Tyler Warren NFL Draft 2025 profile: Full scouting report, mock drafts, pro comparison, landing spots and more

Born just before Memorial Day in 2002, Warren is a third-generation football player; his dad Terry Warren played football for the University of Richmond and his grandfather Steve Warren played at Wake Forest. Other members of his family including his sister, aunt and grandmother played sports competitively in college.  

Warren played flag football as a child while also developing a love for other sports including basketball and baseball. But the legend of Warren’s career began when the new head football coach at Atlee High School in Mechanicsville, Virginia, was lamenting over a lack of quarterbacks available to him. That’s when an assistant told him to check out the dunking, hulking middle-schooler next door. The very next year, Warren was starting at quarterback as a freshman. 

Not more than a couple of years later, Virginia Tech coaches who were helping at a nearby football camp took notice of Warren and proceeded to immediately recruit him. Before his junior year he had committed to the Hokies as their quarterback of the future. 

Warren wasn’t satisfied. Or maybe the rest of college football wasn’t ready to let him become a Hokie. Warren’s basketball highlights began to circulate and those got him even more attention. Larger football programs loved his athleticism and versatility, to the point where multiple big-time schools gave pursuit. 

Warren worked out with Penn State coaches at tight end, then Nick Saban’s Alabama staff asked Warren to come to their football camp as a tight end. Warren realized his path to professional sports ran through playing tight end, not quarterback. He embraced that change without conflict and wound up at Penn State, where he garnered attention for his game in 2023 and won a ton of awards, including the John Mackey Award, given to college football’s top tight end, in 2024. 

• Age as of Week 1: 23 years old
• Height: 6-foot-5 ½
• Weight: 256 pounds
• Hand size: 9 ½ inches
• Comparable body-type to: Pat Freiermuth

CBS prospect ranking

Position: No. 2 TE | Overall: No. 30

To check out all of CBSSports.com’s most recent mock drafts, click here.

NFL comparison: Rob Gronkowski/Tim Tebow

Two words come to mind when describing Warren’s game: unbridled aggression. Warren played football with relentless physicality, but with plenty of methodology behind it. He was seemingly always in control of his body and reacted succinctly to whatever was put in front of him. Warren was impossibly tough for college defenders to take down and even tougher to peg to one or two spots on the field because he lined up everywhere (including quarterback) and did everything (including pass). The closest comparison that can reasonably be made is Rob Gronkowski … with a little bit of Tim Tebow‘s versatility mixed in. 

NFL landing spots

• Chicago Bears (No. 10 overall pick): Cole Kmet has been a solid tight end, but new head coach and spiffy play-designer Ben Johnson once molded rookie Sam LaPorta into one of the league’s toughest assignments. He would do wonders with Warren in Chi-town. 
• Los Angeles Chargers (No. 22 overall pick): Los Angeles has been able to cobble together a group of pass catchers towards which many were indifferent. They need a field-stretching tight end, and Jim Harbaugh is definitely familiar with Warren’s game after trying to recruit him around 2019. 
• New York Jets (No. 7 overall pick): Gang Green needs another offensive weapon desperately. If Garrett Wilson patrols the perimeter then Warren can work the interior of the field. New playcaller Tanner Engstrand worked alongside Ben Johnson in Detroit and had a hand in Sam LaPorta’s quick development and success.
• Denver Broncos (No. 20 overall pick): Denver did acquire Evan Engram, but head coach Sean Payton has always enjoyed a versatile, pass-catching tight end. Warren lined up all over the formation in Happy Valley. 

Tyler Warren scouting report

Accolades

• 2024: John Mackey Award Winner
• 2024: First-team All-American
• 2024: Big Ten Tight End of the Year
• 2024: First-team All-Big Ten  
• 2024: Heisman Trophy finalist (seventh)
• 2024: Fiesta Bowl Offensive Player of the Game
• 2023: Academic All-Big Ten
• 2023: Third-team All-Big Ten
• 2023: Bob Mitinger Memorial Award winner for “being an ultimate teammate”
• 2022: Academic All-Big Ten
• 2021: Academic All-Big Ten
• High school: four-time all-region selection in basketball and all-state baseball player

Strengths

• Paul Bunyan size (6-foot-5 1/2, 256 pounds) will make him a physical mismatch against pretty much every defensive back and most linebackers.
• Excellent balance and strength make him difficult to redirect before the catch and bring down after the catch.
• Soft, strong hands and excellent hand-eye coordination as evidenced by his 1.8% drop rate during the 2024 regular season, per TruMedia. Made a number of one-handed grabs.
• Played all over the formation including out wide and in the backfield. Played wildcat QB. Even lined up at center.
• Would sometimes flash nifty footwork to help him freeze defenders off the snap to buy space.
• Focused on go, out, hitch and crossing routes but did have a fair share of digs, slants and screens.
• Fluid mover for his size but definitely has the potential to be a huge problem on double-move routes thanks to solid, succinct cuts in-route.
• Needed a few steps but often displayed good acceleration and speed, especially given his girth.
• Was always open because of his massive size and 76 1/2-inch catch radius. Tack on a solid vertical leap (think back to that dunking eighth-grader) and he’ll continue tilting 50-50 balls in his favor.
• Consistently adjusted to off-target throws.
• Improved and reliable hands; after recording drop rates of 13.3% in 2022 and 10.2% in 2023, Warren improved his focus and had just three drops over 135 targets (2.2%) in 2024. Also had just one fumble Penn State.
• I wish every NFL defense the best of luck in tackling this moose. College defenses often needed multiple players to take Warren down. Warren averaged 6.7 yards after catch per reception last year (7.7 in 2023!), and had nine receptions where he added at least 10 yards after first contact. He also averaged at least 4.96 yards after contact on his runs.
• If you want to score touchdowns, Warren’s your guy. Led all FBS-level tight ends in red-zone targets with 21, catching 81% of them (17 receptions) for seven touchdowns, one behind Ball State tight end Tanner Koziol. Warren also had three red-zone rushing touchdowns, giving him 10 total to lead the FBS in total touchdowns from scrimmage. Warren scored a touchdown once every 2.2 red-zone touches in 2024 — and 1.3 touches in 2023.
• Improved run blocking but has the potential to really knock guys off their feet. 
• Missed one game in his past four seasons at Penn State (2022 against Northwestern).
• High-character, team-oriented athlete. Gave up a scholarship to play quarterback at Virginia Tech just to have a better chance of making the NFL as a tight end with Penn State. Unassuming, laid-back personality that might annoy people because he’s so chill, not cocky.

Concerns

• Rarely exploded off the snap, but he’s over 250 pounds so that’s understandable.
• Did have a lot of success on screens (18 of his 104 receptions, but zero of his touchdowns). Can be even more dangerous if he adds to his route-tree repertoire with posts and corners, two routes he didn’t run a lot of last year.
• Arguably his biggest issue was separating with speed from smaller defenders. He’ll separate in every other way possible but it’s tough to expect him to run past anyone except slower linebackers.
• And if that’s his biggest issue, then his low average depth of target is his second biggest issue. Warren was in the bottom third in average depth of target (6.94) among tight ends. Warren’s average depth of target was at least 0.98 yards higher in each of his prior three seasons, but only once was it past 8.07 yards.
• Additionally, just a dozen of his 104 catches were caught 10 or more yards downfield, and 33 receptions were at or behind the line of scrimmage. Obviously he can be used downfield, but might he need more refinement to win way downfield?  
• Arm length would occasionally hinder Warren’s ability to sustain his blocks on runs.  

Bottom line

Warren’s size and unbridled aggression will make him tough for defenses to deal with from week to week. Not as swift of a mover as Brock Bowers, Warren still has development to do to reach the pinnacle of the tight end position. However, his versatility and strength will turn short-yardage downs into successful gains, especially near the end zone. And his size, reach, coordination and athleticism will make him an instant winner on jump balls, also especially near and in the end zone. Warren has potential to total 10 touchdowns per season provided he’s in a competent offense that can consistently move the chains.

Tyler Warren college stats