Colts tight ends coach Tom Manning pulled up a clip of Tyler Warren bulldozing a defender and asked the Penn State a tight end a question:
"Did you not like this guy?"
Warren's response during a formal interview with the Colts at the NFL Combine – captured on "Behind The Colts" – succinctly summed up the way he plays.
"That was really my first chance to get to set the tone," Warren said.
Warren's college tape is littered with defenders flailing away at the 6-foot-5, 256 pound tight end. It's not just that Warren will run through arm tackles. When he lowers his shoulder into a defender, he usually runs them over – which contributed to his 701 yards after the catch, per Pro Football Focus, most among any Power 4 (ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, SEC) player in 2024.
Colts area scout Chad Henry nicknamed Warren "truck," and it doesn't take much imagination to understand why.
"Because he's big, strong, reliable and he's going to truck some defenders," Henry said.
The Colts expect Warren's physicality to translate to the NFL, even as the guys trying to tackle him get bigger, stronger and faster. But Warren doesn't just try to set the tone with the ball in his hands – he also wants to be a tone-setter when the ball's in his running back's hands.
"That's the name of the game in football is violence," Warren said on this week's episode of The Colts Show podcast. "When you can do that and be willing to be violent, and then add the technique and the fundamentals that go into it, that's when you become really good. It's a violent sport so you gotta have violence when you play."
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Technique and fundamentals certainly are important, but often the most important thing as a run blocker is just a desire to do it.
"It starts with the willingness," Warren said. "If you got the technique and you know how to block someone but you don't want to stick your nose in there and do it, it's not going to do you much good. So it starts with being willing to do it and put your stuff up in there, and you add the technique and fundamentals to that. And that's what makes you an effective blocker, in my opinion."
That kind of attitude will help Warren ingratiate himself with his teammates. Playing tight end in the NFL requires someone to be a particularly good teammate; your play at that position impacts not only the quarterback (by running a good route and catching the ball), but also the running back (by blocking for him), the offensive line (by blocking next to or in tandem with them) and the wide receivers (by being a threat as a route runner to open up space for them).
Warren, even as a guy who was the focal point of Penn State's offense with 104 receptions last season, understands the importance of being an unselfish teammate at his position.
"It starts with understanding how football works," Warren said. "I can't do anything by myself on this field. There's 10 other guys on the field for a reason. You can't do anything that's going to help you without somebody next to you and other guys around you. That's what I really love about the game and how I try to approach it. It has nothing to do with me. I'm a part of a unit and a part of a team and we got one goal, and that's to win games."
