Why drafting Tyler Warren was easiest call Colts’ Chris Ballard has made since Quenton Nelson

Sports

add

Tyler Warren was preparing for his first year of tackle football, but before he strapped on his helmet and took the field, his dad had something to show him. Terry Warren played safety at Richmond University from 1987 to 1990, where his nickname was “The Hitman.” If his son was going to follow in his footsteps, he knew the younger Warren needed to approach the game with a violent mentality.

So, when Tyler Warren was 8, his father sat him down in front of the computer and pulled up some old highlights. But the player he saw dominating on YouTube wasn’t his dad. It was Pro Football Hall of Famer John Riggins, the legendary Washington fullback known for plowing through defenders and never shying from contact.

“This is how I want you to run the ball,” Terry Warren told him. “(That’s) how I want you to play football.”

Tyler Warren took that to heart, even wearing Riggins’ No. 44 during his first year of football and again at Penn State.

“It kind of just speaks to the way my dad raised me.” Tyler Warren said Thursday night after the Indianapolis Colts selected him with the 14th pick of the NFL Draft. “The type of football guy he was, the John Riggins fan.”

After a dominant 2024 season, in which Tyler Warren pulled off his best Riggins impersonation by racking up 56.2 percent of his receiving yards after the catch, Indianapolis Colts general manager Chris Ballard made him the first selection of the team’s 2025 draft class. The last time the Colts chose a tight end in the first round? Fellow No. 44 and former first-team All-Pro Dallas Clark in 2003.

“He can do a lot. He can play multiple spots,” Ballard said Thursday night. “He’s got the quarterback background. He can play in the backfield. He’s a great 50-50 ball catcher. And after the catch, he’s violent. He brings an element of toughness that I thought we needed to add offensively.”

Warren likely won’t get a chance to continue honoring Riggins by wearing No. 44 with the Colts — that’s linebacker Zaire Franklin’s number — but he will have a chance to fill arguably the biggest hole on the Colts’ roster. Indianapolis’ tight ends totaled 467 yards last year, the second-fewest mark in the league, and the team hasn’t had a tight end record at least 40 receptions or 400 receiving yards in a season since Jack Doyle in 2019. In fact, Colts fourth-round pick Kylen Granson, who signed with the Eagles in free agency, led Indy’s tight ends in catches last year … with 14 for 182 yards.

Ballard said at the annual league meetings last month that “we all want a game-changer” when asked about the possibility of drafting a tight end. Warren, at least at the college level, fit that description. The 22-year-old totaled 104 catches — the most in a single season in Penn State’s 131-year history — for 1,233 yards and eight TDs, plus 26 carries for 218 yards and another four touchdowns in 2024. He was named a consensus first-team All-Pro while leading Penn State to the College Football Playoff semifinals.

But, as Ballard put it, Warren’s postseason run was just gravy. The GM became convinced of Warren’s NFL potential way back in October, when Warren tallied 17 catches for 224 yards and one touchdown in a 33-30 overtime win at USC. Colts wide receiver Michael Pittman Jr., a former USC star, jumped on board, too, noting Tuesday how Warren carved up “my Trojans.”

“That was as dominant a game as you saw from any offensive player in college football this year,” Ballard said. “To catch 17 balls on the road at USC, and they know he’s getting the ball, and they just kept feeding it to him. He’s a unique player.”

Ballard said the Colts never thought about trading up, not even after the Chicago Bears selected Michigan tight end Colston Loveland with the 10th pick. He trusted his scouting department, which also considered the needs of the teams picking ahead of Indianapolis, and felt confident standing pat. His patience paid off with the selection of Warren, whom Ballard claims “had the best hands of any player in the draft.”

“Last time I felt that good about putting in a pick — and I felt good about all of them — but it was Quenton (Nelson),” Ballard said. “ … It was easy. There wasn’t a lot of discussion.”

#Colts HC Shane Steichen to new TE Tyler Warren:

“You’re a hell of a player. You’re gonna bring great toughness to our team and playmaking ability, and we can’t wait to get you here.” https://t.co/w9INc37EaP

— James Boyd (@RomeovilleKid) April 25, 2025

Nelson, whom the Colts drafted sixth in 2018, is one of 20 players in NFL history to earn seven straight Pro Bowl nods to start their career, per Stathead. Obviously, it would be naïve to think Warren is going to follow Nelson’s Hall of Fame trajectory, but Warren will immediately take over as the Colts’ top tight end. His size, fluidity as a route runner and self-described “violent intentions” as a blocker could make him a featured member of Colts coach Shane Steichen’s offense. Ballard said he can’t wait to see what Steichen comes up with, and Warren plans to embrace whatever role is thrown his way.

“It’s important kind of in general as a football player to be able to be on the field as much as you can and help the team out as much as you can,” Warren said. “And then as a tight end, it helps kind of the whole offense being able to block and be a threat in the passing game.”

The question now shifts to which QB Warren will be catching passes from. Ballard said the Colts chose Warren with “the plan” that he’ll make life easier on the team’s quarterback. But when Warren arrives in Indianapolis on Friday, the Colts likely will be months away from naming a starter between Anthony Richardson and Daniel Jones.

Richardson congratulated Warren via X Thursday, saying the Colts, “got a dog.” In February, Warren was asked at the NFL Scouting Combine about the possibility of being paired with Richardson, three weeks before Jones signed with Indianapolis as a free agent. During essentially the biggest job interview of Warren’s life, he was wisely complimentary of his future teammate, as he was with any other passers who were mentioned.

“He’s definitely one of a kind and a heck of an athlete at the quarterback position,” Warren said of Richardson. “He’s a great quarterback, too, so that’d be cool.”

(Photo: Robert Goddin / Imagn Images)

This news was originally published on this post .

Share on

email

Previous

trending_flat

Browns’ trade-down is all about making yet another run at a franchise QB in 2026

Sports

Next

trending_flat

Nejlépe bránícím hráčem NBA byl vyhlášen Mobley z Clevelandu

Sports