Thor Nystrom continues his series of NFL Draft Scouting Reports, moving to the tight end position with Penn State's Tyler Warren. 

A high school quarterback who moved to tight end when he went to Happy Valley, Warren is a mix of size and athleticism, and models his game after a Super Bowl MVP known for a rugged running style. Warren is a first-round talent, and could be the first tight end off the board in the upcoming NFL Draft. 

Tyler Warren Makes The Big Switch

 6-foot-5½, 256 pounds

Penn State

Comp: Jeremy Shockey

Rank: TE1

An all-state quarterback for Atlee High School in Mechanicsville, Va., Tyler Warren committed to local Virginia Tech heading into his junior season. The 6-foot-5, 215-pound left-hander came from a family of athletes. Tyler’s grandparents on his father's side were both scholarship athletes in college, as was his father himself. So was Tyler’s aunt, and his sister. 

The summer heading into his final year of high school, Warren decommitted from the Hokies and re-opened his recruitment. At the time, Warren was listed as a three-star recruit on every service except ESPN, which gave him a low four-star billing.

Warren ultimately committed to and then signed with Penn State. He was considered the "mystery man" of Penn State's 2020 class. And that made sense—why did Penn State want to waste a roster spot on a three-star quarterback?

The answer, of course, was that James Franklin didn’t view Warren as a quarterback at all. When Franklin first saw Warren’s football tape, he was intrigued enough by the athleticism that he requested Warren’s high school basketball tape. Warren had been dunking the ball since the eighth grade—his athleticism literally jumped off the screen. 

Warren took a redshirt his first year on campus, gaining weight and learning the tight end position. Warren spent the next two seasons as a rotational backup and a special-teamer.

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In 2023, Warren joined TE Theo Johnson in the starting lineup of PSU’s 12-personnel offense. Warren posted a 34-422-7 receiving line and was named Third-team All-Big Ten Conference. Penn State counted on Warren when it mattered: His nine red-zone catches tied for No. 7 nationally among TEs.

Last offseason, Johnson left for the NFL and Penn State hired Kansas OC Andy Kotelnicki to the same post. “'Hey, can you throw the ball?'" Kotelnicki remembers asking Warren in one of their first interactions. "He's like, 'Coach, I was a high school quarterback. I was gonna play quarterback in college before I came to Penn State.' I was like, 'Oh, OK.'”

Kotelnicki recognized that he had a special playmaker in Warren, and he schemed up innovative ways to use him. Warren posted a mind-melting 104-1,233-8 receiving line in 2024 en route to the John Mackey Award. Kotelnicki made great use of Warren as a Wildcat quarterback, on end-arounds, and on trick plays. 

The most famous example: Against USC, Warren lined up as the center on an unbalanced line in a shotgun formation, snapping the ball to QB2 Beau Pribula and sprinting upfield as Pribula heaved a lateral to QB1 Drew Allar outside the hashes—Warren won the jump-ball Allar heaved up 32 yards downfield in the end zone.

In addition to his work inline and in the slot last year, Warren took 40-or-more snaps last season as the quarterback, out wide, and in the backfield as a back. He rushed for 218 yards and 4 TD, and went 3-for-6 passing for 35 yards and a TD on trick plays as a thrower.

Tyler Warren NFL Draft Scouting Report

Warren is an enormous, athletic offensive chess piece. He plays with a fiery, die-on the sword ethos. As Kotelnicki learned, you can line Warren up anywhere on the field. Your only mandate is to get him the ball.

Warren is an absolute berserker with the rock. He wore the No. 44 at Penn State because he grew up idolizing John Riggins. Warren runs fearless, with a violent bent—many defenders found themselves on their backs, looking up at the sky, after getting run over on an unsuccessful tackle attempt.

Anything you can think of to get Warren the ball, Penn State tried. His aDOT was so low last year because of the chunk of targets Penn State gave Warren behind the line. He was extremely effective on shovel passes, lining up inline and essentially becoming a between-the-tackles runner after getting the ball behind the center.

Warren is a menacing Wildcat quarterback in short-yardage situations— he gets a head of steam coming downhill, and it’s nearly impossible to stop him behind the line of scrimmage. Last season, Warren averaged 8.4 YPC as a runner—5.0 after contact. He broke 11 tackles on 25 rushing attempts.

Warren was an unfair one-on-on matchup in college. At the snap, Warren detonates off the line. When sent up the seam, you’d see him blow by a creaky-hipped linebacker, or draw a strong safety whom he dwarfed. The former basketball player has a natural gift for boxing out and playing above the rim—he meets the ball at its highest point and brings it down.

The improvement in Warren’s hands was one of the most striking things about his 2024 breakout. In 2023—Warren’s first as a starter – he had a troubling 15.0% drop rate on 49 targets. In 2024, he slashed that all the way down to an exceptional 2.8% drop rate over 135 targets. 

One area to continue the improvement: While Warren shows admirable extension on downfield throws, he has a weird habit of sometimes trapping balls on short throws while he’s on the move, seemingly focused more on the run after the catch. That nonchalance didn’t cost him in 2024, but we saw him flub freebies the previous two years.

Warren’s route-running has steadily improved the past three years— remember, he didn’t start learning the position until he arrived at Penn State. The big, long-legged moose doesn’t have snappy natural agility, and there is rounding at his route breaks. 

But what Warren has become good at is presenting the dichotomy of breakneck initial steps off the line with tempo changes that can get his defender on flat feet. He also seems to have a good feel for the defender’s point of view, baiting his man with upper-body deeks that mime the initial movement of routes run earlier in the game.

Another area where Warren’s football IQ shines through is against zone coverage. This is where you see his quarterback background on full display. Warren reads the initial post-snap movements of defenders like he used to as a signal-caller, and similarly sees patches of grass opening in advance. Warren is going to be a target-hound against zone coverage at the next level.

Warren’s frame screams inline, and he’ll surely log plenty of snaps there at the next level. He does need to work on his blocking technique. Warren gets after it—effort isn’t the question—and he obviously has the frame and strength for the work. 

I noted two overarching issues, one of which he cannot help. Warren’s arms are strangely short—the shortest of my top-20 ranked TEs in this class. To my eyes, that lack of length never came into play as a receiver—perhaps because of how well Warren uses his big frame downfield. 

But in hand-to-hand combat scenarios against defensive ends, Warren’s man almost always got hands on him first. Which brings us to the second issue—because Warren doesn’t use his hands well in this phase, he’d often cede his chest. At that point, the rep was already over—it was only a question of when, and in which direction, the defender wanted to shed.

Warren may have emerged as a superstar in 2024, but he comes from humble beginnings, having had to literally make himself into a tight end in Happy Valley. Through that developmental process, Warren earned the coaching staff’s trust as a core special-teamer, logging 423 career snaps. 

Warren’s rapid development the past few years portends additional growth to come—that’s a scary thought, considering how special he already is with the ball in his hands. Warren is the best tight end in this class, and a rare prospect at the position who can make a legitimate top-10 overall case.

Quarterback

Running Back

Wide Receiver