With the NFL Combine in the rearview mirror, we at Pewter Report have you covered on which prospects the Bucs have spoken to. Over the next two weeks, I am going to provide you, the reader, with brief scouting reports on the players the team had formal visits with. You can check out our first article on the wide receivers here, cornerbacks can be found here, and safeties here.
Tight ends will be a shorter read as the Bucs’ only had formal interviews with two at the combine.
Tyler Warren – Penn State
Penn State Te Tyler Warren Bucs
Penn State TE Tyler Warren – Photo by: USA Today
Height – 6’5.5
Weight – 256
Arm Length – 31.75
40 – N/A
Vert – N/A
Broad – N/A
3-cone – N/A
Short shuttle – N/A
It took four years, but the Nittany Lions finally decided their best offensive weapon was Tyler Warren in 2024, when he caught 104 passes for over 1,200 yards while also rushing for 218 yards at 8.7 per clip and even completing 3 of 6 passes for 35 yards. All told, Warren tallied 13 touchdowns as he operated in something of a Taysom Hill-esque role.
Tyler Warren is bigger than Hill, 3.5 inches taller and 30 pounds heavier, and figures to actually play tight end at the next level. And while he is the consensus top tight end in this class, he isn’t without flaws. Charitably his blocking is inconsistent. You can find clips of him absolutely destroying a linebacker or smaller edge. But a lack of hand usage and a habit for stopping his feet make for more low-end reps than you would care to see.
Warren is also a questionable separator against man coverage which is part of the reason why Penn State looked for such creative ways to give him manufactured touches.
What he does have going for him is a lot. Let’s start with his superpower. Warren is incredible after the catch and working downhill. He forced 30 missed tackles total and averaged 6.7 yards after catch per reception. He invites contact and has natural body control and contact balance to work through it as he turns mundane gains into explosive plays.
Tyler Warren is an elite tight end prospect.
He’s cleaned up drops (15% in 2023 to 2.8% drop rate in 2024) and become an elite contested catcher (61.9%).
Warren is also a MONSTER after the catch, forcing 30 missed tackles in 2024.
TE1 for the 2025 Draft. pic.twitter.com/z5xmJ8df1O
— NFL Draft Files (@NFL_DF) January 17, 2025
His route running is more theoretical than nuanced, as he seems to have a tendency to float to open areas rather than run precise routes. It evokes thoughts of whether he can replicate the Travis Kelce role in an offense, but that’s a tough bet to make. Even with the lack of separation and lackluster route running, Warren has great hands, especially in contested catch situations with a 61.9% catch rate in such opportunities in 2024 and a 63.6% catch rate for his career. His throwback, nose-down mentality comes across as he relishes catch-on-collision chances.
Given his size and strengths, it is easy to see there is such an affinity for Warren. And when he is underway moving over and through would-be tacklers it is hard not to think of a Mike Alstott skillset. He has the potential to grow into an in-line weapon if he can focus on getting the nuance of the position down. Until then a team would need to have a very specific and detailed plan for him to have a truly impactful first two seasons at the NFL level.
Career Stats (Via PFF) – 208 targets, 154 receptions, 74.0% catch rate, 1,837 yards, 11.9 avg, 19 TD, 1.99 yds/rr, 1,014 YAC, 6.6 YAC/rec
Warren is widely regarded as the best tight end in this class and is seen as a top-half of the first-round talent.
Harold Fannin Jr. – Bowling Green
Bowling Green Te Harold Fannin Jr.
Bowling Green TE Harold Fannin Jr. – Photo by: USA Today
Height – 6’3.25
Weight – 241
Arm Length – 32.25
40 – 4.73
Vert – N/A
Broad – 9’10
3-cone – N/A
Short shuttle – N/A
Harold Fannin Jr. was the Bowling Green passing offense in 2024. His 150 targets accounted for 36% of all passes Bowling Green quarterbacks threw last season and his 1,555 receiving yards were just a hair under half of the team total. The coaching staff realized he was their best offensive weapon and schemed accordingly. They force fed him the ball in a variety of ways. 22% of his targets came behind the line of scrimmage in the form of screens.
He showed out in a role that featured him as the star of the offense. And while the majority of his production came against lower-level competition, he maintained it against bigger programs as well. Against Texas A&M and Penn State, he caught 19 of 27 targets for 282 yards and 2 TD’s while averaging 4.27 yards per route run.
Bowling Green Te Harold Fannin Jr. - Photo By: Usa Today
Bowling Green TE Harold Fannin Jr. – Photo by: USA Today
Many will note that he had a less than stellar combine, where he ran just a 4.71 40-yard dash. But if you look more at functional athleticism, he shows as a much more dynamic athlete. Zebra tracking has data on 66 tight ends who have practiced at the Senior Bowl since 2020. Of those 66, Fannin is in the 94th percentile in top speed, and 97th percentile in both acceleration and deceleration. He’s tight hipped and struggles to snap in and out of breaks, but he has solid hip-sink to break down and decelerate on curls and comebacks.
He has very good hands, as evidenced by his career 77.6% catch rate. And this number isn’t just held up by the screen production. He caught 60% of his career deep targets and 67% of his targets of career 10-20 air yards. He can find holes in zone coverage and can push off at the top of the stem to find space against man. His route running is much more advanced than Warren and there is a role for him as a power slot in the NFL.
But I question whether he can make it as an attached player. Over 50% of his reps came detached at Bowling Green and he doesn’t have the size or physicality to dig out 5t’s or 4i’s in the run game. He will also struggle to stay on the field against blitz-heavy teams where tight ends will factor more into pass protection as chippers or in max protect.
He does excel after the catch, where he forced a missed tackle on 29% of his career catches while averaging over 8 yards after the catch. Some of this has to be debited due to the nature of the manufactured touches behind the line of scrimmage, something that I think will be much more limited in the pros. But his sneaky initial burst after the catch leaves many defenders taking bad lines and having poor-quality tackle attempts that he is able to shake off.
Bowling Green’s Harold Fannin Jr. brought his best against the best competition. Ability to win down the seam and create after the catch really stands out.
Fannin led all TEs in missed tackles forced (34) and YAC (873) last season. pic.twitter.com/U7uqzJSu4f
— Bobby Football (@Rob__Paul) March 11, 2025
It’s not so much that there isn’t a role for Fannin in the NFL, but how much value does a team place on that role versus where he is likely to be taken. That will be a question the Bucs have to ask themselves.
Career Stats – 232 targets, 180 receptions, 77.6% catch rate, 2,396 yards, 13.3 avg, 17 TD, 3.00 yds/rr, 1,458 YAC, 8.1 YAC/rec
Fannin Jr. is currently seen as a late 2nd/early 3rd round selection by consensus boards.
My draft board features these tight ends in the following tiers:
Tier 3 – Tyler Warren
Tier 6 – Harold Fannin Jr.