NFL Snubs Colts' Tyler Warren in Race for Rookie Honor

It was only a year ago that the Indianapolis Colts desperately needed help at tight end following an ugly 2024 campaign in which none of their four rostered tight ends crossed the 200-yard mark. After one year with Tyler Warren, it seems that all of those worries have dissolved into thin air.

The Colts selected Warren with the 14th overall pick in last year's draft, and he made an immediate impact on Shane Steichen's offense. On the very first drive of his career, Warren had three receptions for 43 yards. The rookie never looked back, finishing the season with 76 receptions for 817 yards and five total touchdowns.

Despite breaking the Colts' franchise record for most receptions by a rookie and leading all tight ends in yards for a majority of the year, Warren was not named as one of the six finalists for the Pepsi Zero Sugar Rookie of the Year award.

The NFL posted the nominations on Friday morning, and Warren was a notable snub. The six rookies in contention for the award are Tyler Shough, TreVeyon Henderson, Jaxson Dart, Ashton Jeanty, Tetairoa McMillan, and Carson Schwesinger.

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Why Warren Deserved a Nomination

It's hard to compare Warren's stats to anybody on this list because none of them are tight ends, but we'll do our best.

Shough finished the season playing in 11 games, throwing for 2,384 yards, 10 touchdowns, and six interceptions. Shough showed a lot of promise toward the end of the season, so it's no surprise he ended up as a finalist.

Henderson was certainly a surprise finalist with only 1,132 scrimmage yards and 10 total touchdowns. Running backs are always going to have more touches, making it difficult to argue that Henderson had more of an impact than Warren.

Dart is somewhat of a surprise, but when he was healthy, he was really fun to watch. Dart ended with 2,272 passing yards, 24 total touchdowns, five interceptions, and two fumbles lost, which are pretty decent stats for a rookie quarterback.

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Jeanty's stats are similar to Henderson's. Jeanty closed out his season with 1,321 scrimmage yards and 10 total touchdowns on 321 touches. The Raiders went 3-14 and earned the number one overall pick, so again, you can't argue that Jeanty is more valuable to his team than Warren is to the Colts.

McMillan was the best rookie receiver, finishing with 1,070 yards and seven touchdowns. If anyone deserves to win this award, it's McMillan.

Schwesinger, the only defensive player on this list, deserves some recognition. He tallied 156 total tackles, 11 tackles for loss, two interceptions, and three passes defended. Schwesinger was the best rookie defender and will give any of the five guys listed before him a true challenge for Rookie of the Year.

You have to imagine that the Colts' seven-game skid and quarterback carousel toward the end of the season didn't help Warren's case. Warren was at his best with Daniel Jones under center and when the Colts could efficiently run play action.

Sep 14, 2025; Indianapolis, Indiana, USA; Indianapolis Colts tight end Tyler Warren (84) receives a pass from quarterback Daniel Jones (17) during the second quarter against the Denver Broncos at Lucas Oil Stadium. | Robert Goddin-Imagn Images

Philip Rivers wasn't able to run play action often, which meant fewer targets for Warren. Over the final four games, Warren had just 16 receptions for 118 yards and no touchdowns.

Hopefully, Warren and the rest of the Colts' receiving corps will be able to have one quarterback stay under center for the duration of a season. That hasn't happened since 2021, when Carson Wentz was on the team.

Why Warren Deserved a Nomination

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