An offensive weapon like tight end seems like a bit of a luxury when talking about the Detroit Lions’ options in the 2025 NFL Draft, but general manager Brad Holmes has lived by “best player available” for most of his career. And with some interesting roster decisions in the not-so-distant future, I would not take tight end completely off the board for the Lions when it comes to this year’s draft.
Here’s our 2025 Detroit Lions draft preview on the tight ends.
Previous Lions draft previews:
- Quarterbacks
- Running backs
- Wide receivers
2025 Detroit Lions draft preview: Tight ends
Under contract: Sam LaPorta (under contract through 2026), Brock Wright (2026), Shane Zylstra (2025), Kenny Yeboah (2025)
- Short-term need: 3/10
- Long-term need: 5/10
The Lions have their top-two tight ends for the next two seasons. At this point, there’s no reason to believe they’d move on from either (LaPorta is 24, Wright is 26). That said, with the Lions having a lot of bills to pay coming up, if the right situation came along, it’s not absurd to think they’d move on from one or the other for a tight end they like in the draft. Granted the team was in a different position back then, but they did that exact thing with T.J. Hockenson a few years back.
Beyond that, depth is certainly a bit of a concern. Detroit utilizes two tight end sets more often than the average team, so their TE3 (and possibly TE4) spots matter. Yeboah brings more experience (610 offensive snaps) to the table than Zylstra (418), but Detroit could certainly use some competition in that group. Additionally, with only four under contract, the Lions are likely to add a couple more before training camp. Last year, they carried six on the 90-man roster in the summer.
PFF top-100
- Tyler Warren, Penn State (#8)
- Colston Loveland, Michigan (#25)
- Elijah Arroyo, Miami (#57)
- Mason Taylor, LSU (#78)
- Terrance Ferguson, Oregon (#86)
There is a clear top-two when it comes to the tight end position, and it doesn’t feel like Warren or Loveland will be there when the Lions are on the clock at 28. If they are, there’s an outside chance Detroit would take them simply by being best player available, but the other three top-100 prospects feel much more likely.
Arroyo (6-foot-5, 250), Taylor (6-foot-5, 251), and Ferguson (6-foot-5, 247) are more in the mold of a receiving tight end, but each have good size to compete as a blocker. Of the three, Arroyo may be the most balanced between blocking and receiving, and he definitely checks the football character box.
However, injuries took a toll on his college career, and he only has one season of significant production (2024: 35 catches, 590 yards, 7 TDs).
Notable Day 3 players
Jackson Hawes (Georgia Tech), CJ Dippre (Alabama), Oronde Gadsden II (Syracuse)
I wrote about Hawes as a standout during the NFL Combine media sessions, and I came away even more impressed after watching his phenomenal tape against Florida State. He’s mainly an in-line tight end, but I believe there is some untapped potential given his athletic profile and the fact that most of his career was spent in a run-heavy Yale offense.
If you’re looking for one of the biggest athletic freaks of this class, Dippre is your guy:
But like Hawes, Dippre is far more experience (and better) as an in-line blocker than a receiving threat.
If the Lions are looking more for someone who can contribute as a receiver, Gadsden is an intriguing Day 2 or 3 tweener. At Syracuse, he had a pair of 900-yard seasons interrupted by a season cut short due to injury. But he’s got great hands (second in FBS in contested catches) and as a former receiver, his route running is smooth: