The Pittsburgh Steelers aren’t in the market for a No. 1 TE after extending Pat Freiermuth last year, but Tyler Warren would be a good option if they were. A Penn State alum, he blossomed last year as a senior with 104 catches for 1,233 yards and 8 touchdowns.
And Warren is making sure to keep an ear to the phone when Freiermuth and fellow Penn Staters talk. He talked at the 2025 NFL Scouting Combine about how Freiermuth and others have advised him throughout the process. He won’t be on the Steelers’ radar, at least now, but you never know in four or five years.
The Steelers did have a formal meeting with Tyler Warren, who would certainly pair well with Pat Freiermuth. Of course, OC Arthur Smith loves himself some tight ends, and it’s not like they are married to Connor Heyward. MyCole Pruitt is also likely at the end of his tether at this point.
“I actually talked to Theo [Johnson] and Brenton [Strange] talked to me, Pat [Freiermuth] talked to me”, Teresa Varley quoted Warren as saying for the Steelers’ website. “They’re there and if I have questions, I can ask them. They’re not blowing me up. They know it’s a busy time. But they’ve been a big help. If there’s ever any questions, I can call them, text them and they’re going to help me out”.
Pat Freiermuth overlapped with Tyer Warren at Penn State in 2020. That was Freiermuth’s junior, final season, and Warren’s freshman season. Warren is a part of the last draft class affected by the COVID year of 2020, as Steelers director of college scouting Dan Colbert noted.
A former high school quarterback, Tyler Warren came late to the tight end position, unlike Pat Freiermuth. The Nittany Lions used him somewhat unconventionally, even as a Wild Cat quarterback. If the Steelers were to draft him, he would need some developing, but he has excellent talent. And he has the right mentality, as well.
“What I try and do is be a guy that can kind of fit in a lot of different roles”, Warren said. “I don’t know if I have one that really sticks out the best. That’s kind of the fun about the tight end position is you get to do a lot of different things within the offense”.
And that’s exactly what the Steelers would want to do with Warren, as they already do with Freiermuth and company. Including blocking. “Being a tight end if you want to be a really good one, you’re going to have to do both,”, he said. “You can’t just go out and catch passes and you can’t just be a run blocker at that spot. That’s the point I’ve been trying to get across when I’ve met with teams”.
But with Pat Freiermuth and Darnell Washington, the Steelers would really have to build an offense around tight ends if they were to invest in Tyler Warren, in all likelihood a first-round draft pick. It is one direction they could go (as some thought they should last year). But with desperate needs at more critical positions, such a move wouldn’t go over very well, surely.
