Colts Select SMU Tight End Kylen Granson With the 127th Overall Pick in the 2021 NFL Draft

With their first draft pick on day 3 of the 2021 NFL Draft the Indianapolis Colts selected an offensive player in tight end Kylen Granson with the 127th overall pick of the 2021 NFL Draft.

Granson, 6’2” 241 lbs, caught 129 passes for 1,879 yards with 16 touchdowns in four seasons spent at Rice between 2016-2017 before transferring and playing at SMU between 2019-2020. Granson was a First-Team All-AAC selection in 2020 for the Mustangs.

Here’s Granson’s draft profile from NFL.com:

Lance Zierlien: “Matchup tight end with acceleration and athleticism to create passing windows and make noise with his yards after catch. He’s a little tight getting into breaks, so a scheme that allows him to keep striding throughout the route is preferable. While he offers playmaking potential, the hand-eye coordination looked a bit shaky as a pass catcher. Granson doesn’t have the strength to do much blocking near the line of scrimmage, which limits how he can be used, but he might be functional enough from the slot. He has Day 3 potential and intriguing upside.”

Here’s what others are saying:

To me, it looks and sounds like Kylen Granson is an athletic pass catching tight end who doesn’t really offer much upside blocking but will be a very intriguing option in the passing game due to his athleticism.

The Colts have been in need of a pass catching move tight end since Eric Ebron left in free agency in 2020. The Colts did sign Trey Burton last year to do the part of the move tight end role last year but he was not re-signed this year and it appears Kylen Granson would be the direct replacement for Burton.

This pick makes a lost of sense due to the need at pass catching tight end and adds a potential weapon at tight end for new quarterback Carson Wentz to use. The Colts are still yet to draft a left tackle so drafting a tight end may shock a few but Granson fills a big need on offense too.