{"id":9080,"date":"2025-04-04T13:02:20","date_gmt":"2025-04-04T13:02:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.365scores.com\/news\/?p=9080"},"modified":"2025-04-06T09:00:53","modified_gmt":"2025-04-06T09:00:53","slug":"2025-nfl-draft-preview-tight-end","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.365scores.com\/news\/2025-nfl-draft-preview-tight-end","title":{"rendered":"2025 NFL Draft Preview: Tyler Warren and the Value of a Great Tight End"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The 2025 NFL<\/a> season will see the first $40M wideout (Ja\u2019Marr Chase) and the first $20M running back (Saquon Barkley). But the Arizona Cardinals also reset the value of the tight end market this week after extending Trey McBride to a 4-year extension<\/a> worth $76M ($19M per season).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That is relatively cheap if you\u2019re talking about a player who can be your leading receiver and a blocker, which McBride can be. But not every tight end can do those things, and that\u2019s why it is so valuable to find a great one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They rarely come around, but the NFL has been blessed in the last 15 years with some of the greatest tight ends ever such as Rob Gronkowski, Travis Kelce, and George Kittle. You can see McBride step up his game in Arizona, and last year\u2019s draft<\/a> was heavily focused on what Brock Bowers can do for an NFL team after he helped Georgia to back-to-back championships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sure enough, Bowers was an instant stud and first-team All-Pro as a rookie for the Raiders. He caught 112 balls for 1,194 yards and passed the eye test. Find him a legitimate quarterback and the Raiders could be in business.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s one thing that the last two NFL dynasties (Patriots and Chiefs) both used a tight end as their primary receiver. It\u2019s a schematic advantage when you can line these guys up on linebackers, safeties, and lesser corners. It\u2019s also a financial advantage when you can pay a great tight end less money than a very good No. 2 wide receiver based on current NFL economics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it is not easy to find these players in the draft. We covered last year how Bowers could be an outlier in being so great as a high first-round pick. Gronk and McBride were second-round picks, Kelce and Jason Witten were third-round picks, Kittle went in the fifth round, Shannon Sharpe<\/a> was a seventh-round pick in 1990, and the great Antonio Gates was undrafted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maybe it\u2019s wishful thinking, but maybe teams are going to get better at identifying what makes a great tight end. Either way, the 2025 NFL draft expects to have at least one highly-drafted tight end in Penn State\u2019s Tyler Warren. Just don\u2019t expect him to live up to the Bowers standard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Using the prospect rankings from NFL Mock Draft Database<\/a>, we are going to look at the top five tight ends this year who should go in the first two nights, how their skills might translate to the NFL, and which team would be the best landing spot for them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n