2025 Scouting Report: TE Harold Fannin, Bowling Green
Bio:
Height: 6’3”
Weight: 241
Career Stats: 36 Games; 180 receptions, 2,396 yards, 17 TDs
2024 Stats: 13 games; 117 receptions (1st), 1,555 yards (1st), 10 TDs (T-13)
Accolades: Led NCAA in receptions and yards (2024) | 2024 MAC Offensive Player of the Year | 2024 Consensus All-American | Set record for receptions and yards in a single season by a TE
From a stat-based perspective, Harold Fannin is coming off the best TE season in history. Breaking FBS records in both receptions and yards for a tight end in a single season. An impressive season based on volume alone… but looking deeper than the ridiculous targeting, is Harold Fannin truly THAT good?
That’s a tough question to answer, but eventually you have to land on “No”. The main reason I say “No” is because there is a glaring lack of consistency in Fannin’s play. One play, I’ll see him as one of the best TE prospects ever, and the next he looks no better than a blocking TE who happened to be open and get a target. It’s a predicament to be sure.
At the Senior Bowl, I didn’t see the “greatest TE season in history” shine through. Rather, the best TE that was invited was Elijah Arroyo of Miami. Fannin looked rather pedestrian against the best talent he’s faced. Even in the non-pad/non-contact drills, he just looked slow… mediocre… lost in the crowd. Going into that, not knowing what I know about each of the TEs' seasons, I never would have guessed Fannin was the one who led the NCAA in receptions and yards.
Fannin’s Senior Bowl was good, not stellar like one would expect or hope. At the Combine, his athleticism broke through, led by a 6.97 three-cone at 241 pounds… what am I missing on tape?
Ultimately, I’ve had to settle on a grade of a C for Fannin. He has his flashes of A, but a slight majority of plays are a C-/D grade. Was he just a lucky “heartbeat of the offense” mid-major tight end? Sometimes, the only thing you can do in this business is just say ‘they’re okay and worth a flyer if he falls’. So that’s going to be my position. Lying on a fence face down with a post in my mouth, Dwight Schrute style.
Fannin seems like an average type of TE, my concerns lie heavily in the inconsistent level of play. Is he a lazy player who takes plays off?
When Fannin gets moving, he can be tough to take down. A 240-pound freight train running at 4.7 40-yard speed. The biggest disappointment I see after the catch is that despite his frame and speed, he doesn’t seem to know that he has that asset, often shying away from contact. Good for longevity, bad for career earnings/depth chart positioning. This reminds me a lot of David Njoku. Both need to be at their top gear to make an impact, and despite the stellar three-cone, on-field, they both seem to have slow acceleration/change of direction.
The two main knocks on him I have are… does he have effort concerns, and why does he struggle so much starting and stopping.
Other than that, he is a decent TE. He has good hands, slightly undersized but not to a detriment, good speed, especially at his weight, and he’s an average route runner for the position. Nothing stands out with him, which is my greatest concern. Nothing stood out with Tyler Conklin, who is very NFL good, but he lacks that secret ingredient that makes a TE a quarterback's best friend. Fannin seems to be headed in that direction, too.
The Data on Harold Fannin:
| StrengthRtg | AgilityRtg | HandsRtg | H | W | Last | First | Team | adjYds/Tgt | adjTgt/TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6.299 | 7.420 | 9.879 | 75 | 241 | Fannin | Harold | Bowling Green | 12.1 | 16.8 |
Draft Outlook:
Fannin is projected to be a third-round pick. I think I would have a late 3/early 4th round grade on him. Would I draft him? Definitely. Would I go out of my way to draft him? That seems unlikely.
Career Outlook:
If Fannin can find himself on a team with bad QB play for a couple of years, he’ll find himself in the top half of tight ends across the league. If he’s on a better team that has a few WRs or a good scat back, he may be forgotten about in 2 years.
Image Source: Vasha Hunt-Imagn Images
