Why the Colts have to prioritize Colston Loveland in the draft

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When the spotlight turns on the Indianapolis Colts with the 14th pick on draft day it’s expected that General Manager Chris Ballard will target a tight end, especially as Mo Alie-Cox remains an unrestricted free agent and Kylen Granson is now with the reigning Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles.

The Colts finished the 2024 season with an 8-9 record and narrowly missed out on a playoff berth. If they are to end their four-year postseason drought in 2025, they will need to land another pass-catcher.

On the latest episode of “The Athletic Football Show”, the third in our ‘On the Clock’ series, Robert Mays was joined by ESPN’s Ben Solak to discuss why Michigan tight end Colston Loveland would be a better fit for Indianapolis than Penn State’s Tyler Warren. Watch the full discussion below.

A partial transcript has been edited for clarity and length. The full episode is available on YouTube below or in “The Athletic Football Show” feed on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

Robert: Let’s get to the Indianapolis Colts at 14. You have three options; first, tight end Colston Loveland from Michigan…

Ben: I don’t need to hear the next two (laughs)…

Robert: That’s it, you’re done? (Laughs) The other one was an interior offensive lineman, so Kelvin Banks Jr. if he’s available, or Tyler Booker. The third option was Jihaad Campbell from Alabama. But you don’t need to hear the options, Colston Loveland is the answer?

Ben: Jihaad Campbell was interesting for a second. I like Campbell a lot, and the film is good. But the torn labrum seems like it’s really impacting the draft process, and there might be a fall there. I can’t speak to his medicals, but that’s something that’s been spoken about post-combine. I have Loveland as tight end one. I like him a hair better than Tyler Warren. It is splitting hairs legitimately because they’re both very good tight ends and both bring value as blockers and as receivers. They’re just used a little bit differently. So much of Warren’s production at Penn State was the goofy stuff like screens, throwbacks, the wheels on the fake screens and everything, which is totally fine.

Robert: Playing center and catching jump balls in the end zone…

Ben: Right. It doesn’t take anything away from the fact he’s clearly got height, power, some strength and movement skills to him. But if you want Warren to have a round one impact on your passing game, you’ve got to design stuff for him. You have to make plays for his skill set to shine.

With Loveland, you just put him out there because he has the speed, the change of direction, and he catches everything. He’s got wonderful hands away from his frame through contact, and he can line up on the outside for you if you want to use him that way as your tight end. When you look at the Colts and you say, “Anthony Richardson, the run game and the multiple backfield stuff,” Warren would be a great fit for them. But there’s nothing that Loveland can’t do. And if you’re taking a run-heavy approach there with Richardson in the trenches, and tied up next to the offensive tackle, Loveland is a better blocker than Warren even though Warren gets the tough guy moniker. People assume he’s a better blocker… and he is tough as nails. But he’s got short arms and he doesn’t displace and uproot people the way you might expect him to. He’s very high cut, and he doesn’t have that lower-body leverage.

Robert: Why do you think that moniker has been attached to Warren more than it’s been attached to Loveland?

Ben: Because he plays for Penn State and he kind of has a mullet (laughs)… and he’s very physical with the ball in his hands, so it just makes sense. Our brains just naturally fill in the gap of the evaluation. But it’s the length thing. Warren has a 10th percentile arm length for tight ends. It’s 31 and a half inches, which is very light. He goes into contact good and keeps his hips and pads low. But when he goes to up route, he doesn’t have the lockout you would expect a guy to have because he’s a little bit lacking in length.

Loveland is a bit more linear and thinner. He’s not a 260-pound guy rolling people off the line of scrimmage. He’s a Michigan tight end… to fall into the new stereotype now. But he understands how to get into his blocks, he knows how to seal guys off and steal an extra half second with a hold, and he gets the job done. So to me, Loveland would fit very nicely with what the Colts need at tight end.

Robert: That was my next question here. You like Loveland as a prospect, but how does he fit with what the Colts already have? Looking at their pass-catching group here, if they draft a tight end at 14 they’ve got a really good tight end, hopefully in Loveland. They’ve got Michael Pittman Jr., Josh Downs, Adonai Mitchell, who they drafted in the second round last year and Alec Pierce. We don’t know who’s going to be the quarterback yet, but they’ll probably feel pretty good about their pass-catching options if Colston Loveland turns into the player you want him to be at 14.

Ben: I do think that one of the issues the Colts ran into last season was they looked at Pittman Jr., Downs and Pierce, and they said, “Okay, obviously Pierce plays way deep down the field for us, but he’s this 50-50 jump ball guy. Pittman we more so use underneath, and Downs can play downfield a little bit, but he’s smaller so we’ll use him in the slot. And we’ll get Mitchell and have some real speed and field stretching abilities.” But with Mitchell, it just never crystallized with Anthony Richardson at quarterback and the chemistry was never great. Mitchell made his mental errors and Richardson had his accuracy issues, and it was just no good.

In Loveland, I’m introducing a player who, from the seam, can put a lot of vertical stress on you right away. Loveland eats up ground off the line of scrimmage, he’s got big strides and he goes. It’s not a traditional field stretching thought — but if you’re thinking about that play-action-heavy approach and that ability to sucker some linebackers down to then get your one-on-one opportunities down the field, I like Loveland in that sort of role because of how quickly he gets down field. He’s also so good at catching above the rim, and he’s awesome at catching the ball when it’s above his face mask. So I like verticality with Loveland. He’s good on the break, and he’s got good yards after the catch, so I do like the ability to get him moving up the seam in this exact offense.

You can listen to full episodes of “The Athletic Football Show” for free on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, and watch on YouTube.

(Top Photo: Michael Miller/ISI Photos/Getty Images)

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