Indianapolis Colts rookie tight end Tyler Warren was named the NFL’s Pepsi Zero Sugar Rookie of the Week for a second straight week after his performance against the Denver Broncos.
Warren has lived up to the hype as the versatile “Swiss Army Knife” tag that he earned during his All-American campaign at Penn State. The 6-foot-5, 256-pound rookie has aligned all over the formation in his first two starts, inclduing along the offensive line, in the backfield, in the slot, and out wide. Versatility was
the main aspect of Warren’s skill set that caught the attention of Colts scouts and evaluators and the Penn State product seems to be a perfect fit in Indy’s offensive scheme.
Steichen is playing chess, not checkers. Consider Warren the most powerful land versatile piece on the board. It was best evidenced last Sunday when Warren motioned to the backfield to line up at fullback alongside quarterback Daniel Jones, while Jonathan Taylor was set up in the pistol formation. When the football was snapped, Warren burst through the offensive line disguised as a blocker to misdirect the defense like a run play was coming. The Broncos bit at the play action as Jones faked the handoff to Taylor, which allowed Warren to sneak past the Broncos secondary for a massive 42-yard reception, which is the second-longest play made by a tight end this season.
Steichen understands the more he motions his chess piece, not only does the defense potentially show if they are in man or zone coverage, but it opens doors for other players to navigate to open spaces as the defense is forced to communicate pre-snap. Warren was spectacular in his first two games. In his NFL debut against the Miami Dolphins, Warren caught a game-high seven receptions for 76 yards in the Colts 33-8 rout to win the season opener. Warren followed up that performance with four catches for 79 receiving yards in the 29-28 Week 2 thriller over the Broncos.
The four hourseman the Colts rotated at tight end last year collected a grand total of 29 catches for 467 yards and two touchdowns in 17 games. In fact, those four tight ends accounted for just 7% of the total first downs gained by the offense, whereas Warren has accounted for 19% of the total first downs this season.
The Colts 14th overall draft pick has collected 11 receptions on 16 targets for 155 receiving yards through his first two NFL games, which leads all tight ends. It’s the most receiving yards for any rookie in franchise history, surpassing T.Y. Hilton’s 128 receiving yards to start his rookie season in 2012. Warren also leads all tight ends with nine first downs and three contested catches. Warren’s ranks inside the top 10 at his position with a 82.4 offensive grade and a 79.4 receiving grade. His 2.77 yards per route run ranks seventh among tight ends.
Make no mistake about it, Warren has been effective in the run game too. Warren has been used as a blocker on 59 snaps, which is the second-most snaps in the league among tight ends, per PFF. His 79.1 pass block grade ranks second among tight ends, while his 75.5 run block grade ranks inside the top 10 for tight ends that have played at least 30 snaps, which is only one-fourth of the snaps Warren has under his belt.
Warren did not practice Wednesday while dealing with a toe injury, so his status for Sunday’s divisional game at Tennessee could be up in the air.
