The New York Jets need a tight end, and Penn State’s Tyler Warren is the most acclaimed tight end prospect in the 2025 class. Thus, it is no surprise that Warren and the Jets have been constantly linked to one another throughout the draft process.
However, Warren is not the only highly-regarded tight end prospect in the 2025 class. Fans would be remiss to forget about Michigan’s Colston Loveland.
According to the consensus big board at NFL Mock Draft Database, Warren is currently ranked as the No. 10 overall prospect in the draft. Not far behind him is Loveland, the No. 19 overall prospect. They are the only tight ends ranked in the top 50.
Some analysts hold Loveland in an even higher regard. NFL Network’s Daniel Jeremiah has Loveland as the No. 6 overall prospect, one spot behind Warren.
Does Loveland deserve more buzz as a potential first-round target for the Jets?
While the consensus gap between Warren and Loveland is significant, it is not large enough to rule out the possibility that one or more NFL teams could have Loveland rated similarly or better. They are only nine spots apart, according to the consensus. This indicates that some teams might have Warren ranked 15-20 spots higher, while others might have them neck-and-neck (as Jeremiah does).
What if the New York Jets are among the latter group?
It is not out of the question. As excellent of a prospect as Warren is, Loveland is intriguing enough to potentially convince some teams to hold him in a similar or higher regard. It all depends on what they are looking for.
Tyler Warren vs. Colston Loveland
Size
Compared to Warren, Loveland offers a longer, leaner frame.
Here are the players’ measurements from the combine:
- Tyler Warren: 6-foot-5½, 256 pounds, 31¾-inch arms, 9½-inch hands
- Colston Loveland: 6-foot-6, 248 pounds, 32¾-inch arms, 10-inch hands
If the Jets want a sturdier frame that might lend itself better to physical blocking at the NFL level, Warren has a slight edge. Loveland, though, could offer a slightly wider catch radius in the passing game.
Overall, the differences are small. These players carry similar frames. This might be considered an advantage for Loveland in terms of the comparison between these two players. Warren’s scouting reports often praise the benefits of his frame, but just about all of those benefits apply to Loveland, too.
Receiving production
In terms of total statistical production, Warren holds a massive advantage. He ran laps around most of the nation’s tight ends in 2024. Loveland was one of the most productive players at the position, but still nowhere close to Warren’s eye-popping stat line. Here are their receiving numbers from the 2024 season (ranks among FBS tight ends):
- Tyler Warren (16 games): 135 targets (2nd), 104 receptions (2nd), 1,230 receiving yards (2nd), 8 touchdowns (3rd)
- Colston Loveland (10 games): 82 targets (6th), 56 receptions (6th), 582 yards (15th), 5 touchdowns (21st)
However, Warren played six more games. In terms of receptions per game, Warren’s advantage appears much smaller: 6.5 to Loveland’s 5.6.
Warren, though, made more out of his targets from a yardage standpoint. Warren produced 9.1 yards per target, while Loveland only generated 7.1. This helped Warren maintain a significant edge in yards per game despite the relative closeness in receptions; Warren averaged 76.9 yards per game to Loveland’s 58.2.
It should be noted that Warren received more than double the pass-catching opportunities that Loveland did. Warren ran 442 routes to Loveland’s 218. In terms of yards per route run, they were neck-and-neck. Among FBS tight ends with at least 50 targets, Warren ranked second-best with 2.78 yards per route run, while Loveland placed third with 2.67.
Career track record/trajectory
While Warren held a significant advantage over Loveland in terms of 2024 production, Loveland had a more consistent track record throughout his career.
Before the 2024 season, Warren had 49 receptions for 606 yards and 11 touchdowns across four seasons (38 games). In just two seasons (29 games), Loveland had 61 receptions for 884 yards and six touchdowns.
Warren is two years older than Loveland. In 2024, Warren was in his fifth college season, while Loveland was in his third. Warren did not break out until his fifth year, which is always concerning for an NFL draft prospect, regardless of their position. Loveland, though, was already a force in his second college season. In 2023, Loveland ranked fifth among FBS tight ends with 649 receiving yards.
Compare Loveland and Warren’s production at each stage of their careers:
- Year 1: Loveland, 16/235/2 (14 GP); Warren, 0/0/0 (2 GP)
- Year 2: Loveland, 45/649/4 (15 GP); Warren, 5/61/1 (13 GP)
- Year 3: Loveland, 56/582/5 (10 GP); Warren, 10/123/3 (12 GP)
- Year 4: Loveland, N/A; Warren, 34/422/7 (13 GP)
- Year 5: Loveland, N/A; Warren, 104/1233/8 (16 GP)
Play styles/skills
Warren holds significant advantages in terms of contested catches and elusiveness.
For their careers, Warren caught 21 of 33 contested targets (63.6%), while Loveland caught only 10 of 25 (40.0%), per Pro Football Focus. Loveland caught just 2-of-10 contested targets in 2024.
Warren is also much better at making defenders miss. He forced 26 missed tackles on 154 career receptions, compared to Loveland’s 8 missed tackles forced on 117 receptions.
Loveland’s advantage is in the route-running department. Praised for his wide receiver-like movement skills and athleticism, he is the better bet if you want somebody who can create separation.
Statistically, Loveland’s edge as a route runner can be demonstrated by his ability to generate targets. Warren was targeted on a remarkable 30.5% of his routes run in 2024 (135/442). Loveland? Try hiking that up to 37.6% (82/218). He drew a target once every 2.7 times he ran out for a pass, which, for a tight end, indicates an incredible ability to get open.
Blocking
Both tight ends are generally viewed as having potential in the blocking department, but needing development. They both had mediocre 2024 blocking grades at Pro Football Focus to back that up; Warren posted a 52.8 (182nd out of 290 qualified TEs), falling just shy of Loveland’s 53.3 (177th).
Closer than we think?
Taking a tight end at No. 7 is considered a lengthy reach in terms of positional value. There is a reason teams rarely do it. If you are going to take a tight end in the top 10, he had better be special.
This mindset could ring especially true in a 2025 draft that features a deep tight end class. The consensus big board includes five tight ends in the top 70 overall prospects. As far back as 2015 (the earliest year that NFL Mock Draft Database has data for), the only draft class with 5+ tight ends in the top 70 entering draft weekend was 2023, which had six top-70 tight ends. That group produced Sam LaPorta and Tucker Kraft as day two selections.
Perhaps the wisest course of action for New York is to pass on both Warren and Loveland while taking their chances with the back end of this acclaimed class. Using their first-round pick to address their hole at right tackle could pay greater dividends in the long run, even if it is less exciting.
However, Warren and Loveland are both deserving of their reputations as potential high first-round picks. In different ways, they each possess undeniable upside as pass catchers.
If the Jets believe their offensive vision deems the tight end position valuable enough to warrant selecting one at No. 7, they should not gloss over Loveland as a possibility. He is not as far off from Warren as a prospect as the consensus would have you believe.
Warren has gaudier box-score stats, but Loveland is right there with him when you account for Warren’s massive advantage in opportunities. Not to mention, Loveland is two years younger than Warren and has significantly outperformed him at every respective stage of their careers so far.
It just comes down to what the Jets prioritize at the tight end position. If they want a physical jump-ball threat with elusiveness to boot, Warren is their man. If they want a Travis Kelce-type who can create separation on any route in the tree, Loveland is their man.
Blocking is what may be the key separator between the two prospects. It is a skill that will clearly be a priority for the Jets at tight end; there is no speculation required there. The Jets have zero blocking talent at the position as of today, and they are committed to a run-first quarterback, which demands quality blocking at tight end (look at the infrastructure around quarterbacks like Lamar Jackson and Jalen Hurts).
Plus, the Jets’ new offensive coordinator, Tanner Engstrand, said this about his offensive philosophy when speaking to the media last June: “We talk about being a physical, detailed football team. The feet are cemented in that now. It’s not something that was foreign to me when I got here, but if there was ever something to get cemented in, that’s it, that’s really what I believe in.”
Yeah, blocking will be critical. So, who’s the better blocker?
Most people would answer with Warren, and they can pull out a highlight reel to back it up, but a deeper dive reveals more holes in his blocking game than people tend to realize. I included a clip from Matt Waldman earlier in this article that broke down some of the technical holes in Warren’s blocking; Jets X-Factor’s Joe Blewett has relayed similar thoughts, labeling him “an average run blocker with the want-to to be great.” Loveland also has improvements to make, and he possesses similar tools to work with.
The winner of the blocking debate comes down to the collective opinion of the Jets scouting staff. “Whose issues are more fixable? Who has more upside as a blocker? Who is a better fit for the types of blocks that our scheme would ask them to make?” It is up to the Jets to answer these questions.
Trading down might be difficult for the Jets to pull off, but if they somehow make it happen, perhaps Loveland will play a greater role in the Jets’ draft-day decision-making. As of right now, it does not feel like Loveland will make a serious push to be the Jets’ first-round pick, but crazier things have happened. You can count with zero hands the number of media members who predicted or reported that the Jets might draft Will McDonald in 2023.
Keep Loveland in mind as you spend the next few weeks mulling over the many possible draft-day outcomes for the Jets.
