The Cleveland Browns selected BYU TE Carsen Ryan in the 7th round of the 2026 NFL Draft, and despite his draft slot, he could end up playing a legitimate role in Todd Monken’s offense this year.
The 6’3.5”, 255-pound tight end had a breakout season for the Cougars in 2025, amassing 45 receptions for 62o receiving yards and 3 touchdowns as one of BYU’s main short-to-intermediate level threats as a senior. Aside from a somewhat surprising level of production as a pass-catcher last year, he’s been a top-notch
run blocker over the past two seasons as well.
Ryan’s calling card has been his physicality in every aspect of the game. When he’s downfield running routes, he consistently uses his strength to outmuscle and box out defenders at the catch-point. As a blocker, he does a great job of exploding off the ball and steering defenders away from the play using above-average grip strength and leg drive.
Ryan was used all over the place at BYU in 2025, in the slot, offset in the backfield, as an in-line “Y”, and as a wing in an offense that took advantage of his ability to sneak into open areas of the field late. He ran quite a bit of rail routes, choice routes, and Y-delays, which allowed him to adjust his route post-snap based on the defense, and/or occupy areas that had been cleared out by his teammates downfield.
With Harold Fannin Jr. and Joe Royer being more of the prototypical pass-catchers or “move” tight ends, Carsen Ryan could potentially be a more versatile version of Patrick Ricard in Cleveland. Though Ricard was a literal lineman that the Ravens used as a fullback/H-back, Ryan could provide much of the same utilization for Monken as a blocker, while having enough athleticism to threaten in the passing game as well.
Overall, despite Carsen Ryan being a 7th-round pick, he could end up playing an important role for Cleveland from time to time on both offense and special teams as a rookie.
What are your thoughts on Carsen Ryan? Join fellow Browns fans in the comment section below.
