2025 NFL Draft Tight End Rookie Rankings/Tiers for Fantasy Football: What the film/analytics tell us

The 2025 NFL Draft is just days away and it’s time to put all of the hours poured into evaluating All-22 college film, analytics and data into a set of tiers and rankings. Of course, it’s vital to note that these rankings will change based on draft capital. Where a tight end is selected in his class plays a big role on his future Fantasy Football outlook. However, the data and film tell the clearest story. If you want to find out the rest of my tiers, rankings and individual breakdowns of players, make sure you subscribe to the Fantasy Football Today newsletter. You’ll find everything there. You can subscribe at the link below:

Below, we will reveal my tiers and rankings and then break down the first tier in depth. You’ll find in-depth breakdowns of the prospects in other tiers in the newsletter.

This tight end group is both deep and potentially top-heavy. We could see more than one Pro Bowl-level TE emerge from the 2025 class, and it wouldn’t surprise me if more than a handful of these players establish themselves as a meaningful piece of a tight end rotation as pros. I watched 12 tight ends, ranked 10, and will be back with more upon conclusion of the NFL Draft. Draft capital will tell us a lot about the position because it is not easy to sort out ranking the group after the top two.

Pre-Draft 2025 TE Rankings

(For Dynasty Fantasy Football purposes)

Tier 1

TE1 — Colston Loveland
TE2 — Tyler Warren

Tier 2

TE3 — Harold Fannin Jr.

Tier 3

TE4 — Gunnar Helm
TE5 — Mason Taylor
TE6 — Terrance Ferguson
TE7 — Elijah Arroyo

Tier 4

TE8 — Mitchell Evans
TE9 — Oronde Gadsden
TE10 — Joshua Simon

Tier 1 — Colston Loveland and Tyler Warren

TE1 — Colston Loveland, Michigan

21.5 years old at start of 2025 NFL season

I almost put Loveland in a tier of his own, but I didn’t want to come in too hot and lose anybody right off the bat. I really do see him as a tier above Warren for Fantasy purposes.

For starters, he’s significantly younger than Warren. Loveland just turned 21. He also is built for the pro game at six-foot-six and with a full-inch advantage over Warren in arm length. I came into the process expecting to cringe at Loveland’s effort as a blocker because he was dubbed as the “Travis Kelce” with Warren being “Gronk.” Not only did Loveland’s blocking effort and grit surprise me, I think that he’s as good if not better than Warren as a blocker from a technique standpoint. It shouldn’t come as such a surprise, Jim Harbaugh did recruit this guy, after all. He’s mean and tenacious and could continue to grow into his physicality.

When I watched Loveland, I saw a player who could become one of the rare every-down traditional “Y” tight ends, someone who an offensive designer can create mismatches with split out wide or in the slot, but who certainly does not need to be used that way to work around blocking limitations. Loveland absolutely looked capable of living as an in-line TE at the NFL level, and if that’s the case, the creativity with which an offensive designer has access to become unlimited. A player like this can become a constant matchup problem for defenses.

And it’s possible that Loveland not only will offer flexibility to play in-line or as a “move tight end,” but that he may be able to offer true needle-moving receiving production. At Michigan, Loveland contended with the worst 2024 QB play that I witnessed during my 2025 NFL Draft evaluation process. The worst — I have watched hundreds of games at this point — Michigan’s 2024 QB play was the worst that I watched.

I bring this up because Loveland’s underlying per-route data from his third season was transcendent stuff. He averaged nearly 3.00 yards per route run in spite of the QB play in 2024. His 15% first down per route run rate is so insane, given the context of his offensive environment. It felt like a good series if the Wolverines did not turn the ball over. And within that, somehow, Loveland produced first downs at one of the highest per-route rates in the nation.

He drew a target on 40% of his routes. That’s unheard of — tight ends simply do not do that. Harold Fannin’s best rate was 39.3%. That’s the highest rate ever recorded at TE by a wide margin. Loveland only ran 207 routes, so he didn’t hit the qualifier that I use (300), but he did record a higher rate than Fannin in 2024. And he wasn’t a screen merchant! Fannin had 32 screen targets boosting his TPRR in 2024. Tyler Warren had 33! Loveland had six!

Loveland simply was winning. All over the place, his film shows a player who was winning routes.

Here’s an X thread with cut-ups of Loveland film

TE2 — Tyler Warren, Penn State

23.4 years old at start of 2025 NFL season

For all of the flak that Harold Fannin Jr. catches as a prospect, Warren skates by almost entirely overlooked in spite of fairly similar circumstances. Fannin’s production is often called fraudulent because of the level of competition and the number of manufactured touches that Bowling Green fed him. I guess people just did not watch Warren’s film. So much of his production was predicated on being the offensive centerpiece. He was heavily involved in the screen game, as a wildcat rusher, and as the first-read in the passing design. Warren was moved all over the formation in an attempt to get the ball into his hands. And still, he put up a career 2.05 yards per route run vs. Power-4 competition, compared to 3.25 for Fannin. Warren faced six ranked opponents in 2024 and averaged 56 receiving yards in those games compared to an average of 90 vs. non-ranked opponents. 

Let’s talk about what Warren showed on film. First and foremost, his hands stand out. He displayed truly spectacular concentration at the catch point.

I didn’t make an X thread with Tyler Warren cut-ups, because he’s a consensus top-10 pick with easily accessible film. Here are a couple of reps that stood out to me.

I have some concern that Warren’s arm length may allow NFL defenders to get into his catch radius and break up receptions more often than the defense that he contended with at Penn State. And I’m not confident in his ability to create separation on his own, so Warren will likely be faced with contested catch situations.

Warren’s work as a yardage after the catch creator is undeniable, even if boosted by manufactured touches. He’s a load for opposing secondaries to try to bring down in the open field. 

Even this aspect of his game felt a bit overblown to me, though. He was very easily cut down and often runs top-heavy. It will be very interesting to see how Warren’s career plays out. It feels as if he’s going to be selected in the top half of Round 1 on Thursday, but I see him more as an early Round 2 type of player. If an organization decides to use early Round 1 draft capital on him, there is at least a chance that some of his collegiate role might be replicated. In particular, the goal-line rushing could provide a boon for his Fantasy outlook if Warren is drafted to a team without a QB capable of pushing the pile when near the goal line. Warren has spent time as a QB in the past and certainly has the size and strength to power a tush-push. He may end up as the most productive tight end from this class, even if I do clearly prefer the upside case for Loveland as a route-runner and blocker.