The Colts came out ahead after a home run pick to begin their 2025 draft class!
According to longtime ESPN NFL Draft guru Mel Kiper Jr., the Indianapolis Colts are among the league’s “biggest winners from Round 1” after selecting prized Penn State tight end Tyler Warren with the 14th overall pick:
Indianapolis Colts
The pick: Tyler Warren (No. 14)
I heard teams were trying to trade ahead of the Colts to get one of the top two tight ends. I thought Warren might go to the Jets at No. 7, but they took Armand Membou. Then Colston Loveland — the other top tight end — went No. 10 to Chicago. But somehow, someway, Warren ended up falling into the Colts’ lap four picks later.
I actually have Warren ranked five spots higher than Loveland at No. 7 overall. He moves all over the offense, has the strong hands to make contested plays and is simply unstoppable after the catch. He will fill a major need for Indianapolis, which managed just 467 receiving yards from its tight end room in 2024. The team also lost Kylen Granson, its top guy at the position. In a huge year for Anthony Richardson’s long-term evaluation, the Colts had to get their third-year quarterback some more reliable pass catchers. Warren will stretch the seams and catch some Richardson deep balls, but he will also eat up targets underneath and turn them into first downs. Great pick.
It was truly every bit of a dream scenario for the Colts, who filled one of their biggest positional needs and landed arguably a Top 10 talent in the class without having to trade up—as Warren was ranked as NFL Network Daniel Jeremiah’s 6th best prospect overall.
Colts’ general manager Chris Ballard indicated that Warren was the ‘best feeling pick’ that he’s made since selecting All-Pro Quenton Nelson with the 6th overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft.
While some of the Horseshoe faithful took that as a slight of his other first round selections, that’s reading too much into it. It just means that like Nelson, Warren is a really safe pick with a high floor, who also has a strong chance to become a perennial Pro Bowler.
The Colts could’ve done a lot worse in a ‘not-so-top-heavy’ first round class near midway through the first round—and arguably not all that much better.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. This pick reminded me of the Colts’ 2016 first round selection of Ryan Kelly. It’s not the sexiest or most spectacular as others, but they landed a really good player for the next decade at a major position of need entering the weekend in a draft class that wasn’t the strongest atop. Get a potential Pro Bowler and head home.
The Colts desperately needed it too. They’ve gotten next to nothing consistently receiving wise from the tight end position since Pro Bowler Jack Doyle retired (2021), and before that, the one magical season from enigma Eric Ebron (2018).
Now, they’ve got a physical, tough sure-handed tight end who can impact the game on all three downs, just like Ballard was coveting. He can catch. He can block. He can play a number of positions for head coach Shane Steichen to deploy offensively.
I’m not sure what the rest of the NFL’s teams were thinking around where the Colts picked, but Indy clearly took advantage of it. As a result, they appear to be a draft big winner.