The Cleveland Browns drafted BGSU junior tight end Harold Fannin Jr. in the third round of the 2025 NFL Draft with the 67th overall pick in Green Bay, Wisconsin, on Friday night.
“He’s really kind of the queen on the chess board,” Browns general manager Andrew Berry said. “He fits perfectly in terms of what [Kevin Stefanski] and [Tommy Rees] want to do on offense.”
The 20-year-old Canton, Ohio, native watched the draft from home and grew up an hour away from Huntington Bank Field and the Browns practice facility in Berea, Ohio.
“I’ve been growing up in northeast Ohio. Man, I’m definitely excited,” Fannin told the media after being drafted. “Big Browns family around, so we’re all excited.”
Fannin is the eighth-highest drafted Falcon of all-time and the 11th player to be selected by the Cleveland Browns. He is the earliest Falcon to be drafted since offensive guard Fred Stuart was selected by the St. Louis Cardinals with the 59th overall pick in 1973.
“It’s an unreal feeling, just growing up down the street,” Fannin said to 92.3 The Fan. “The Browns were pretty much the only team to send their head coach to my school, so I just knew right then and there.
The Canton, Ohio, native grew up an hour away from Huntington Bank Field and the Browns practice facility in Berea, Ohio.
Fannin, the 2024 Vern Smith Leadership Award winner and the Mid-American Conference Offensive Player of the Year, took the college football world by storm last season. He is the only tight end in FBS history to win a conference’s Player of the Year award, among other record-breaking achievements.
“It’s [Fannin’s] versatility and his ability to create with the ball in his hands (that stands out),” Berry said to 92.3 The Fan. “We thought he was one of the best run-after-catch (RAC) players in this class, regardless of if you’re a skill player, period, not just in the tight end class, because he was just so dynamic at Bowling Green once the ball got into his hands.”
His 117 receptions and 1,555 yards led the country, making him the first FBS tight end to do so, breaking the all-time records for receptions and receiving yards in a season by a tight end along the way.
“He’s the closest thing to Antonio Gates I’ve seen,” a NFL scout told Fox Sports NFL insider Jordan Schultz. “He’s not as big, but just his deceptiveness as a route-runner, how slippery he is once he gets the ball. I love him.”
He set the record for most yards (213) and receptions (17) by a tight end in a bowl game against Arkansas State in the 68 Ventures Bowl and tied the record for receptions in a game by a tight end, a mark set earlier in the 2024 season by 2025 first-round selection Tyler Warren.
“I feel like the way my playstyle is, I can move around a lot, do a lot of different things, kind of just really open up the playbook a little bit,” Fannin said.
Bowling Green’s first-ever Consensus All-American entirely re-wrote the BGSU record book, breaking 21 records, including Alex Bayer’s record for career receiving yards by a tight end (2,396).
“[Fannin’s] a very versatile player that you can line up across the field,” Berry said. “He can separate, has great hands and he can turn short passes into long gains, and that’s super valuable to us.”
