting. DraftKings has McBride –110 for over/under 900.5 receiving yards. The best bet is his receiving touchdown predictions, where he is –120 for more than 4.5 receiving touchdowns and +100 for under 4.5 receiving touchdowns.
Parlay your bet with Cardinals over win total, under for McBride’s touchdowns and over for receiving yards.
FANTASY IMPACT
| Season | Targets | REC | REC Yards | TDS |
| 2022 | 39 | 29 | 265 | 1 |
| 2023 | 106 | 81 | 825 | 3 |
| 2024 | 147 | 111 | 1146 | 2 |
Stats from ESPN
Last season, McBride played the eighth toughest strength of schedule for tight ends. This season he has the “second easiest overall TE schedule”.
Last season, McBride was on the receiving end of 20 red-zone targets (second among all qualifying tight ends). He had 13 targets inside the 10-yard line while only catching two touchdown passes. He had four touchdowns for the season because he included a rushing touchdown and a fumble recovery in the end zone.
Among all tight ends, he was first in target share (29.3%), first in snaps out of the slot (382), fifth in routes run (473), and third in yards after catch (513). And this preseason, for two weeks, he was the highest-paid tight end (then George Kittle got his contract). So, McBride is now the second-highest-paid tight end, which tracks with his value to the Cardinals, but is he worth it for fantasy purposes?
The tight end pool isn’t as shallow as previous years, but it is not where you are going to be confidently doing a deep dive during your fantasy drafts. While McBride is in the top tier for tight ends, his fantasy value depends on your league scoring set-up.
For instance, if you are in PPR league, tight end premium league, or a league that values targets, McBride is your man. Last season, he was the eighth most targeted player above Jerry Jeudy (145), Amon-Ra St. Brown (141), and had only five fewer targets than CeeDee Lamb (152). He also had the fourth most receptions ahead of Malik Nabers (109), Justin Jefferson (103), and Lamb (101).
If you are in a standard or touchdown-dependent league, you might want to hold off spending high draft capital on McBride. His teammate Marvin Harrison Jr. finished last season with eight receiving touchdowns, on 62 receptions with 116 targets.
Of the 523 passes thrown by Kyler Murray last season, McBride’s team target share was 26.58% and Harrison’s target share was 22.18%. Harrison had seven less red zone targets than McBride and six more receiving touchdowns.
Harrison’s positive regression for targets, receptions, and yards is real if the Cardinals want to make the playoffs. That makes a slight negative regression for McBride in targets and receptions for a team that tends to rely on the run; and now has a second year with the Murray-Harrison connection.
The Cardinals were 11th in rushing attempts per game, 29.1 and 22nd in passing attempts per game, 31.9. The year prior, they were 12th in rushing attempts, with 27.7 for the season and 32.7 for the final three games, while they were 24th in passing attempts with 32.6 for the season and 33.0 for the final three games. The trend does not aspire confidence for a passing game resurgence (is it a resurgence if it never happened)?
You are not going to fade McBride in any fantasy format; you just want to be aware of the draft capital you are spending. In PPR and tight end premium go crazy. In a standard, touchdown-dependent, be more cautious and hope offensive coordinator Drew Petzing relies more on the passing game.
