Who Are the Indianapolis Colts Getting in Tyler Warren? An NFL Draft Review

The Indianapolis Colts selected Penn State tight end Tyler Warren with the 14th overall pick of the NFL Draft.

Penn State Nittany Lions tight end Tyler Warren makes a touchdown catch over Boise State Broncos safety Ty Benefield during the Fiesta Bowl. | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Tyler Warren once wondered if he was good enough to play tight end at Penn State. He answered that question resoundingly last season, becoming the only Power 4 player in the country to catch more than 100 passes. Warren no longer doubts himself, and that's who the Indianapolis selected in the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft.

The Colts picked Warren at No. 14 overall, a draft day surprise considering the Chicago Bears passed on Warren at No. 10 overall for Michigan tight end Colston Loveland. Warren unanimously had been graded as the draft's No. 1 tight end, in part because of his unique verstility and creative usage in Penn State's offense last season.

Now, Warren, the 2024 Mackey Award-winner as college football's top tight end, has a new motivation. Penn State conducts "shares" on Friday nights before games, during which upperclassmen tell personal stories to the team. In his moment before the team last season, Warren shared a vulnerability few teammates believed he possessed.

“One of the things [Warren] got up and said is that, as a true freshman, he didn’t know if he’d ever play here,” Penn State coach James Franklin said recently. “For our freshmen and some sophomores to be sitting in that room and they’re questioning the same thing, and you’re hearing Tyler Warren say that? You’re like, ‘Wow.’ You’d never think Tyler Warren felt that way based on how he is playing right now.”

With Warren and Abdul Carter, drafted third overall by the New York Giants, Penn State has first-round picks in consecutive drafts. So who are the Colts getting in Warren? Perhaps the most versatile player in the draft outside of Colorado's Travis Hunter. Who else snapped the ball and caught a touchdown pass on the same play last season?

What makes Tyler Warren the No. 14 pick

Though Loveland went ahead of Warren, the Penn State tight end ranked sixth on ESPN's best-available list, one spot ahead of Loveland of Michigan. Why? He's just that versatile. Warren (6-6, 255 pounds) is the most-rounded receiving tight end in the class. He runs well, is physical, gets open, has a huge catch radius and does things from simple to superb.

According to Dane Brugler's draft guide in The Athletic, Warren had more one-handed catches than dropped passes last season. Penn State quarterback Drew Allar found Warren for 40 percent of his completions last season, making him the centerpiece of Penn State's offense. Nittany Lions offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki did the same.

Kotelnicki, who had a 104-catch season, didn't need long to discern that Warren was Penn State's biggest passing game threat and deployed him as such. Warren took more than 30 Wildcat snaps in Penn State's offense and rushed for four touchdowns. He threw six passes (as a lefty, no less) from that Wildcat formation, one for a touchdown. And he went nuclear against USC.

Warren caught 17 passes, an FBS record among tight ends, in Penn State's overtime win over the Trojans. This bit of magic was among them.

#PennState TE Tyler Warren. 6’5 1/2, 256.

FBS TE Record 17 receptions against USC. 224 receiving yards & a touchdown as well. One of the most impressive individual performances of the last two decades. pic.twitter.com/oFxi3jssO2

— Kyron Samuels (@kyronsamuels) April 6, 2025

“All this is possible because one, he has that background athletically, but two, because he just does everything right,” Kotelnicki said. “He’s a tell-you-once guy, you tell him one thing one time, he’s gonna remember. … The fact that he’s that kind of person and the fact that he has that athletic background makes it very feasible to do those kinds of things.”

NFL analyst Brian Baldinger suggested that Warren's versatility could make him a counter to the "tush push." Sports Info Solutions, a draft and scouting site, called Warren a "difference-maker in the passing game as a mismatch threat..." notably as a potential slot receiver on third down.

"Tyler Warren is a tight end in Penn State’s offense that saw him get used as a true swiss army knife type of weapon in the 2024 season," SIS writes.

Tyler Warren's potential weaknesses

Warren absolutely would sacrifice catches for pancake blocks in the run game or downfield. And Warren proved himself a skilled and willing blocking tight end at the college level. But he'll need to sharpen his reaction time in the blocking game to handle NFL edge rushers and linebackers.

Warren's straight-line speed also might be a question, since he didn't test at the NFL Scouting Combine or Penn State's Pro Day. But how often are inline tight ends asked to run away from NFL defenders?

Tyler Warren in his own words

On what he brings to the NFL: "What I try and do is be a guy that can fit in a lot of different roles. I don’t know if I have one [skill] that really sticks out the best. That’s kind of fun about the tight end position; you get to do a lot of different things within the offense."

On what separates him from other tight ends: "I'm not really focused on trying to be better than other people. Just trying to be the best tight end I can be and I think that's what helped me do whatever's needed within the offense. That's what I focus on. I try to get good at a lot of different things in a lot of different roles."

On why he wore No. 44 at Penn State: "When I was younger, my dad put on John Riggins' film and said, 'This is how I want you to run the ball.'"

On what he'd do if he didn't play football: "I'd probably be coaching somehow. It would probably be golfing or fishing, which is what I really like to do. Maybe if I could make a career out of one of those two, I'd try them both."