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 (6-4½ inches) than his height (6-5½). In fact, it was the smallest wingspan of all the tight ends measured at the combine! That not only is going to show up in his ability to consistently haul in passes outside his frame, but also as a blocker in the run game where Warren was rarely asked to take on defensive ends inline (see the Will Campbell wingspan controversy). While we never got a wingspan measurement on Loveland with his arm in a sling, it’s pretty clearly longer than Warren’s as his arms alone are a full inch longer than Warren’s (31¾ vs 32¾).
Finally, the athleticism red flag. It’s one that can’t be supported by testing data as Warren opted out entirely this pre-draft process. Even with the growing number of top prospects opting out of athletic testing, that in and of itself is a bit of a signal. If he truly was a special athlete, he’d want to show it. Loveland couldn’t test because of the shoulder injury, but even a cursory view of his respective tape shows a much more explosive downfield threat. He averaged over 14 yards per catch as both a freshman and sophomore starter before Michigan’s passing offense grinded to a halt (1,678 passing yards all season) and their quarterbacks could only hit him on underneath routes this past fall. Warren never averaged more than 12.4 in a season in his career.
None of this is meant to degenerate Warren whatsoever. He’s a top-25 player on my draft board and an easy first-rounder. It’s meant to say that Loveland is special and possesses the kind of profile that makes me more inclined to buy into his potential. On Thursday night, I expect both to go within the top-15 picks.
CBS Sports consensus tight end rankings
Full rankings can be found here.
Colston Loveland NFL Draft Fantasy Football scouting report
By Fantasy Football Today analyst Dave Richard:
“An NFL team looking for a mismatch tight end will target the 21-year-old Loveland. He’ll enter the league with the promising combination of height and speed with his upside tied to improved route running and after-catch ability. With the right coach and scheme, Loveland could really become one of the most productive receiving tight ends in the league and a legit candidate to see close to 110 targets over the season. That should be more than enough to make him a start-worthy Fantasy tight end.”
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