Who will be the first tight end selected in the 2025 NFL Draft?
It’s a tough question to answer as the end of the college football regular season approaches. There are three worthy aspirants to being the first tight end selected. At least it appears that way at this point — before athletic testing and all-star games.
The trio includes diversely skilled options: Colston Loveland from Michigan, Bowling Green’s Harold Fannin Jr. and Tyler Warren from Penn State. Each has played very well as his team’s primary offensive weapon, and they do it in divergent ways.
Loveland is probably the most well-rounded of the threesome. At 6-foot-5 and 245 listed pounds, Loveland has optimal size to play any role asked of a tight end. He’s shown impressive route running skills and an uncanny ability to catch off-target throws, of which he’s gotten a lot of unfortunate experience with Michigan in 2024. Loveland reliably gets open despite being the focal point of the passing offense, and he’s played all over the formation, including boundary wideout–and won battles there, too.
If a team values in-line blocking and run-blocking range highly, they’ll probably prefer Loveland over his peers. The improvement in his balance and leg drive give the Wolverine a slight boost here, though no one will ever mistake Loveland for a blocking tight end. Think Sam LaPorta or early David Njoku, and the latter has become an outstanding blocker over time. Loveland has that sort of developmental potential as a blocker, too.
Fannin doesn’t have the size of his fellow TEs here. Listed at 6-foot-4 and 230, he’s more of an Evan Engram or Trey McBride size/style of tight end. You’re forgiven if you watch BGSU and think that Fannin is a wide receiver; he runs routes and transitions from catcher to runner very much more like a wideout than a tight end. Fluidity, body control and focused strength are all hybrid-like skills for Fannin, who also has outstanding hands.
To call Fannin the focal point of the Bowling Green offense is an understatement. He has 83 catches for 1,170 yards and 8 TDs through November 21st; next on the team in all three categories is WR Malcolm Johnson, who has 36 catches for 393 yards and two TDs. Fannin is often bracketed but still finds ways to get into open windows.
For the Falcons, Fannin has also proven to be a strong point-of-contact run blocker and lead blocker on outside runs. Finding targets in space isn’t his specialty, but the effort is there. The bigger knock on Fannin is the level of competition in the MAC. However, he lit up both Penn State and Texas A&M this fall–again, despite being the obvious focal point on every snap.
Then there’s Warren, who takes positional versatility to a new level. The fact Warren is so great at so many different skills and alignments is truly impressive. What makes it even greater is that Warren does it at his size, all 6-foot-6 and 261 listed pounds.
Warren is a converted quarterback, and his ability to read defenses and angles from the eyes of his QB shows. He’s uncannily open against zones, but he also presents himself as a big target on comeback routes and drags against man coverage. Warren’s sense of leverage against the defense is outstanding. It shows in his opportunities as a runner, where he averages almost 10 yards per carry (157 yards on 16 carries) and has a distinct nose for the end zone and reading blocks.
After the catch, Warren is a long-legged load to bring down. He accelerates quite well for a tall guy, and he shrugs off or shoos away arm tackles or dives below the knees. He’s capable in the slot, as an H-Back, even as a wildcat QB. Warren does block like you’d expect from a guy who played QB through his formative football years, and his length does limit his quickness off the line and in breaks in route-running. Still, the progress Warren has shown from the end of 2022 to now is incredible.
Loveland, Fannin and Warren are all very strong prospects for the 2025 NFL Draft. There currently isn’t a wrong answer for an NFL team looking to add a premier weapon at tight end. The early guess here is that Warren winds up being the first TE taken.
