Joe DeLeone and Ryan Roberts break down 2025 NFL Draft prospect, Penn State tight end Tyler Warren. Tune in for a full Tyler Warren scouting report
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Brock Bowers just had the greatest season ever for a rookie tight end,
00:03but Tyler Warren could end up having an even better season in 2025. Here's why.
00:12Tyler Warren had an unreal season this year for Penn State, an important part for their success.
00:17Ryan, why is there a possibility that this guy could go on to be a top 10 pick?
00:21You just don't often get 6'6", 260-pound tight ends that can run, that can run routes that were
00:28as productive as he was. And also, by the way, the second half of the year, he showed massive
00:33improvements as a blocker where now I have a high upside of him being an all-around tight end. He
00:38was a pure receiving tight end early in the season, but by the end of the year, he was a
00:43well-rounded offensive weapon for the Penn State Nittany Lions. Yeah, he shows so much athleticism
00:49for a tight end. And it's really funny to put into context what he was like last year before
00:54Andy Kotelnicki showed up where he was the second tight end to Theo Johnson. He wasn't really
00:59getting utilized as a primary target in the offense. And then Andy Kotelnicki shows up and
01:04he goes, hey man, this is the most athletic dude on our team. Why aren't we using him to literally
01:09do everything? And then suddenly he bursts and explodes into this multi-use weapon. I don't
01:15think there's going to be a direct translation to him being used as a quarterback, as a center,
01:21as a read option guy, like all the crazy ways that they used him at Penn State.
01:26But we see how his traits are going to translate to him being a dump off option, a threat over the
01:33middle of the field. All of those tools are exactly what you look for in a super productive tight end
01:38in the NFL. First and foremost, the frame translates, right? But then you see him move
01:43around. I remember watching him in the Penn State game, Joe, I mean in the Notre Dame game,
01:49and Notre Dame had a great defense. They were really strong in the second and third level,
01:53but this kid just looked like he was running at a different speed than all the linebackers
01:57on the field and all the safeties on the field at certain points. So this is one of those kids
02:02that we talk about the mismatch weapon conversation. And while you are correct,
02:07this isn't going to be a guy that's going to be snapping the football and then go
02:10mossing dudes down the field. That's just not most likely a strategic way that you're going
02:14to utilize Tyler Warren on the NFL level. It's more of a fun, cutesy way in the college game.
02:19But the fact of the matter is that he was able to do that because he's so athletic, right? Like
02:25we just don't see 260 pound guys move the way Tyler Warren can do and be as versatile and
02:30alignment perspective as what Tyler Warren was able to use that. He was a little bit of a moving
02:37chess piece for an offense that desperately needed his impact on a week to week basis.
02:43If we had to identify any weaknesses, because he's not a perfect prospect, I think that
02:48him being thrown into being such a focal point of the offense, there were still a lot of things
02:54that needed to be refined because it was just such a rapid progression of going from being
02:59the second tight end to now the go-to guy for Penn State. What weaknesses do you think stand
03:05out for Warren? I don't think he's a great route runner, I think, because he's 260 pounds, right?
03:10He's not going to break it off the way the guys that are 240-something pound tight ends or more
03:15of a movement-based guy, like a Colston Loveland, for instance. He's just not going to be the same
03:19type of route runner. But it doesn't worry me as much because he's 260 pounds, so he can fight
03:24through tighter windows if his route breaks aren't super clean. But the other thing, Joe,
03:28and we saw this more in 2023 than 2024, so I'm not super worried about it, but I do think that
03:33he can time contested catches a little bit better. I think there were some times where maybe he just
03:38leaped a little bit too early or didn't locate the football perfectly in the air, but when he's
03:42in the air, he generally is a really good contested catch player. But I do think that he can just
03:47locate the football a little bit better and then that route running upside. I think he can be a
03:51solid route runner on the next level, but I don't think that's necessarily where he's going to hang
03:54his hat in the NFL. You also mentioned the blocking was showing signs of improvement. I thought that
04:00that was the biggest question mark for me. I don't think that he immediately needs to come in, put
04:05his hand in the dirt and be like this super impactful blocker, but I thought the pad level,
04:10the leg drive was super inconsistent. It's definitely one of the weaker parts of his game.
04:15At least he shows some intent. That is something that we always try to check when we're looking at
04:19a tight end, like, hey, does this guy at least want to hit people? Then we can coach him up on
04:23his technique because the pro game is a lot different than what you're going to be doing
04:28in college in terms of what you're asked to do as a blocker. Talking about Tyler Warren's
04:33background as a recruit and how he got here, I mentioned that he was the second tight end
04:38to Theo Johnson in 2023. Coming into Penn State, he wasn't even one of the more premier
04:44tight end recruits. They have a history of bringing in some huge names, some former five
04:48stars that have gone on to be super productive in the NFL. He was a three-star guy coming out
04:53of Mechanicsville in Virginia. What else can we tell our listeners about Tyler Warren?
04:59Atlee High School, like you mentioned, in Mechanicsville, Virginia. Obviously,
05:03Virginia to Penn State has been a nice pipeline for the Nittany Lions over the years. They've
05:08made a big living of keeping kids in the state of Pennsylvania, but also going down to begin
05:12to the town pool in Virginia. He's one of the latest ones, obviously, in the 2020 recruiting
05:17class. Like you mentioned, Joe, only a three-star player. He was listed as the 543rd overall player
05:22in the 2020 class on the 247 composite ranking. He wasn't this massive recruit. Interesting enough,
05:29he didn't have this huge star rating. His offer list wasn't huge, but it was pretty
05:34good. Penn State, he had Louisville, he had Michigan, he had South Carolina, Syracuse,
05:39and Virginia. The interesting part is that it was a little bit of a projection because Tyler
05:43Warren was a high school tight end. This was a 6'6", 235-pound athlete coming out of high school
05:49that needed to develop his frame into a tight end. We often say, why is he running Wildcat
05:54quarterbacks? Because he was literally a high school quarterback for the majority of his career.
05:58He was a developmental guy that has grown into another part of the proud tradition of tight end
06:04play at Penn State. They've had a nice string of really talented tight ends in the past, like Pat
06:10Friermuth, like Kyle Brady. They've developed some good ones over the years. Tyler Warren, I think,
06:15has an argument as maybe the best Penn State tight end in the recent history. He's developed
06:22into that type of player. Which is really crazy to consider all that. It makes sense because he
06:27had such a productive season this year. It was almost the extreme of getting to showcase what
06:33he can be and who he is as a player. Almost never, I was going to say very rarely, but almost never
06:38we see a tight end that gets focused on this much as Tyler Warren was for Penn State this past season.
06:45The pro comp that we have for Tyler Warren, I love because the hair comparisons there, hopefully
06:50the demeanor and the personality is not. I don't think it is. We're going with Jeremy
06:56Shockey, the former Saints and Giants tight end who was very athletic, was a demon with the ball
07:03in his hands. Why else are we going with Jeremy Shockey here as the pro comp? I can't let you
07:08introduce Jeremy Shockey and you let off with the New Orleans Saints version of Jeremy Shockey. He's
07:12the New York Giants. He was good with both teams. He was a lot better with the Giants, Joe. He's a
07:17lot better with the Giants. Obviously. The comparison comes from big, physically dense
07:24tight ends. They can be seam runners. They can move with the ball after the catch. But the part
07:30about Jeremy Shockey that I used to love personally as an observer was he used to drag dudes for extra
07:37yardage and then he would get up and he would kind of have that evil look in his eye a little
07:43bit, right? And he would kind of point that like, Hey dude, I just drug you like five or six yards.
07:47This is a strong, physically well put together. I think one of the most underrated parts about
07:51Tyler Warren's game is his aftercatch ability. Similarly to how Jeremy Shockey won in the NFL
07:56when he was healthy and when he was at his best version of himself. Folks, let us know in the
08:01comments, let us know where you want to see Tyler Warren play in the NFL. Hit that like button and
08:06subscribe and we will talk to you later.