With the scouting report of Michigan’s Colston Loveland, the 2025 NFL Draft could have yet another potential blue-chip tight end prospect on deck. What does Loveland have to offer as a player, and where does he rank entering the 2025 NFL Draft cycle?
Colston Loveland’s Draft Profile and Measurements
- Height: 6’5″
- Weight: 246 pounds
- Position: Tight End
- School: Michigan
- Current Year: Junior
The Wolverines have a very respectable track record at tight end in recent years. They’ve directly developed talents like Jake Butt, Zach Gentry, Luke Schoonmaker, and AJ Barner — all of whom were selected in the NFL Draft — and 2024 Day 3 selection Erick All also got his start at Michigan.
The Wolverines are a reliable producer of TE talent, but the school’s best prospect of the modern era by far has yet to hit the circuit.
The anticipation is already building for Loveland, who was a four-year varsity player and a standout in both basketball and football at Gooding High School in Gooding, Idaho. In basketball, he averaged nearly a double-double as a senior. But football was always where he was most dominant.
As a mere sophomore at Gooding, Loveland amassed 91 catches for 1,147 yards and 14 touchdowns, and he remained productive through the entirety of his high school career. Loveland’s background as a former wide receiver gave him ingrained separation instincts — but the Wolverines had a plan for him as an X-factor at TE.
As a true freshman at Michigan, Loveland flashed promise, accruing 16 catches for 235 yards and two scores. And in 2023, he was one of the offense’s most dynamic, reliable weapons, and a driving force for the team’s national championship run.
Catching passes from J.J. McCarthy, Loveland caught 45 passes for 649 yards and four touchdowns in 2023, earning first-team All-Big Ten honors in the process. Now, entering the 2025 NFL Draft cycle, Loveland already has high praise from evaluators, and more could be on the way.
Loveland’s Scouting Report
Strengths
- Has a tall, streamlined frame with great lean mass and proportional length.
- Effortless athlete with elite accelerative capacity and short-area quickness for his size.
- Fast-strider with enough long speed to threaten up seams and on the vertical plane.
- Has hyper-elite fluidity for a TE, which yields rare throttle freedom and swivel flexibility.
- Able to stack quick direction changes and hip transitions on multi-layered routes.
- Has superb hip sink and angle freedom when executing sharp cuts on route breaks.
- Possesses the high-level bend to accelerate along curved route breaks and enter space.
- Manipulative route runner who can use tempo modulations and head fakes to break free.
- Has the awareness to hinge around and sit in short zones, making himself available.
- Knows how to use timing and positioning to freeze and box out defenders at the catch.
- Can make high-difficulty adjustments in-stride and snare high passes with his length.
- Has shown to secure passes away from his frame with diamond technique.
- Hip fluidity and stubborn leg churn lend themselves well in the run-after-catch phase.
- Has all-encompassing alignment versatility and a promising route tree at his age.
- High-effort blocker who reaches landmarks quickly, using tight hands and a strong base.
Weaknesses
- Is a bit light relative to his height and length, and has room to add additional mass.
- Long speed, while very good for his size, falls short of the quantifiably elite mark.
- With non-elite mass, naturally doesn’t have the force output to break successive tackles.
- Still learning how to use efficient physicality to fight through jams in stacked alignments.
- Sometimes plays the ball too patiently on the vertical plane and allows it into his frame.
- Can be prone to occasional focus drops, bringing his hands too far overtop passes.
- At times, diverts upright at contact as a blocker, limiting base load and power drive.
- Can learn how to better control his energy, twitch, and hand carriage on block approach.
- Can be displaced relatively easily by defenders who know how to leverage power.
- Sometimes extends before his base is set, lurching past his center of gravity.
Current Draft Projection and Summary
Entering the 2025 NFL Draft cycle, Loveland grades out as a late first-round prospect. With more development as a blocker and slightly more consistency with his hand technique, he could become a near blue-chip prospect and go as early as Brock Bowers did in the 2024 NFL Draft.
At around 6’5″, 246 pounds, Loveland is a lab-built natural separator at tight end. He happens to have exceptional lean mass and length, traits that help him outmatch opponents physically. But what makes Loveland special is his otherworldly blend of explosiveness, short-area agility, fluidity, and bend.
Already, Loveland has shown he can employ his mobility profile with ruthless efficiency and spatial IQ as a route runner. And at just 20 years old, he has an extremely impressive route tree and full usage pallet. His tools also translate well in the RAC phase.
Meanwhile, Loveland shows promise in the other more traditional facets of the TE position. As a former basketball standout, he’s been afforded a keen understanding of timing and positioning, which maximizes his frame. He’s also shown to snare high-difficulty passes as well.
As a blocker, Loveland still has room to improve his play strength, power drive, and consistency with leverage and base load. As a catcher, there are occasional focus drops for him to cut down on.
Nevertheless, Loveland has the ability to be a mismatch generator and impact starter at the TE spot, with uncommon gravity and schematic value as an independent separator.