2025 Mock Draft - Predicting the Future

 

Here is the second of my two mock drafts, this one attempting to predict what is actually going to happen. I think I have a handle on the first few picks, but after that things feel even more wide open than normal.

 

1) Tennessee Titans – Cam Ward, QB, Miami

It’s become increasingly clear over the past couple weeks that a decent chunk of the NFL—including, most importantly, the Titans—feels that Ward is a quarterback prospect worthy of the first overall pick. I don’t particularly agree, but I can see the upside in his best plays on the field, and he’ll certainly bring some excitement to a franchise that always seems to lack it.

 

2) Cleveland Browns – Travis Hunter, CB/WR, Colorado

I think this pick feels pretty set in stone as well. The Browns have been pretty open about their love for Hunter, and I don’t think this is some smoke signal to suggest they’re trying to trade the pick. It sounds like they see him having more potential at wide receiver, but will also mix him in on defense. I don’t agree, but I definitely think he can be a valuable player following that route as well.

 

3) New York Giants – Abdul Carter, EDGE, Penn State

This is the first place where the draft feels interesting. This pick is between two players, whether they try to plug their hole at quarterback with someone of slightly lesser talent than most top 5 quarterbacks, or take the supremely gifted pass rusher Carter at a position of lesser need. I think, in the end, they won’t be sold enough on Sanders to pass up on someone with Carter’s gifts, and will kick the can down the road at the quarterback position for another year.

 

4) New England Patriots – Will Campbell, OG/OT, LSU

The Patriots are praying that two quarterbacks go above them so they can get one of Hunter or Carter. If that doesn’t happen, they’ll grab an offensive lineman. Campbell isn’t my favorite of the line prospects, but most of the reporting has him as New England’s preference.

 

5) Jacksonville Jaguars – Ashton Jeanty, RB, Boise State

The closer we get to the draft, the more confident I am that someone is going to take a gamble with Jeanty. He’s one of the few elite talents in a year that is weak at the top of the class, and even as the value of the position has declined, NFL teams have shown a willingness to throw that aside for special talents. I’m not convinced it will actually be the Jaguars, but someone will take Jeanty in the top seven, even if it costs a couple of picks to trade up to do so.

 

6) Las Vegas Raiders – Tetairoa McMillan, WR, Arizona

McMillan is a somewhat polarizing prospect, but I think there’s a decent chance some team in the top ten falls in love with his size and his surprising movement skills. In this case the Raiders are looking for any sort of young talent to plug into their offense, and I think it’s slightly more likely they go this route than grab a lineman.

 

7) New York Jets – Armand Membou, OT, Missouri

The Jets took an offensive tackle in the first round last year, and I could see them trying to get some variety by going after someone like Tyler Warren. But Membou is a rare athlete, and you can never have too many talented young linemen, especially when you’re trying to build back the foundation of a team from scratch.

 

8) Carolina Panthers – Jalon Walker, LB/EDGE, Georgia

This seems like one of the most common linkages of player and team heading into the draft. I don’t understand it, but I do believe it. Walker doesn’t have a clear position at the next level, but I guess that works, because Carolina needs help at pretty much every position.

 

9) New Orleans Saints – Mason Graham, DT, Michigan

Ever since it was announced that Derek Carr may miss the season, people have been speculating this could be a place to see a quarterback go. If Shedeur Sanders doesn’t go to the Giants, this is the next logical landing spot for him (Raiders or Jets could grab him, but they just made multi-year commitments to veterans in the offseason). Except I don’t think it’s really that logical. The Saints need a quarterback, but they also need pretty much everything else. The smart thing to do would be not to jump at a mediocre prospect, but to wait with the expectation they’ll be picking higher next year. Of course, it’s the Saints, so smart decisions aren’t really their thing (see the Carr trade, the Carr extension, etc.)

 

10) Chicago Bears – Tyler Warren, TE, Penn State

Warren is an odd prospect, and while I don’t think much of him, I think someone is going to talk themselves into getting the ultimate gadget player. Ben Johnson comes over from Detroit, where he saw the value that a young, versatile tight end can provide for an offense. I don’t think Warren is anywhere near as good a receiver as Sam LaPorta, but he’d certainly have opportunities to prove me wrong in a Bears offense without a lot of playmaking options.

 

11) San Francisco 49ers – Walter Nolen, DT, Ole Miss

Nolen has a wild range of possibilities. He’s a player with tremendous gifts but also some clear red flags, and I could see him either sneaking into the top ten or sliding out of the first round entirely. San Francisco lost a couple of pieces from their interior defensive line to free agency, and this seems like the sort of gamble they’d be willing to make.

 

12) Dallas Cowboys – Matthew Golden, WR, Texas

Golden is the sort of wide receiver who always goes higher than he should. 4.3 speed is hard to ignore, and he does enough other things well in the passing game that I think he can grow into a more complete receiver. Having him stretching the field should hopefully open up things for CeeDee Lamb as well, giving the Cowboys offense a chance to bounce back with the coaching change.

 

13) Miami Dolphins – Kelvin Banks, OT, Texas

Miami has some pieces to like on their offensive line, but it still hasn’t translated to a reliable unit. Banks won’t solve all of those issues, but he’ll at least give them something solid at one of their tackle spots. They could also address the defensive line as well, but with the way the draft has worked out, there’s more value on the offensive line at this point than on the defense.

 

14) Indianapolis Colts – Colston Loveland, TE, Michigan

The Colts have a lot of interesting weapons in the passing game, but they still have a glaring hole at tight end. Loveland would give them another target to help out whoever is playing quarterback, while also potentially bringing the versatility to open a few more things up in the running game.

 

15) Atlanta Falcons – Mykel Williams, EDGE, Georgia

Atlanta has been trying to find some semblance of a pass rush for nearly twenty years. Williams won’t solve all their issues overnight, but he’s a rock-solid player with impressive physical tools that will give them a foundation to build around. Outside of quarterback I’m not sure there’s a position that wouldn’t make sense for Atlanta to address—they have a lot of solid players, but no real depth at any position group.

 

16) Arizona Cardinals – Jahdae Barron, CB, Texas

Arizona’s in a similar place where they just need bodies on defense. Barron has impressed enough in the draft process that I think he’s leapt Will Johnson to be the second cornerback off the board. He’s a fantastic athlete with experience in a range of positional alignments. Still a little rough around the edges, but Arizona is a good place for him to develop and grow.

 

17) Cincinnati Bengals – Kenneth Grant, DT, Michigan

One other pattern I’ve noticed over the years is that giant defensive tackles always go higher than I think they should. Grant isn’t the physical specimen that players like Vita Vea and Jordan Davis were, but he shows some intriguing movement skills on the field to go along with his massive size. The Bengals defense was a catastrophe in every phase a year ago, and while I’m not sure Grant offers much in the way of immediate improvement, he would at least give them someone with potential to develop.

 

18) Seattle Seahawks – Grey Zabel, OG/OT, North Dakota State

The offensive linemen could go off the board in a hurry on Thursday, but I see more of a slow rollout, which works perfectly for a Seahawks team that is looking for immediate improvement. I think Zabel is the one they’ll identify as the best fit, thanks to his versatility and experience playing at the interior positions to give them an immediate boost in that area.

 

19) Tampa Bay Buccaneers – Jihaad Campbell, LB, Alabama

This is another player and team combination that has been rumored quite a bit. Campbell is an explosive athlete in the middle of the field with some experience bouncing out to the edge as a pass rusher, and he is a good fit for a defensive play caller like Todd Bowles who loves to use every tool at his disposal to throw pressure at the opposing quarterback.

 

20) Denver Broncos – TreVeyon Henderson, RB, Ohio State

Jeanty is not going to be the only running back to go in the first round. I expect to see 2 or 3 taken by the end of the night, and while Henderson may be a bit of a surprise as the second off the board, he is a good fit for what the Broncos want to do with this offense. His abilities as a receiver out of the backfield and a rock solid pass protector will open up a lot of options for Sean Payton, as he had in New Orleans with Alvin Kamara.

 

21) Pittsburgh Steelers – Shedeur Sanders, QB, Colorado

I don’t think Sanders is going to be here at 21, but I think there’s a decent chance the Steelers end up with him. I think he’ll probably go in the 15-20 range, as someone trades up to grab him. The Steelers are in the best position to do so, though don’t rule out a team like Cleveland or New York jumping back in from the start of the second round. But since I don’t forecast trades, I think the Steelers would happily take him if he slides into their lap.

 

22) Los Angeles Chargers – Derrick Harmon, DT, Oregon

As you fill out a mock draft things can sometimes surprise you. I have a general feeling that Harmon is going to go higher than this, but I couldn’t find a place that made a ton of sense for him to go. So the Chargers will happily snap him up, giving them a pass rushing menace on a defense that made major strides last year but relied on a lot of aging players to get quarterbacks on the ground.

 

23) Green Bay Packers – Will Johnson, CB, Michigan

Johnson slides a little on concerns about his physical toolset. The Packers are a team that typically prefers excellent athletes, but I think they’d make an exception for someone with Johnson’s size and ball skills at a position of desperate need.

 

24) Minnesota Vikings – Malaki Starks, S, Georgia

A couple years ago the Vikings passed on a safety with good tape but questions about his measurables, preferring to trade back and select Lewis Cine rather than taking Kyle Hamilton. That decision hasn’t aged well, and I think this year they’ll just grab the guy who looks good on tape, measurables be damned. Starks isn’t the fastest or the quickest safety, but he has good instincts and strong coverage skills that will make him a solid starter for years.

 

25) Houston Texans – Josh Conerly, OT, Oregon

This scenario works out pretty perfectly for Houston, with two of the top tier of offensive linemen falling into their laps. If they go off faster on draft night the Texans may need to trade up to make sure they get their guy, but if things unfold this way they will happily stay put and let Conerly fall to them. He’s still a bit raw, and there are enough other problems that the Texans line is still going to be a disaster this year. But a couple years from now, they might have something to work with.

 

26) Los Angeles Rams – Josh Simmons, OT, Ohio State

The next tackle goes off the board a pick later. Simmons drops a little because of his injury, but his tape is good, and all indications are that he is making a solid recovery. The Rams have made it clear that they don’t rely too much on high draft picks making an immediate impact, so if they have to wait a year for Simmons to crack the starting lineup, they aren’t going to press any panic buttons.

 

27) Baltimore Ravens – Shavon Revel, CB, East Carolina

Back-to-back injured players off the board. The Ravens are another team that will happily grab a player who slid some because of injury and trust that they can bring him along slowly. Revel has the ability to erase opposing receivers in press coverage, and while his torn ACL could slow down his transition to the NFL, he has the potential to become a top-end starter in a couple of years.

 

28) Detroit Lions – Tyler Booker, OG, Alabama

The Lions have built their team on the strength of their offensive line, but they’re starting to show some cracks in the middle. Booker has his limitations a player, but for a team that would gladly pound the ball between the tackles for ten straight plays if it was working, his ability to blow defenders backwards off the line of scrimmage will definitely have its appeals.

 

29) Washington Commanders – Omarion Hampton, RB, North Carolina

Hampton makes sense as a first round running back from a purely physical perspective. He’s big, he’s fast, and he does enough good things as a rusher to make you believe he can do even more. It might be a slightly strange stylistic fit with the wide-open spread offense that Kliff Kingsbury likes to run, but I think running back is definitely on the table, and Hampton is the most talented one available here.

 

30) Buffalo Bills – Trey Amos, CB, Ole Miss

The Bills need help desperately on the back end, and Amos is a name that has been shooting up draft boards for the past couple weeks. He’s another cornerback with good size and good speed, and the Bills need to take another shot after whiffing on Kaiir Elam a couple years ago.

 

31) Kansas City Chiefs – Nick Emmanwori, S, South Carolina

Offensive line would make a lot of sense here as well, but with most of the big names off the board I think the Chiefs would choose to grab the best player available rather than reaching for a lineman. Emmanwori is a special athlete who shows flashes of what that athleticism can accomplish on the field. Plugged into Steve Spagnuolo’s defense, he could be a genuine difference-maker if fully unleashed to attack.

 

32) Philadelphia Eagles – Shemar Stewart, EDGE, Texas A&M

Stewart is one it’s really hard to pin down. I could see him being a top ten pick, or I could see him falling out of the first round entirely. The Eagles feel like a good team to take the gamble on him. They lost Josh Sweat, Brandon Graham, and Milton Williams this offseason, so they need some fresh blood on their defensive line. And if Stewart pans out, he could allow them to sustain the dominance along the front that won them the Super Bowl.

2025 Mock Draft - I'm in Control

Below is the first of two mock drafts I'll put out this year. In this version, I'm not trying to predict what will happen. I am making the picks as if I was in charge of every team.

1) Tennessee Titans – Travis Hunter, CB/WR, Colorado

It’s hard to know what to do with a player like Hunter, but ultimately I think the only answer is to just pick him and let it sort itself out. He’s a better cornerback than he is a wide receiver, but I think he’s good enough on offense to at least have a role there, likely as a third option getting 15-20 snaps a game. If it works, he’s a superstar who will change the shape of your franchise. If it doesn’t, in a couple years they can try to transition him to a more traditional role, where he still has the potential to develop into an All Pro cornerback.

 

2) Cleveland Browns – Abdul Carter, EDGE, Penn State

Another pass rusher isn’t the biggest need for Cleveland after they got past Myles Garrett’s trade request and signed him to an extension, but Carter is the clear best player available, and the Browns aren’t in position to be picky. He’s a versatile athlete with tremendous upside to develop into one of the best defensive players in the league.

 

3) New York Giants – Kelvin Banks, OT, Texas

There’s a clear top two of elite prospects, and after that you have to start reaching. Banks isn’t the sort of sensational athlete that normally goes top five, but  he’s a reliable and solid tackle who brings value in both the running and passing game. The Giants have been trying to fix their offensive line for years, and it hasn’t worked yet, but this will hopefully get them to that point.

 

4) New England Patriots – Tetairoa McMillan, WR, Arizona

Drake Maye showed flashes of potential operating with basically no help from his supporting cast a season ago. So then the Patriots went out with the most cap space of any team in the league, and they spent almost all of it on defense. They still need someone to protect their young quarterback, and also someone for him to throw the ball to. They can’t get both here, but at least McMillan offers a good option as a big target with more quickness than you’d expect.

 

5) Jacksonville Jaguars – Armand Membou, OT, Missouri

Similarly, the Jaguars need to do something to help out Trevor Lawrence. Membou needs some polishing, but he has the athletic ability to develop into one of the best in the league. He’s big, and he’s athletic, and even if it takes a couple years for him to clean up his rough patches, he and Brian Thomas will give the Jaguars the foundation of a potentially elite supporting cast.

 

6) Las Vegas Raiders – James Pearce, EDGE, Tennessee

Defensive line isn’t the biggest need for the Raiders either, but it’s also never a bad thing to have multiple good pass rushers. Playing opposite Maxx Crosby would give Pearce a lot of opportunities to work one-on-one in space where he’s at his best. And even if he sometimes struggles to finish sacks, having other good rushers around him to clean things up will make the pressure he does generate even more valuable.

 

7) New York Jets – Colston Loveland, TE, Michigan

I’m still wary of taking tight ends this high, but Loveland is a special talent. He has good length and excellent ball skills, and he combines that with rare quickness and route-running ability that makes him a matchup nightmare. The Jets are still a couple years away from having a functional offense, but the combination of Loveland and Garrett Wilson will set them up well for when they do get an offensive line and quarterback in place.

 

8) Carolina Panthers – Walter Nolen, DT, Ole Miss

The Panthers already have a space-eating monster in the middle in Derrick Brown, exactly the sort of player that would be perfect to place alongside Nolen. He can get moved around some in the running game, but as a pass rusher his ceiling is almost unlimited. He’s explosive, he’s strong, he’s flexible, and he can bring some dynamism to a Panthers defense that is sorely lacking it.

 

9) New Orleans Saints – Jahdae Barron, CB, Texas

Things are pretty easy for the Saints. They have basically nothing, so they just have to take the best player available. That player is Barron, a very good athlete with the versatility to play all over the defensive backfield.

 

10) Chicago Bears – Mason Graham, DT, Michigan

It would make sense to take someone on the offensive side to support Caleb Williams, but I actually like what the Bears have done building out a receiving corps and offensive line through trades and free agency. And despite all the money they’ve spent on the defensive side, it still wasn’t very good a year ago. Graham would give them a disruptive interior presence to hopefully free up the big-money pair of Montez Sweat and Dayo Odeyingbo to work in space on the outside.

 

11) San Francisco 49ers – Emeka Egbuka, WR, Ohio State

The 49ers took a receiver in the first round a year ago, but he didn’t impress much as a rookie, and they traded away Deebo Samuel in the offseason. And Egbuka is just too perfect a fit for this offense to pass up on. He’s a savvy route-runner and a very willing blocker, a piece that Kyle Shanahan can move anywhere and use in any number of ways to create opportunities in both the run and pass game.

 

12) Dallas Cowboys – Ashton Jeanty, RB, Boise State

Jeanty is a rare talent, but it’s still hard for me to grab a running back at the top of the draft. I think the most value the position offers is someone who can come in and contribute right away for a team with a strong supporting cast. Despite all the evidence to the contrary, I still think the Cowboys are the sort of team that could really use someone like this, with the talent to leap back into contention if things break right.

 

13) Miami Dolphins – Derrick Harmon, DT, Oregon

The Dolphins have built an impressive group of edge pass rushers, if only they could stay healthy. They still have some holes on the interior though, and Harmon could give them one of the best young fronts in the league. It might have made more sense for this roster to take someone on the offensive side of the ball, but I think Harmon is a step above the other talents available at this point.

 

14) Indianapolis Colts – Will Johnson, CB, Michigan

Late last year Drew Lock threw for 309 yards and 4 touchdowns against the Colts. That is inexcusable. And while the Colts did some work to address their secondary in free agency, they could still use young talent on the back end. Johnson isn’t the best athlete, but he has good size and tremendous ball skills that can create big plays for the defense.

 

15) Atlanta Falcons – Josh Conerly, OT, Oregon

Tackle has been a strong point for the Falcons for the past few years, but that’s not going to be the case for much longer. Jake Matthews is 33 years old, and Kaleb McGary is a free agent after this year. Michael Penix is the sort of quarterback who can dice a defense up from the pocket but struggles to make plays under pressure. Getting a young and talented tackle on the same timeline as him is almost essential for Atlanta’s future.

 

16) Arizona Cardinals – Mike Green, EDGE, Marshall

I wasn’t able to find enough tape to do a full breakdown on Green, but the couple games I watched make me think he would slot in somewhere around here. He’s a twitchy athlete who is still rounding out the rest of his game but shows early signs of some advanced pass rushing techniques. Arizona has some interesting pieces on the offensive side of the ball, but they still need help at basically every position on defense.

 

17) Cincinnati Bengals – Kenneth Grant, DT, Michigan

The Bengals desperately need youth and juice along their defensive front, and Grant has both of those things. This is too high for a space-eating defensive tackle who is still not that good at eating space. But he shows flashes of the quickness that suggest there’s more for him to unlock here, and there’s a chance he could grow into a true game-wrecking force in a few years.

 

18) Seattle Seahawks – Josh Simmons, OT, Ohio State

Seattle’s offensive line was a mess in 2024, and then in the offseason they made a quarterback swap to get someone who is significantly worse at dealing with pressure. They need to find a way to protect Sam Darnold so he can attack down the field. I’m a little hesitant about Simmons here, both because he’s coming off of injury that might limit him as a rookie and because Seattle’s bigger need is on the interior rather than at tackle. But I think the value he provides is far enough above the options at guard to justify it.

 

19) Tampa Bay Buccaneers – Matthew Golden, WR, Texas

Tampa Bay has been able to count on very good receiver play for years, but both Mike Evans and Chris Godwin are getting up there in years. Golden will add an instant burst as a deep threat, and he has the potential to develop into a more complete receiver to take over for the next era of Buccaneers football.

 

20) Denver Broncos – Luther Burden, WR, Missouri

Bo Nix was better than I expected as a rookie but still showed some clear limitations. He enjoyed chucking up deep balls to the big target of Courtland Sutton, but mostly he still focuses underneath, attacking in about the 5 yard range and counting on his receivers to create after the catch. Burden is the best after the catch threat in this year’s draft, and he’d add a new element to the Broncos offense.

 

21) Pittsburgh Steelers – Cam Ward, QB, Miami

This is a somewhat weird fit of player and team. The number one thing the Steelers ask their quarterback to do is to avoid turnovers, and the number one thing Ward loves to do is to launch the ball recklessly down the field. But I think they both need someone with the opposite impulses. The Steelers need someone who is going to push back and take chances to provide a spark on offense. And Ward needs coaches who will force him to play with more discipline.

 

22) Los Angeles Chargers – Grey Zabel, OG/OT, North Dakota State

The Chargers have a pair of very good tackles, but their offensive line is still a mess because they can’t trust the interior. I had Will Campbell ranked higher among guard prospects, but Zabel is a better fit for the downhill attacking style of the Chargers running game. He’s still a little raw in pass protection, but he bowls people over in the running game, and putting him alongside either Rashawn Slater or Joe Alt will give the Chargers one side of the line they can consistently trust to move people off the ball.

 

23) Green Bay Packers – Shavon Revel, CB, East Carolina

Revel is another player I wasn’t able to find much film of, partially because he missed most of his final college season with a torn ACL. But he’s a big and physical cornerback with a ton of upside, and the Packers have spent years chasing anyone at this position.

 

24) Minnesota Vikings – Nick Emmanwori, S, South Carolina

The Vikings made a lot of moves in free agency to beef up their offensive and defensive lines, but they still have some serious concerns at defensive back. Cornerback is a bigger need than safety, but the best value here is Emmanwori, a freak athlete who needs quite a bit of work but has the potential to develop into the perfect attacking weapon for Brian Flores’s defense.

 

25) Houston Texans – Will Campbell, OG/OT, LSU

Houston desperately needs to find any bit of competence on their offensive line, and Campbell is the best option available at this point. I don’t love this fit for him—I think he’d be better off going someplace that already has good tackles, where it will be easier to fast-track him on the transition to guard—but he’s certainly better than anything the Texans have on their line at this point.

 

26) Los Angeles Rams – Shedeur Sanders, QB, Colorado

Sanders is the best player left on the board, and I feel like he does deserve to go in the first round, especially in a week class. This part of the draft is hard to find a place for a quarterback though, since most of these teams are picking this late because they already have a good option at the position. But the Rams are in a unique place without a clear answer of what they’re going to do in the post-Stafford era. And unlike most teams in this position, I don’t think they’re close enough to Super Bowl contention that one more player here could push them over the top, so I’m less bothered taking someone who would likely spend a year or two offering very little value.

 

27) Baltimore Ravens – Shemar Stewart, EDGE, Texas A&M

The Ravens have gotten excellent pass rush production from Kyle Van Noy, with 21.5 sacks over the past two years. But he is 34 years old, and if he falls off they have basically nothing on the edge. A few years ago they used a pick in this same range on Odafe Oweh, a freakish athlete who never quite put it together as a pass rusher. But they shouldn’t scare them off from taking the same gamble with Stewart, an arguably even more gifted player with an even steeper development curve.

 

28) Detroit Lions – Mykel Williams, EDGE, Georgia

Last year the Lions defense fell apart due to injuries, but some of that is simply the nature of business with Marcus Davenport as part of the starting lineup. They need more youth and depth on their defensive front, and Williams can give that to them. He doesn’t have the upside to develop into a superstar rusher, but that’s fine, because the Lions already have one of those. He’s perfect as a secondary option, who can hold up against the run and occasionally take advantage of the one-on-one matchups he is going to frequently see.

 

29) Washington Commanders – Malaki Starks, S, Georgia

Washington made a couple of nice additions to the defensive side of the ball a year ago, but there is still more work they could stand to do there. Starks is a smart and reliable player who should be able to jump in as a starter from day one, even if his lack of elite physical tools could limit his usefulness.

 

30) Buffalo Bills – Maxwell Hairston, CB, Kentucky

I only checked out one game of Hairston as well, and there wasn’t a lot to see on the tape either good or bad. But the tools are enough to justify a relatively complete team like the Bills taking a gamble. He runs a 4.28 forty and had a 39.5 inch vertical leap, and if he can harness these gifts he can be a shot of youth to a defense that’s been hanging on by a thread for several years.

 

31) Kansas City Chiefs – Donovan Jackson, OG, Ohio State

Kansas City lost the Super Bowl because their offensive line wasn’t good enough, and then they traded away their best offensive lineman. They need to make a major investment here, and Jackson is a solid option who can plug in right away to the spot Joe Thuney vacated.

 

32) Philadelphia Eagles – JT Tuimoloau, EDGE, Ohio State

The Eagles won a Super Bowl on the strength and depth of their defensive front, but they lost three key pieces of that rotation to free agency and retirement, so it’s worth another dip. At this point I haven’t done enough tape study to have strong opinions on who the best option is, and I picked Tuimoloau mostly for stylistic reasons. He’s another physical player who excels against the run and may have a somewhat limited ceiling as a pass rusher, but who would be a great complement across the formation from the twitchy, explosive Nolan Smith.

2025 Quarterback Prospects

Cam Ward, Miami

Ward is my top ranked quarterback in this class, but that says more about the class than it does about him. He wouldn’t have cracked the top five in my ranking a year ago. If you asked me whether he’s going to make it long-term as an NFL starter, I’m pretty confident the answer is no. In fact, there are a couple players lower on this list who I expect will probably have better NFL careers than Ward. But none of them can touch the upside he has, the upside to become a potential top ten (if not top five) quarterback, enough that I would grudgingly take a shot with him at the end of the first round.

Ward has the physical tools of a very good quarterback. He has a strong arm that fires lasers all over the field, whether his base is beneath him or while making twisting throws on the run. He’s a good athlete as well and is someone the defense always has to worry about as a runner when plays break down. But he’s at his best creating behind the line of scrimmage. He keeps his eyes constantly down the field, and he has great instincts for how to find space to get everything out of plays. It doesn’t always look pretty—half the time he seems on the verge of falling down, and it never looks like he has any sort of plan, just mindless stumbling and running—but it works too often for there not to be some skill there.

Within structure things are far more mixed. He makes quick and sharp decisions, and this can lead to some very impressive plays, lasers fired with excellent anticipation to hit receivers in stride between closing defenders. But that only happens when he executes with good mechanics, which is a toss-up on any given play. He is lazy with his feet and doesn’t bother shifting them at the top of his drops, instead choosing to just adjust his arm angle to try to spread the ball over the field. He has the arm strength to get it out with good velocity doing this, but most of the time these balls come out nowhere near his targets. Even when he operates with good mechanics he isn’t a particularly accurate quarterback, and his refusal to do even this means that he can’t be counted on to complete even simple pass plays.

Turning Ward into an NFL quarterback will involve basically building him up from scratch, both from a mechanical and from a mental aspect. He is a wildly reckless player, and his go-to when plays don’t work out as scripted is to just fire the ball into coverage and hope for the best. Again this seems to work out with surprising frequency, but it also leads to some ugly interceptions. And his scrambling abilities are mitigated somewhat by his lack of ball security as he moves in the pocket. Ward will commit a lot of turnovers in the NFL. You just have to hope the plays he creates are enough to drown them out.

Ward’s best plays are difficult to ignore. And it’s easy to talk yourself into believing a coach can smooth over some of his weaker points. He played five years in college, but two of them were at the Division II level, where he probably wasn’t getting world-class coaching. I’m fine taking a shot on Ward, but I’m also more open than most to taking a flyer on a high-upside quarterback and living with the significant risk of him never figuring it out and never becoming even a mediocre NFL starter.

 

Shedeur Sanders, Colorado

Sanders is a relatively safe but unexciting pick. A player who can add good value for a couple years while on a rookie contract, but then will put you in an awkward position when he starts asking to get paid what veteran NFL starting quarterbacks get paid. He isn’t a long-term solution at the position, but he can hold down the fort with a good supporting cast for a few years. The sort of quarterback I’d be fine taking in the second round, maybe at the tail-end of the first to get an extra year of cost-controlled contract.

Sanders is fairly limited from a talent perspective. His arm strength is slightly below average—good enough to allow him to operate, but enough of an issue to take away some of the things you’d want to do in an offense. He can get the ball out with good zip on underneath throws, but it flags a little trying to hit intermediate windows, and he struggles to push the ball down the field as a deep passer. He has some mobility and is good at picking his spots to scramble, but he isn’t the sort of athlete that can force a defense to dedicate extra defenders to keeping him contained. He has good instincts and creativity when on the move, but again his physical limitations hold him back, as he needs time to get his base set up beneath him again before he can fire the ball on the run.

The biggest problem I have with Sanders isn’t his limitations. It’s that he seems unaware of them. He’s built like Teddy Bridgewater, but he plays like he’s Josh Allen. His offensive line at Colorado was bad, but he made them look worse, constantly drifting off his spot in the pocket in ways that opened up lanes for opposing rushers. And when things start to break down, he regularly goes into superhero mode, spinning backwards away from pressure and trying to extend plays as long as possible. More often than not he isn’t able to escape, and he frequently will turn what should be a seven yard sack or a throwaway into a fifteen yard loss.

Some of this can be blamed on the situation, playing on a team with a shaky supporting cast where the only hope for offense was for him to bail them out. In the NFL he needs a coach who will do a better job telling him to quit messing around and stand in the pocket, where he is at his best. Within structure he has a good understanding of what’s happening in front of him, and he does a very good job attacking the middle of the field, throwing with excellent precision, timing, and anticipation to hit receivers in the perfect windows to allow yards after the catch. He’s an accurate passer, and he is unafraid of pressure, willing to stand in the face of it and take a hit to deliver the ball where it needs to go. The makeup of a league-average NFL starter is there. He just needs to accept that’s all he’s ever going to be, and the team drafting him needs to accept that as well.

 

Jalen Milroe, Alabama

Milroe is another where you’re just drafting him hoping for the unlikely scenario where he puts it all together. The tools are certainly there, the most impressive athleticism and one of the best arms in the class, and when he’s rolling he looks like a genuine superstar. He’s a very streaky player, and his performance against Georgia was probably the best single game of any quarterback I watched this year. Unfortunately, his performance against Tennessee was probably the worst single game I watched. When he’s on, he’s a nightmare to defend. When he’s off, he looks like he belongs nowhere near an NFL field as a quarterback.

The best tool Milroe has to work with is his athleticism. He is a genuinely special runner of the football, with 4.4 speed that can erase angles and the quickness to make defenders look stupid in the open field. If he was willing to change positions, I genuinely think he would belong in the day 2 conversation as either a running back or a wide receiver. Whether as a scrambler or on designed runs, his ability to tuck and run will be a dynamic weapon for an offense.

As a passer there is just enough there to make me think that maybe he can develop, though probably not enough to justify putting him on the field for long enough for him to actually put it together. He shows the ability to drop back and go through his reads, not getting stuck on his first receiver or bailing from the pocket too quickly. But he frequently makes the wrong decisions on these reads, missing a defender dropping into a zone and firing the ball into trouble because of this. The process is good though, and with more experience and repetition, maybe he can start to pick up on those things. He’s reasonably young at 22 years old, and he has significantly fewer career pass attempts than all but one of the other quarterbacks I looked at. This means that maybe he has more room to grow, and that the quarterback he is now is still a long way from the finished product.

But even if he does progress mentally, there are enough other warts in his game that it is hard for me to buy that he’ll put it all together. He’s the least accurate of the quarterbacks I looked at, and while accuracy can be improved in the NFL—most of the league’s best quarterbacks right now were guys who I had accuracy concerns about in college—it’s hard to keep even a developmental quarterback on the field when he can’t make the right decisions or connect on the passes when he does. The path for Milroe to succeed will require living through two or three years of spectacular plays alternating with egregious misses and ugly turnovers. If he can make it through this, he has the potential to be a true game-altering force for an offense. But the odds of this are slim enough that even I wouldn’t want to take him until the third round.

 

Will Howard, Ohio State

Howard is a smooth and reliable operator within the structure of the offense. When the read is simple and the play is straightforward, the ball comes out with good timing and accuracy. He hits his receivers right as they come out of their breaks, in stride to allow yards after the catch. His misses within structure are rare, and he is able to alternate between lasers and touch as needed. His physical tools aren’t spectacular, but they are solidly above average, with a strong arm that can hit every part of the field and enough mobility to at least keep defenses honest watching him as a running threat.

The problems with Howard come when the play isn’t as clean as it is designed on paper. He’s pretty good moving behind the line of scrimmage, able to slide into open space to extend plays where he has decent creativity operating outside of structure. At times he can be too quick to drop his eyes and take off running, but he also makes a handful of nice plays down the field. If he’s able to move and escape the pocket, he’s good enough to frustrate the defense, if not terrify them.

When he can’t escape the pocket, things get ugly. The accuracy I mentioned disappears when he has pressure in his face, as he tends to fade away from throws robbing them of precision and velocity. He usually has a pretty good sense for where his checkdowns are, but a couple times a game he will just lock in on a single receiver, throwing the sort of passes that lead to extremely ugly interceptions. He doesn’t go deep into his progressions from the pocket, either throwing it to his first or second read and then going immediately to his checkdown.

Howard is a safe pick as a high-floor, low-ceiling quarterback prospect. He does enough little things well that I’d trust him to run my offense, but doesn’t have enough high-level ability for me to ever feel happy with him as my starter. He has a good arm, but he doesn’t throw a very good deep ball to force defenses to stretch the field. He’s an aggressive runner that is difficult to tackle, but he isn’t going to run away from anyone. He’s an older prospect who seems to have picked up the basics of executing an offense but hasn’t figured out any of the advanced stuff. He takes what the offense provides him, and doesn’t provide much more on top of that.

In short, he’s either one of the best backups in the league or one of the worst starters. If I was just gauging by average outcome, he’d be higher on this list, probably competing with Sanders for the top spot. But I just don’t place much value on even a good backup quarterback, and without the slim potential to develop into a starting quarterback that the three above him have, I can’t justify taking Howard until the fourth round.

 

Tyler Shough, Louisville

The recent changes in eligibility rules have meant that I’ve spent a lot of time over the past couple years talking about how old quarterbacks are. But even by the standards of past players like Kenny Pickett and Bo Nix, Shough is at another level. Shough is 25 years old, and just completed his seventh year playing college football across three different schools. He was the backup to Justin Herbert at Oregon, and he’s older than both Trevor Lawrence and Trey Lance.

The weird thing is, Shough doesn’t have the same profile as most of the other older quarterbacks I’ve studied. Most of them have been guys with somewhat uninspiring physical tools who hung around long enough to become sharp, efficient operators of college offenses, making quick decisions and distributing the ball to pick apart defenses piece by piece. Shough is surprisingly not that advanced. Part of that is experience. It wasn’t until his final year in college that he started a full season, after having multiple others cut short by injury. But it is concerning that he reached this age and still seems to struggle with progressing through his reads and operating with clean mechanics.

If Shough was younger though, the talent would definitely intrigue me. He probably has the best arm in this class. He throws a gorgeous deep ball, arcing with elegant touch to hit the perfect window down the sideline and giving his receivers opportunities to make plays on the ball even when they’re covered. He is also fantastic at throwing from awkward platforms, contorting his body and his arm angle to find throwing windows no matter what’s happening around him.

He isn’t much of a runner, but he’s a good athlete extending plays behind the line, and very good at finding and hitting open receivers down the field. His quick release and flexible arm also mean that he almost never takes sacks. He always knows where his checkdown is, and he always is able to get the ball out towards him, though at times he can be a bit reckless doing so, and it would probably be better if he learned to occasionally swallow the play.

There’s potential here with Shough, but also a lot to clean up. His arm strength sometimes works against him, as he can get sloppy with his mechanics trusting this to bail him out, leading to inaccuracy. He will get stuck on one receiver too often, and at times fire the ball into coverage. But when things are working, his best plays are up there with anyone in the class. If it weren’t for the age, he’s exactly the sort of quarterback I’d love to take a gamble on in the hopes that he can develop. But betting on a 25 year old player to take a leap forward is a pretty long-shot gamble, which is why I’d probably still wait until day 3 to  make that wager.

 

Jaxson Dart, Ole Miss

Dart is a frustrating quarterback to try to evaluate. He comes out of one of those college systems that ask basically nothing of their quarterback mentally, just running a handful of basic concepts and trusting him to make the right choice before the snap and get the ball out of his hands quickly. This sort of offense has very little to do with what’s going to be asked of him in the NFL, and makes it hard to know what he’s actually capable of. A year ago I probably underestimated Bo Nix coming out of a similar system, as he showed more ability once he was asked to do so. And it’s possible Dart could be hiding similar talent.

There certainly are things to like about Dart. The ball comes out with a lot of zip, and he isn’t afraid to fire it into tight windows in the intermediate range when the read is there. He’s a good athlete too, a threat to take off and run with quickness to make people miss in space to create extra yardage. He mostly uses this athleticism as a runner, though a couple times he did flash the ability to make impressive throws on the run. The hope would be that with more development he does a better job keeping his eyes downfield rather than instantly tucking and running. And there is room for development. He’s the youngest of the quarterbacks I’ve studied, and perhaps time in a real offensive system would allow him to grow in ways he hasn’t been able to yet.

There is talent here, but it isn’t overwhelming talent of the sort I’d be willing to take a gamble to unlock. His strong arm doesn’t translate well to deep throws, where he consistently leaves them short and off target. He’s another who thinks he’s a great athlete while being just a good one, and he has no idea how to manage a pocket, frequently running into more trouble trying to extend a play when his first read isn’t there.

There are the tools of a starting quarterback here, but the path to reach that point is very long, and even then I think the best case scenario is simply an average passer. He isn’t very accurate, his mechanics fall to pieces if his first read is covered, and while he does a good job taking care of the ball, he creates enough negative plays scrambling behind the line to make up for it. I’d plan to take him in the fifth round, with the goal of making him a backup with some chance of surprising you down the line.

 

Kyle McCord, Syracuse

McCord has good size and good arm strength, and operating from the pocket he can fire the ball all over the field, with tight lasers hitting narrow windows over the middle and bombs soaring down the sidelines. He’s a smooth operator when he gets the ball out of his hand in a hurry, hitting the top of his drop and firing with anticipation on throws over the middle of the field. When things are clean, he can execute an offense.

McCord is the least mobile of the quarterbacks I studied, and that greatly limits his ceiling. He operates almost exclusively from within the pocket. His feel for that space comes and goes, as he shows moments of understanding how to maneuver in space while keeping his base beneath him to extend a play for a couple extra seconds. But he also has plays where he stumbles into trouble, and while it’s never too bad—he doesn’t take any 15 yard sacks trying to scramble backwards—it still limits how much he can bring to the offense.

Even as a pure passer there are enough warts to make me think he’s a long way from being reliable on an NFL field. He has a good feel for zone coverage and can fire the ball into windows as they open up, but when he guesses wrong he doesn’t have the ability to abort and adjust the play, and will throw the ball into a defender’s waiting arms. Against man coverage he seems to get stuck on his first option, picking a receiver with a one-on-one matchup and throwing it to him whether he wins or not. Sometimes he displays nice touch to let them go up and make a play on the ball, but just as often he fires the ball wildly off target with no chance of anyone making a play.

McCord is another who will never be anything more than a backup, and I think it will take a couple of years in an NFL system before I would even count on him being that. In the long-run he can settle in as someone you can count on to keep things steady for a game or two, but who you would never want for stretches longer than that. I’d take him in the fifth or sixth round, and stash him as my emergency quarterback until I’m comfortable with him being one snap away from finding his way onto the field.

2025 Defensive Line Prospects

 

Abdul Carter, EDGE, Penn State

Carter is the premier pass rusher in this class, and only a lack of elite size keeps him from the upper echelon of past prospects. He is lightning quick in space, one of those players who just moves differently from everyone else on the field, and it is almost impossible for a tackle to even get hands on him, much less sustain that contact to block him. Carter has the speed and bend to explode off the ball and tear around the edge, and the quickness to dart back inside and slash towards the quarterback’s face. He will almost certainly be a regular double-digit sack producer in the NFL, and he is well worth a top five selection.

The most intriguing thing about Carter is that, as good as he is, he’s still somewhat unrefined as a pass rusher. He spent his first couple years at Penn State playing more as an off-ball linebacker, and those skills still exist, in his ability to play in space and drop back into coverage as needed. As a pass rusher, he has a variety of moves to dodge around a blocker, but his usage of his hands is inconsistent, flashing high-level skill on some plays and looking like he isn’t aware he has arms at all on others. He’s strong enough to play through contact to cut down angles, but he doesn’t have any sort of power rush, even when he gets into good position square in a blocker’s chest. His slightly small frame could make this last part hard to ever fully achieve, but if he can become even better at using his hands to keep himself clean, he can develop into one of the best pass rushers in the NFL.

I have some concerns about Carter in the running game, but I think they mostly boil down to discipline. Occasionally he can be knocked backwards off the ball, but he also shows moments of being able to plant his feet and anchor against contact, and the skill to shed and make a play when the ball comes near him. The bigger problem is that far too often he doesn’t even try, preferring to try to duck around a blocker instead. This can lead to some big plays in the backfield, but more often it ends with him leaving behind a big hole for a back to run through. With more practice doing the dirty work of playing on the line of scrimmage, I think he can grow into an above average player in this phase of the game as well.

 

James Pearce, EDGE, Tennessee

Pearce is a long, lanky athlete who is at his best screaming off the edge. He’s a slightly odd-looking edge rusher, standing over 6-5 but weighing only 245 pounds, looking like he might break every time a massive lineman squares up to hit him. But Pearce is very good at not being where the lineman tries to hit him, with explosive lateral quickness that makes getting square contact on him a difficult gamble. He put up some insane numbers in his testing, 4.47 in the forty and 10-3 in the broad jump (though he did weirdly terrible in the vertical), and he looks it on the field, an explosive athlete who is most comfortable playing in space.

When things get messy and congested, Pearce can have some problems. He’s stouter than you’d expect given his frame, as he plays with good leverage and can use his length to establish position in a blocker’s chest. He has some semblance of a bull rush he can use to compress the pocket, though he struggles to disengage from contact once it’s made. He has moments of high-level hand usage, but most of the time he just kind of flails aimlessly trying and failing to disengage.

The weird thing about Pearce is that as good as he is at getting to the quarterback, he’s equally as terrible at actually getting him on the ground. He regularly scorches into the backfield with a sack dead in his sights, then goes flailing past without laying more than a hand on the quarterback. He can get low and bend when rounding the corner on a speed rush, but when trying to adjust and turn in the middle of the play he shows some lack of flexibility, particularly when he’s trying to play through contact. Here his length seems to cause him problems, as he plays high and can lose leverage preventing him from being able to finish plays.

I don’t think Pearce will have quite as much bad luck on sacks as he did in his final year at Tennessee, where he was one of the best in the nation at generating pressure but still finished with only 7.5 sacks. I do think he will always be somewhat limited in his ability to put up big sack totals, and I think in the NFL teams will do a better job punishing his slight frame by running straight at him (he was part of a deep rotation at Tennessee that protected him from the worst of this). I think his ceiling is somewhat limited to keep him from ever being one of the true elite edge defenders in the league, but his skills are enough that I’d still feel fine spending a top ten pick on him.

 

Walter Nolen, DT, Ole Miss

Nolen is on the small size for an interior defender, weighing in at just under 300 pounds at the combine. At times he can look it on the field, with some struggles to hold ground as a point-of-attack run defender. Against a single blocker he can usually stand firm, provided he doesn’t stray too far trying to shoot through a gap and allowing himself to get washed down. But he’s not the sort who is going to absorb double-teams without being moved backwards.

His struggles in rush defense are matched only by his wild potential as a pass rusher. When he is loosed to attack, Nolen has stretches where he can look unstoppable. He is explosive off the ball, shooting through a gap and getting the edge on a blocker often before he’s even out of his stance. From there he has the power and the flexibility to play through contact to get to the quarterback, even with two linemen trying to squeeze him from each side. He doesn’t do a lot with his hands, but he often doesn’t need to, closing the space between him and the blocker before hands can even come into the picture. When he needs to, he shows off the ability to create space and drive with a bull-rush, though that likely won’t ever be the strongest point of his game.

It's harder to know what to do with a defensive tackle who thrives against the pass but struggles against the run than it is with an edge player. I think some of Nolen’s issues are technical—he plays too high, and gets too aggressive trying to shoot through gaps in running situations—but some of it is also his lack of size, something that will be hard to fix without diminishing his burst. I think he can grow into a quality three-down player, but it will take some work. He’s a project, but the sort of high-upside project I like to take on, even if I might prefer to wait until outside of the top ten.

 

Mason Graham, DT, Michigan

Graham is the premier technician on the interior line in this class. He is a master at using his hands to keep himself clean, swatting and punching and swimming his way away from blockers. Whether he’s attacking into the backfield or shedding contact to make a play against the run, it’s very hard to sustain a block against Graham.

Graham needs to be a master technician, because physically he isn’t very impressive. Less than 300 pounds and with only 32 inch arms, on the occasions when he isn’t able to win with technique he can be overwhelmed by the linemen across from him. He gets blown backwards off the ball, and if he can’t keep a blocker’s hands away from his chest, he has no recourse against powerful grasps that can move and contain him. He isn’t the sort who wins with lightning quickness either. He moves well in tight spaces, but he doesn’t explode off the ball to wreck blocking angles. Most of the time when he wins it’s in the secondary moments after initial engagement, not the sort of quick flashes that elite rushers are capable of.

The strongest physical trait Graham has is flexibility. He’s able to bend and contort his body for quick changes of direction that can give him the angle on a blocker, and from there his hands are able to take over to get him clean and into the backfield. This can take away some of the advantages of running straight at him, as even if he gets blown backwards off the line of scrimmage, he can usually find a way to swim around a blocker to still make a play on the ball.

Winning with this style will be harder in the NFL. More of the linemen will have counters to the moves he throws at them, and more of them will have the ability to simply power through and beat him based on pure strength alone. As good and disruptive as he was in college, I don’t think he has the ceiling to be that same game-wrecking force in the NFL. Certain matchups will always give him problems, and when he has problems he will become the sort of player that is a real liability for a defense. Put a strong cast around him to cover for his shortcomings and he can be a disruptive presence in the middle of the defense. But I’d rather wait until somewhere in the middle of the first round to take someone with his limitations.

 

Derrick Harmon, DT, Oregon

Harmon is another one of those players whose ceiling is somewhat limited because he isn’t great at anything, even while he feels like a safe selection because he’s good at a lot of things. He has enough quickness in tight spaces to get an edge on linemen trying to stay in front of him, but isn’t quick enough to explode untouched into the backfield the way Nolen can. He doesn’t get blown off the ball as a run defender, but he can be shifted back a yard or two from the line of scrimmage. He's a pretty good athlete with a well-rounded game that should make him a long-term starter in the NFL, even if I don’t think there’s a lot of room for growth to become the sort of high-impact player I look for in the top half of the first round.

If there’s one thing that Harmon has that is close to an elite trait, it’s his hand usage, particularly as a pass rusher. He alternates between using them to shield himself from contact and using them as weapons to knock a blocker back from the ball, though in the latter case he doesn’t often do much after establishing a strong position. He doesn’t have the power to deploy a full bull rush, and he’s better working laterally to try to go around his man while using his hands to keep himself clean so he can cut the corner short. He’s another who isn’t great at finishing when he gets to the quarterback, but this concerns  me less for an interior rusher,  where pressure on its own can be more disruptive for a quarterback than when it comes off the edge.

Harmon’s greatest attribute is his versatility. He’ll fit well in any scheme playing anywhere between the tackles. He might have some struggles if asked to play as a full-time nose tackle taking on double teams, but he’s stout enough to handle one-on-one blocks, and his quick hands let him slide away from contact to make a play on the ball when it comes near him, even if he doesn’t have the range to make big plays outside of that. And he’s effective as a pass rusher with a varied game that will force linemen to stay on their toes the entire game, even if he doesn’t strike fear into their hearts with his physical abilities.

 

Kenneth Grant, DT, Michigan

There are very few people alive that can match Grant’s physical gifts. People who are 331 pounds simply shouldn’t be able to move like he does. His best plays are the sort that conjure nightmares for opposing linemen. Quick initial steps to slide around a guard in front of him. Power to drive opposing linemen deep into the backfield. Strong hands to throw aside blockers to make a play on the ball. He’s the rare sort of defensive tackle who can do everything you could ask from him, whether it’s absorbing double-teams without losing ground or knifing through a gap to make a play deep in the backfield.

The catch with Grant is that these plays only show up two or three times a game. He’s far too anonymous for as talented as he is, and anyone taking him is making a huge bet on him growing past the player he has shown to be on tape. And while I think he can grow into that player, he has farther to go than most of the other prospects I looked at, which is why I’d prefer waiting to draft him until the end of the first round.

The biggest problem I see with Grant is that he never seems to adjust what he’s doing as the play evolves in front of him. Where his teammate Graham is a master at engaging a blocker and then twisting his way free as the situation evolves, Grant seems to come up with a plan before the play and stick to it no matter what. If that plan is to plant his feet and hold his ground, he can absorb as many blockers as the opposing offense decides to throw at him. But if instead the quarterback drops back to pass, he can’t transition into a pass rushing threat. When he sets his mind to it he has the power to launch a lineman into the quarterback’s lap, but most of the time as a pass rusher he just kind of hovers in the middle, dancing and waiting throw his hands up into a passing lane (which he is very good at).

This is an even bigger concern for me in run defense. Because as good as he is at swallowing blockers, he doesn’t always play with great discipline. Too often he will slant hard trying to shoot into the backfield, and if the play turns out to be a run straight at him, he doesn’t have the ability to twist and anchor again. Offensive linemen can wash him out of his gap, leaving a gaping hole in what is supposed to be the strongest point of the defense.

Part of me wonders if he might not be as impressive an athlete as his best moments on the field suggest. His testing numbers weren’t as freakish as I expected, though at 331 pounds it becomes difficult to know what’s an extraordinary number versus a pretty good one. But I think there is a scenario where he has to adjust his game to simply being a space-eating presence in the middle, tamping down his more aggressive plays to simply focus on power. This is still a useful player for a defense, but the sort that would probably be considered a disappointment for a first round selection.

 

Shemar Stewart, EDGE, Texas A&M

When it comes to the pass rusher position I love nothing more than taking a freakish athlete and trusting them to figure things out, and they don’t come more freakish than Stewart. At 6-5 and 267 pounds he ran a 4.59 forty and had a 40 inch vertical leap at the combine. And on the field he is another of those players who just moves differently than you’re used to seeing, in his ability to change direction in an instant and accelerate to close ground faster than anyone that size should move.

Unfortunately, I’m not sure I’ve ever studied anyone as far from being a finished product as Stewart is. His movement skills flash all over the field, but most of the time there is no real purpose in his movements. He dances side to side but never actually figures out an angle to attack the blocker in front of him. He accelerates in a hurry but doesn’t explode from his stance to win off the snap of the ball. He dips low and bends around the edge but doesn’t do anything with his hands to separate from the blocker.

On plays when Stewart puts everything together the result is absolutely terrifying, but this happens infrequently enough that when it does it feels more like an accident than anything else. So any attempt to project what he’ll look like in the NFL is just guesswork and fantasy. Maybe he can learn to use his hands to blast linemen back into the quarterback’s lap. Maybe he can refine his technique off the ball and become a terror around the edge. Maybe his quickness can be harnessed into a truly lethal array of pass rushing attacks. All of these are possible, none of them are likely, and Stewart has bust written all over him. But still, the athletic potential and upside is difficult to ignore, and it would be hard to let someone this talented fall out of the first round.

 

Mykel Williams, EDGE, Georgia

Just looking at Williams it’s hard not to be intrigued by the possibilities. He is a long and powerful athlete, 6-5 and 260 pounds with 34 inch arms that he uses to full effectiveness, able to slam into a blocker’s chest and bend him backwards at the point of contact. Williams is a pure power rusher, able to collapse pockets with bull rushes and immovable in the running game.

The problem is that there isn’t much more to his game than that. Williams excels at getting into great position with his hands, in full control of a blocker and in position to make a play on the ball. And then he doesn’t do anything. He doesn’t shed contact, he doesn’t twist and yank his way forward to get into the backfield. If the quarterback breaks from the pocket and runs towards him, he can fall to the side and make the tackle. But he rarely turns his advantageous position into genuine pressure.

This is mostly technical ability that Williams can develop, and I think he can become a quality power rusher in the NFL. The problem is that this will still leave him fairly one-dimensional. He’s a good athlete but a fairly linear one, and he doesn’t have the quickness to dart around opposing tackles. His burst off the ball isn’t special either, and he doesn’t have great bend around the corner, though he can occasionally win around the edge simply by forcing opposing tackles to be more cautious with their drops out of fear of his bull rush. This isn’t enough to make him a real danger that offenses have to concern themselves with, and I think ultimately he’ll settle in as a simple starter-level player. A high-level run defender who picks up six or seven sacks a year, the sort I’d rather wait until the second round to add.

 

Jalon Walker, LB/EDGE, Georgia

I’m not sure what position Walker plays in the NFL. At Georgia he filled a role that pretty much only exists on defenses loaded with overwhelming talent, where they can count on 10 of their guys to match up against the opposing 11 and leave one player free to operate purely on athleticism and instinct. Walker was that player for Georgia, the latest in a line that includes past first round picks like Isaiah Simmons from Clemson and Jabrill Peppers from Michigan. Players whose job was to float around the field, read the play in front of them, and then flash across the screen to make a big play when the opportunity presented itself.

As you can probably guess from those names I mentioned (and his position on this list), I’m not a big fan of Walker. He thrived at Georgia operating off of pure athletic ability, but I don’t think he’s a special enough athlete to do that in the NFL. If he moves to a full-time edge rusher position like many people expect him to, he will be undersized at only 6-1 and 243 pounds with 32 inch arms, and lacking any technique to make up for it. He is quick in space and can cover a lot of ground coming downhill, but he doesn’t have great burst off the ball or bend, and doesn’t really use his hands for anything. If your plan is to move him to edge rusher, you’ll largely be starting from scratch with someone whose physical profile doesn’t offer that much upside.

I think the plan for Walker should be to keep him as more of an off-ball linebacker, which significantly decreases his value. He has more upside in this role, where his straight-line speed and ability to read and react will be more valuable, but there is still work to be done here. Against the run he’s solid but unspectacular, playing most things slow and stacking blockers a couple yards downfield rather than meeting them at the line or trying to dart past them. And he has very little experience playing in coverage, as most of the time at Georgia he was left to float in the middle as a spy on the quarterback rather than bothering with the receivers. He has decent upside if he can harness his athleticism in coverage, but also a lot of work to do, and I wouldn’t draft him before the third round.