Joe DeLeone and Ryan Roberts scout and discuss the draft profile of Bowling Green State tight end Harold Fannin Jr.
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00:00Harold Fannin has been the most overhyped tight end prospect in the 2025 NFL Draft.
00:06Here's where he realistically should go.
00:10Ryan, why is Harold Fannin being overhyped right now in this 2025 class?
00:18I mean, it's production ultimately, right?
00:20Like he was the leading receiver in all of college football last season, over 1500 yards.
00:25He did it against pretty good competition last year as well.
00:28Like he had a big game against Penn State, he had a big game against Texas A&M.
00:32So we're looking, it's a box score scouting thing for me, Joe.
00:35Like you're looking at the production, but in reality, we need to isolate everything,
00:40right?
00:41We need to isolate the size, the athleticism, the blocking ability, the all around play
00:45style.
00:46And we need to project that to the NFL level, stop scouting the box score.
00:51And let's talk about what Harold Fannin does well, and how well it will translate to the
00:55NFL level.
00:56His athletic testing was really surprising because I think we were all expecting, hey,
01:00this is a great long speed guy.
01:01That was how he won.
01:02He separated from defenders really easily by picking up speed, and he only ran a four
01:07seven one at the NFL Combine, which was super odd and not a great number for a guy who's
01:12on the lighter side for a tight end.
01:13He was listed at six foot three, 241 pounds.
01:17His testing overall was fine, but I think we were hoping for as dominant as he was in
01:22one-on-one situations that he would have been a little bit freakish.
01:26But you do need to have freakish traits to go on to be a productive tight end and a receiving
01:30option in an offense in the NFL.
01:33So we need to be a little careful here.
01:35He's a day three pick.
01:36He is best projected as a fourth, fifth round pick with not a ton of great late tight end
01:41options that could go on to becoming a quality option in an offense, a good second tight
01:47end.
01:48I don't really see this projection that some people believe that he is going to be a dominant
01:55a thousand yard tight end like he was in college.
01:58Yeah, I do think that we need to kind of take ourselves back a step for a second because
02:03early on in this process before the senior bowl and before the combine, there were some
02:07people hyping him as tight end one.
02:09There were others just hyping him up to be a top 50 pick.
02:11I just, I don't think he's that.
02:13I do think that he can be a good role player potentially on the NFL level, and I do think
02:18he can be productive in a specific type of setting in a specific type of role.
02:22But overall, Joe, the fact that we saw the testing the way it was, I do think that a
02:26lot of part of that is because he got up to 241 pounds, but he didn't play at 241 pounds,
02:31right?
02:32Like he was a, he's a smaller tight ends.
02:34And when you're talking about a smaller tight end who is also a average athlete and an NFL
02:39size at 241 pounds after bulking up, I think that that's where you get a little bit of
02:44trouble here, right?
02:45Like I do think that he has a role as a potential big slot on the NFL level, but is he going
02:49to be a guy that's going to play with his hand in the dirt and be an asset in the run
02:52game in line?
02:54Is he going to be a guy that's going to be incredibly dominant as a pass receiver?
02:58I just have my question marks about that and how well it would translate to the NFL level,
03:02despite a crazy last year of production, right?
03:06There's a world that I think he could go on to becoming like a five, 600 yard receiver.
03:10He could be a team's tight end one on the roster that is all doable for him.
03:14But like you just said, where there was this, this projection by some and a lot of, a lot
03:19of fan projection, which is fine.
03:21You know, fans get excited, not, not knocking them, seeing the stats and, and hoping that
03:25it could translate him being in the same conversation as Tyler Warren felt really off to me.
03:32What are, if we were just wanting to be more positive, like what are the main strengths
03:36that he has that are going to set him up to succeed?
03:39I mean, he's great in space.
03:41He's really good.
03:42I think he has a really good sense of spacing as far as creating things after the catch.
03:46I think he finds cracks in the defense.
03:48I think he's really good against zone coverage.
03:50He just, I think he's a really smart football player overall.
03:53I think he really understands how to get open and the fine creases in the defense.
03:57So I think that that translates both before the catch and after the catch and it's fine
04:01and fine as far as finding that open space.
04:04But I, that I think that that is probably his biggest sell.
04:07The other thing I liked Joe is that he catches the ball cleanly and outside of his frame.
04:11Like I think this is a hands catcher.
04:12I think it's a consistent, a consistent impact against smaller defenders as well.
04:18If we're covering him with a safety or maybe even a nickel corner at times, I think he
04:21can out leverage and catch the football at the highest point.
04:24So I think those natural ball skills and that feel for space are very translatable and for
04:29a specific role on the NFL level as far as being a space oriented tight ends.
04:35Now he does have a really unique, interesting background of being a guy who has defeated
04:39any odds of expectation of what he was going to do.
04:43Zero star recruit.
04:44He was a walk on at Bowling Green.
04:46Uh, it comes from McKinley high school in Canton, Ohio, and he was originally listed
04:51as a linebacker on two, four, seven sports's website.
04:54So there's a bit of a process here where he jumped from being no name to being the most
04:59productive receiving option in college football this year.
05:02I mean, it was pretty crazy project projection as well or trajectory because like you said,
05:06he's a zero star recruit.
05:07He's a walk on we're number 44 originally playing tight ends, but, and then he changed
05:12to zero obviously this past year.
05:14But he's a really interesting player because we saw the breakout start to happen in 2023.
05:19But Joe, like he went from, let's, let's, let's paint the full picture here.
05:22He went from zero star walk on to the most productive pass catcher in college football
05:29this past year.
05:30And again, he wasn't doing this just against Mac teams.
05:32He was doing this against Penn state, against Texas A&M.
05:34So he was playing his best football against some of the highest level of competition that
05:38he was playing at Bowling Green this past year.
05:40So it's a great story ultimately, right?
05:43Like just kind of taking the story away from the projection and the evaluation for a second,
05:48incredible arc and journey that he has been on.
05:52And I'm sure there's going to be some that are going to say, Hey, you start in Canton,
05:54you got to end up in Canton, right?
05:55Like that's probably a little bit of a over the top analysis, right?
05:59But man, he's a tremendous story and I ultimately do think he's going to be a good role player
06:05on the NFL level.
06:06Again, I just think that we need to cite our expectations in the right spot with a Harold
06:11Fannin jr.
06:12And with that in mind, the easy comparison for him, we really liked Gerald Everett, who
06:16was once a Los Angeles Rams selection in the second round, which Fannin could still end
06:20up going in the end of the second round for a team that values his skillset.
06:24Another guy who was a small school player, a good linear athlete, was able to win in
06:29contest situations, despite being on the smaller side for a tight end and his overall production
06:34in the NFL is exactly what we're projecting here for Fannin.
06:37He has mostly had 400 yard receiving seasons.
06:40His career high was 555 yards and four touchdowns.
06:45If Harold Fannin becomes that, that's a great NFL career.
06:47And I think that that is what is, again, to say realistic for the 10th time, the realistic
06:54goal and path for him rather than saying he is going to be a thousand yard receiver.
07:00I mean, when you think about Harold Fannin on the next level, you're thinking about an
07:03H back, right?
07:04A guy that's going to be used more in space as the tight end.
07:06And Gerald Everett is obviously a guy that has made a living off of that and been a pretty
07:10solid contributor on the NFL level.
07:12I think Johnny Smith is another one that kind of comes to mind as far as like those space
07:15oriented tight ends.
07:17I really like Gerald Everett though, because Gerald Everett was one of those guys that
07:20was really sneaky after the catch, could break some tackles, and he also had some really
07:25good feel for space.
07:26So as that modern West Coast H back, right?
07:31A guy that is going to get a lot of slides, a guy that's going to work off of play action,
07:34the guy that is going to get into space and have him be a yards after catch receiver.
07:38I think that that is what ultimately Harold Fannin's skillset lends best to.
07:43An after catch oriented tight end that does a really good job of evaluating and manipulating
07:49space.
07:50Folks, hit that like button and subscribe and let us know below, what team do you want
07:54to see Harold Fannin play for?
07:56We'll talk to you later.