Bowling Green St. TE Harold Fannin Jr. Scouting Report | 2025 NFL Draft Analysis - video Dailymotion

AtoZ Sports

Joe DeLeone and Ryan Roberts scout and discuss the draft profile of Bowling Green State tight end Harold Fannin Jr.

Transcript

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.

Bowling Green St. TE Harold Fannin Jr. Scouting Report | 2025 NFL Draft Analysis

Category

Transcript

Recommended