Through his first four games in the NFL, Tyler Warren has made one thing very clear: he may be predictable, but that doesn't mean you're going to stop him.
The rookie tight end is, as everyone knows by now, a physical, gritty throwback football player. He can catch, he can run, he can hit – and he enjoys it all. He can run a route as a wide receiver, he can line up as fullback, he even takes snaps in wildcat formation.
Warren did it all in college at Penn State, and he's doing it all now with the Colts. If you aren't expecting it, that's on you.
The entire league is well aware of Warren's talent, which is why he's consistently been heavily defended throughout the first four games of his NFL career. Everyone knows he's going to make a cut to get around his defenders, they know he's going to stretch up for a catch, they know he's going to barrel into a defender for a block.
But no one – not even the Los Angeles Rams, with a top five defense – has been able to stop him.
In the Colts' tight 27-20 loss to the Rams at SoFi Stadium on Sunday, Warren racked up 70 yards on five receptions for what was already his third game with at least 70 receiving yards. He also had two carries for three rushing yards – and those three yards were the most important ones of Warren's young career.
Early in the second quarter, with the score tied 3-3, the Colts stood at the Rams' three-yard line and were looking to get the first touchdown of the day. But as they lined up at the line of scrimmage, it wasn't quarterback Daniel Jones standing behind center to receive the snap, like usual.
It was Warren.
It was a question many Colts fans had: would head coach Shane Steichen ever use Warren in wildcat formation, having the tight end take the snap directly? Warren played quarterback in high school and college tape of his success in similar situations, and it felt like it was only a matter of time before Steichen took advantage.
Now, this snap didn't necessarily yield the (assumed) desired result of a touchdown, but Warren was able to gain a yard against an incredibly stout Rams defensive line. And on the next play, the Colts once again turned to their physical tight end – this time with a handoff – to muscle his way through to the end zone.
Warren did just that, with the help of Jones and fellow tight ends Mo Alie-Cox and Drew Ogletree, physically willing himself across the goal line. Really, there wasn't a more fitting way for Warren to record his first career NFL touchdown.
"It was good," Warren said. "Actually, I think Daniel jumped in the pile and started pushing, and Mo and Tree were right there pushing the pile in. So it was fun."
"I just tried to help where I could," Jones said with a small chuckle. "A good effort by him and those guys and they were pushing. Just tried to try that on there, and we got in."
And it's not like the Rams didn't know what was coming; after Jones handed the ball off to Warren there was really only one thing the tight end was going to try to do.
They still couldn't stop it: Warren's talent and physicality outweighed his predictability, as per usual.
Warren, predictable not just in his performance on the football field but in his overall approach to the game in general, said he would "probably" keep the football. But he made it clear he's much more focused on the work the Colts still must put in to succeed as a team.
"Still got a lot of stuff to do in the season," he said. "It was fun, but still got work to do."
Warren was one of the bright spots in the Colts' loss on Sunday, in which it felt like they couldn't stop beating themselves with mistakes and penalties. And Warren took responsibility for his part in that as well; he had an offensive holding penalty in the third quarter that negated a big reception that would have put the Colts just a few yards from the end zone again.
"Those are big, big deals," Warren said of the penalties. "And in this league with the quality of teams, it's tough to come back from those."
When Warren thinks back to the Colts' Week 4 game against the Rams, there's a very strong likelihood that the first thing he thinks about is the team's loss and how he could have been better. It was his first loss of his NFL career, and no doubt a tough one to swallow in a game the Colts had a good chance to win.
But all of that still doesn't take away the fact that it was also the game Warren scored his first NFL touchdown – and yet another game in which he showed just how much he belongs in the league.
