Carsen
Ryan.
Carsen
Ryan.
BYU· 6'3"· 255 lb· 4.72s 40
R7 · #248 · Cleveland Browns"A versatile, blocking-first move tight end in the Nick Vannett mold: the alignment flexibility, hands and third-down feel make him a functional TE2, and the short arms plus build-up speed put a hard ceiling on the receiving role."Pre-draft read
This old-school Y tight end offers breadth over a single elite trait, aligning in-line, in the wing, in the slot, and in the backfield. As a blocker, he reliably sets the edge in gap concepts, walls off front-side zone, and sustains blocks on the perimeter against safeties and nickels. His hands land inside and feet churn post-contact.
As a receiver, he's a route technician more than a separator, stemming routes, sinking hips at the top of digs and outs, and consistently finding soft spots against zone. He catches everything within his frame and away from his body with 10-inch hands. His athletic limitations are clear: 31 3/8-inch arms affect extension in blocking, and his 4.72 forty and 1.60 ten-yard split indicate a build-up mover lacking vertical seam threat.
Ryan's natural play strength, in-line blocking, and route running prowess make him a foundational piece for a pro-style offense employing multiple tight end sets, especially one with gap/duo power run game elements.
Year 1 as a rotational Y tight end, expanding his role into a full-time starter who excels at setting edges in the run game and providing an underneath receiving threat on third downs.
A pass-heavy Air Raid or spread RPO offense that demands elite vertical receiving threats or explosive run-after-catch ability from its tight ends.
Ryan projects as an every-down, versatile Y tight end whose value derives from his well-rounded skill set and willingness to execute all aspects of the position within a pro-style scheme.
Carsen Ryan 2026 NFL Draft Tape presented by New Era | BYU TE
The conference-produced draft cut-up: the cleanest single look at the alignment variety and the in-line blocking BYU asked of him.
Carsen Ryan Regular Season Highlights | 2025 Big 12 Football
The 45-catch, 620-yard senior season condensed - route stems, third-down conversions and the hands work in traffic.
CARSEN RYAN HIGHLIGHTS | BYU FOOTBALL
The school reel released on draft day, useful for seeing how often BYU motioned him from wing to slot pre-snap.
Carsen Ryan Evades the Defense for a 43-Yard TD | 2025 Big 12 Football
His longest play of the season and the best available evidence of run-after-catch balance for a build-up mover.
Film Analysis on What Rookie Tight End Carsen Ryan Brings the Browns
Post-draft film breakdown framing the specific TE3 and special-teams role Cleveland drafted him for.
TE Carsen Ryan gets The Draft Call at No. 248 Overall
The draft call from Andrew Berry and Todd Monken on the second-to-last pick of the 2026 draft.
Ryan projects as a versatile, every-down Y-tight end whose value lies in his coordinated play and reliable blocking, rather than explosive athleticism. A team acquiring him is buying a player with a high floor as an in-line blocker and a dependable short-to-mid-range target, capable of contributing to special teams and fitting diverse offensive schemes.
After a multi-school journey, Ryan's potential emerged late in his collegiate career. Following two years at UCLA and one at Utah, he transferred to BYU for his redshirt senior season in 2025. There, he became an immediate full-time starter, producing 45 catches for 620 yards and three touchdowns, earning honorable mention All-Big 12 honors. His performance in the Pop-Tarts Bowl, with eight catches for 120 yards, highlighted his reliability in critical situations.
Concerns surrounding Ryan included his limited collegiate production prior to 2025, with only 29 catches combined over the preceding three seasons. His athletic testing, particularly his 4.72 forty and 31 3/8-inch arm length, raised questions about his ability to separate or consistently win against longer NFL defenders. Despite these flags, he was considered by some public evaluators as a strong late-round value, ultimately going to the Cleveland Browns as the 248th overall pick.
- 01
Old-school Y tight end
— Aligns in-line, in the wing, in the slot, and in the backfield, showcasing versatile scheme application.
- 02
Reliable Blocker
— Sets the edge in gap concepts, walls off front-side zone, and sustains blocks on the perimeter against safeties.
- 03
Consistent Hands
— Catches everything within his frame and away from his body, demonstrated by 10-inch hands.
- 04
Route Technician
— Stems routes, sinks hips at the top of digs and outs, and consistently finds soft spots against zone coverage.
- 05
Critical Performer
— Produced 8 catches for 120 yards in the Pop-Tarts Bowl, showing reliability in key moments.
- 01
Short Arm Length
— 31 3/8-inch arms affect extension in blocking and reaching away from his body, limiting his catch radius.
- 02
Athletic Limitations
— 4.72 forty and 1.60 ten-yard split indicate a build-up mover lacking vertical seam threat and quickness.
- 03
Limited Play Strength
— Screens and sustains blocks at 255 pounds rather than consistently displacing defensive linemen from the line of scrimmage.
- 04
Late Career Production
— Limited collegiate production with only 29 catches combined over three seasons prior to 2025 at other schools.
— — — positional median (p50)
- 40 yd
- 4.72sp50
- Vertical
- 33.5inp50
- Broad jump
- 115inp50
- Three-cone
- 6.97sp50
- Shuttle
- 4.22sp50
- Bench
- 23repp50
| Yr | Team | G | Rec | Yds | TD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | UCLA | 5 | 6 | 82 | 0 |
| 2023 | UCLA | 12 | 13 | 205 | 3 |
| 2024 | Utah | 12 | 10 | 113 | 1 |
| 2025 | BYU | 14 | 45 | 620 | 3 |
| Career | — | 43 | 74 | 1020 | 7 |
A dash means the figure is not published by a source we trust — never a zero we invented.
- Bear BachmeierQB29%
- Parker KingstonWR8%
- LJ MartinRB8%
#6 of 20 tracked contributors · Produced in line with his snap share · Offense explosiveness 1.18 (p21) · CFBD — usage x PPA per tracked player
Honors
- Honorable mention All-Big 12 (2025)
- Career-high 8 receptions for 120 yards in the 2025 Pop-Tarts Bowl win over No. 22 Georgia Tech
- John Mackey Award preseason watch list (2023, UCLA)
- Four-star recruit and the No. 2 overall prospect in the state of Utah in the 2022 class
- Named by Pro Football Focus as the best late-round tight end in the 2026 class; fifth-round grade from Dane Brugler in The Beast
- Second-to-last pick of the 2026 NFL Draft (No. 248 overall, via Seattle)
The realistic path: a dependable in-line body who makes rosters on blocking and special teams, catches 10-20 balls a year, and moves between three or four organizations over eight seasons.
The ceiling: a late-round, blocking-first Y who is trusted in-line from year one, grows into 30-plus catches a season as a TE2, and lasts a decade because the blocking never stops being useful.
The floor, and a BYU precedent: a productive college tight end whose arm length and testing keep him on practice squads and preseason rosters without a regular-season role.
Everything above is the pre-draft evaluation. This section is what actually happened — updated year over year.
Cleveland spent the 248th pick - acquired from Seattle, second-to-last in the entire draft - on the tight end most public evaluators considered the best value left at the position, which is a strange sentence that fits this specific player. Pro Football Focus called Ryan the class's best late-round tight end. Dane Brugler gave him a fifth-round grade in The Beast and described him as "more coordinated than explosive," which is exactly right. He went in the seventh because the 2026 tight end class was unusually deep and because his production is a single season old.
The CFBD context under that season is genuinely favorable: BYU's 2025 offense posted a 0.220 PPA with a 46.0 percent success rate and an 81.9 percent power success rate - the best short-yardage conversion mark of Ryan's four college years and a direct reflection of the run-game surface he helped create - while the passing-downs PPA of 0.332 against a standard-downs mark of 0.175 shows how much of BYU's offense lived on third down, which is where he made his living.
The contrast with the two years before is stark. Utah's 2024 offense produced a 0.079 PPA and a 22.4 percent stuff rate, and UCLA's 2024 line yards fell to 2.516; the two schools that had him first did not have an offense capable of using him. What Cleveland is buying, for their offensive scheme, is a TE3 who can survive on four special-teams units and be the emergency in-line blocker in twelve and thirteen personnel while the arms and the 4.72 speed get coached around. An experienced evaluator, who has cut players at this level, said publicly he thinks Ryan can be an eight-to-ten-year NFL veteran. That is the bullish read. The realistic one is that the floor is a practice squad and the path to a role runs through blocking reps nobody films.