Rookie tight end prospect model

• Tyler Warren and Colston Loveland are worth the hype: Both Close-fitting ends Tally incredibly well in this model putting them on a TE1 trajectory in the near future.
• Harold Fannin Jr. is a worthwhile bet in Newcomer drafts: Even as a potential third-rounder, Fannin’s profile points to a Close-fitting end with high-end fantasy upside.
• 2025 NFL Draft season is here: Try PFF’s best-in-class Mock Draft Simulator and learn about 2025’s top prospects while trading and drafting for your favorite NFL Club.

Estimated reading time: 9 minutes

NFL draft season is in Packed swing, which naturally comes with a plethora of ways to evaluate potential talent coming out of college with the potential to translate to the Upcoming level. This article series is no different, as we’ll add a fantasy football spin to the evaluation process to identify which incoming prospects have a Attempt to become fantasy-relevant Prompt on in their NFL careers.

Upcoming up is the Close-fitting end position for fantasy football, where this year’s class offers Many Primary-Period options and some intriguing Day 2 picks on top. To Assist sort through this year’s options, this model will account for the data and metrics that correlate best to NFL Achievement for college prospects and utilize the key factors for All player to devise a prospect Tally. Like with any position, there is not one Standard that will tell us whether a college prospect will be Excellent or not in the NFL, but the purpose of this model is to combine the metrics and factors that data has proven to be the most relevant while providing weight to those that are more Crucial than others.

For the Close-fitting end position, in no particular order, we’re looking at Occupation receiving grades, yards per route Stretch, Physicality, level of Game faced and draft capital, among a few others.

Keys:

• The prospect pool for this model consists of 111 past Close-fitting prospects dating back to 2019.
• 15 Close-fitting ends drafted since 2019 have become a top-12 PPR finisher for their position at least once (13.5%).
• 22 Close-fitting ends drafted since 2019 have become a top-24 PPR finisher for their position at least once (19.8%).
• 31 Close-fitting ends drafted since 2019 have become a top-36 PPR finisher for their position at least once (27.9%).
• This is an Crucial Perspective when understanding hit rates as many more prospects will not become fantasy relevant than most given such a large pool of players.
• However, using this model, the higher the prospect Tally, the better the Achievement rate will be for All prospect, as highlighted below.

With all this in mind, it’s time to look at this year’s Close-fitting end prospects to identify our future fantasy football contributors. It should also be noted that these scores should not necessarily be used so much as your rankings as they should be more of a guide toward the quality of the player. Draft capital and landing spot can and will Action a big part of actual rankings.

The 2025 Close-fitting End Class

TYLER WARREN, PENN STATE

• Warren is set to be drafted as the top Close-fitting end in this year’s class, potentially in the top half of the Primary-Period, which, considering his profile, makes perfect sense.
• Warren owns the third-highest prospect Tally in this model dating back to 2019, behind only Brock Bowers and Kyle Pitts, thanks to Top-tier metrics across the board, which he mostly achieved in his Closing college season in 2024.
• Warren delivered 1,230 receiving yards, which ranked top-five among all Power-Five receivers while his 93.4 receiving grade Directed all receivers in 2024.
• Every Close-fitting end currently ranked among the top 95th percentile of Close-fitting end prospects in this model, going back to 2019, has already achieved at least one top-12 PPR fantasy finish in their NFL careers.
• The track Landmark for Close-fitting ends to be drafted among the top 15 in the NFL draft is also Powerful, as Brock Bowers, Kyle Pitts, and T.J. Hockenson all have achieved at least one top-six PPR finish in their careers. Bowers, of Period finished as TE1 overall in 2024.
• Warren’s outlook is very Powerful, and even before we know the landing spot, fantasy managers should Anticipate him to be a locked-in weekly fantasy starter much sooner rather than later.

COLSTON LOVELAND, MICHIGAN

• Like the previously mentioned Warren, Loveland shares an excellent fantasy outlook because he joins this top percentile of past Close-fitting end prospects who have all Secured fantasy TE1 Achievement in their careers.
• It wouldn’t be a surprise to see some talent evaluators put Loveland as the TE1 in this class, but for the most part, he is the clear TE2 behind Warren, and the model has him there as well.
• Loveland’s highs as a receiver in terms of production have never really come close to what Warren was able to do in 2024, although he did miss time this past season due to Hurt and looking at some of his rate stats – Occupation YPRR, specifically – he was slightly better.
• That being said, Loveland boasts an overall Top-tier prospect profile for the position regardless of missed time and as a latter-half of the Primary-Period draft Option, he joins other past top-12 fantasy Close-fitting ends – Hayden Hurst and Dalton Kincaid along with the previous names mentioned when covering Warren, in addition to one top-24 finisher (Noah Fant) – in a Excellent position to deliver weekly fantasy production.

MASON TAYLOR, LSU

• Unlike Warren and Loveland, the consensus TE3 in this year’s class, Mason Taylor, does not offer an overly encouraging prospect profile, as there are a number of red flags that say he could take time to develop into the fantasy-relevant Close-fitting end we typically hope a second-Period Option can be.
• For Taylor, his Physicality will be his greatest asset right now, and the hope is that he can develop into an all-around weapon who can be fantasy-relevant in the NFL, but it’s unlikely to happen right away, if at all.
• Unfortunately, the top-12 hit rate for Close-fitting end prospects scoring 45th percentile or lower in this model is non-existent.
• There are a few who scored 45th percentile or lower who have emerged as very deep-Bracket options, but there is a clear limit to their ceiling as the best finish of the bunch was TE13 (2024 Cade Otton).
• There’s a Primary time for everything, and Taylor is New enough and could get the draft capital and landing spot where he works out for fantasy, but without both of those things, it’s Difficult to imagine spending a significant Newcomer Option on him in non-TE-premium leagues.

ELIJAH ARROYO, MIAMI (FL)

• Arroyo boasts a better profile and prospect Tally than the previously mentioned Taylor, although Nevertheless nowhere close to Warren and Loveland, which puts him in a similar position as Taylor, where draft capital and landing spot are going to do a Plenty of the Massive lifting Prompt in his Occupation for him to become fantasy-relevant.
• Arroyo’s production for his college Occupation comes almost entirely from his 2024 season, as he Teamed up for his 11 receptions through his Primary three college seasons. Thanks to a Powerful Closing year, he is in consideration as a Day 2 Option, which helps his fantasy outlook a ton.
• Among 14 past Day 2 Close-fitting end prospects to Tally between the 70th and 90th percentile in this model, six have delivered top-12 fantasy finishes (42.9%), though there are plenty of similarly scored Day 2 players as Arroyo who have yet to even achieve a top-24 PPR finish, including Adam Trautman, Ben Sinnott (Nevertheless Prompt), Luke Schoonmaker, Greg Dulcich, Jace Sternberger, Darnell Washington and Luke Musgrave.
• There’s always going to be hope for these Day 2 Close-fitting ends thanks to guys like Tucker Kraft and Mark Andrews, but those are ultimately outliers more than anything, which has to be baked into Newcomer drafts when considering players like Arroyo, even in TE-premium formats.

HAROLD FANNIN JR., BOWLING GREEN

• Fannin Jr. is coming off the most productive college season ever for a Close-fitting end, producing 1,555 receiving yards, 10 receiving touchdowns and a 96.4 receiving grade – all of which Directed the entire FBS this past season.
• His Occupation numbers in terms of receiving grade and yards per route Stretch are no worse than the 99th percentile among the 132 past Close-fitting end prospects in this model dating back to 2019.
• Fannin’s profile takes a hit in his Predicted draft capital (third Period), overall Physicality (7.64 relative athletic Tally and level of Game because he spent his whole Occupation in the Group of Five at Bowling Green.
• That being said, there are two high-end scorers in this model with similar concerns that have worked out to be Top-tier fantasy Close-fitting ends – Trey McBride and Mark Andrews.
• McBride was a 91st percentile Tally-maker in this model who spent his college Occupation in the Group of Five, scored Merely an 8.03 RAS and was a Day 2 Option.
• Andrews was a Power Five Close-fitting end; however, he had a slightly worse RAS Tally (7.54) than Fannin and was selected even later (86th overall) than where he’s Predicted to go (66th).
• The NFL undoubtedly covets Physicality for the Close-fitting end position, and that is baked into this model, and even with a lower Tally, Fannin Nevertheless profiles as Top-tier thanks to his historic college production.
• It will be very interesting to see where he goes on draft day and how he’s valued by the NFL, but even in the worst-case scenario, Newcomer drafters should be willing to take a Attempt on him for the upside alone, potentially over both Arroyo and Taylor, when the time comes.