Penn State’s Tyler Warren put together one of the greatest statistical seasons we’ve ever seen from a major college tight end last season. He racked up 104 catches, 1,230 yards and eight scores as the focal point of the Nittany Lions offense that made it to the doorstep of the national championship. Ever since he won the John Mackey Award for the nation’s most outstanding tight end, Warren was a slam dunk, no-brainer, TE1 in the 2025 draft class, right?
Not so fast, my friend.
There’s a younger, more athletic, and similarly productive tight end (when you control for his environment) that played for Michigan named Colston Loveland who takes that mantle for me. Loveland accounted for a higher percentage of Michigan’s passing offense last year than Warren did, but this isn’t about raw numbers vs. adjusted stats. Scouting is about projection. While Warren quite obviously has plug-and-play type ability, he comes with some red flags about his growth potential in the NFL. It’s those three red flags — age, frame, and explosiveness — that have Loveland, not Warren, as my TE1.
All three of those traits go clearly Loveland’s way in a head-to-head comparison. The age comparison is obvious. Warren turns 23 next month while Loveland only turned 21 at the beginning of April. That’s two more years of physical development that Warren has on Loveland making the comparison uneven. When Warren was Loveland’s age, he caught all of 10 passes for 123 yards as a backup. Now, everyone’s developmental curve is different, and there’s no knowing how someone will progress. But all things being equal or close to it, evaluators will always prefer the younger prospect.
Warren’s frame is maybe the least important of the three red flags to mention, but it’s worth noting. He’s one of the few players you’ll ever see on a football field with a shorter wingspan (6-feet-4½) than his height (6-5½). In fact, it was the…
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