For the first time in this century, all 32 teams will have an opportunity to make a selection in the first round of the 2025 NFL draft.
Not only that, but barring any last-minute trades, all 32 teams will make their picks in their original positions — this reluctance to trade away draft choices tying in neatly with the interplay of free agency, the salary cap, and the seniority-based wage scale that the owners forced the NFLPA to accept in order to evade a threatened lockout in 2011.
George Allen, Mike McCormack, and Bobby Beathard notwithstanding, draft choices are the soul of football — just as renowned French chess master Francois-Andre Danican famously stated that pawns are the soul of chess.
But which "pawns" figure to come off the draft board early?
Cam Ward of "The U" has apparently overtaken Colorado's Shedeur Sanders as the likely top overall pick, by the Titans, with the Giants desperately hoping that Sanders will still be there for them at #3 — unless the Browns, picking second, grab Sanders, as last year's mid-season Achilles injury to Deshaun Watson has every promise of being at least career-threatening, if not, indeed, career-ending.
The Patriots, selecting fourth, would love to be able to draft Penn State defensive end Abdul Carter, as New England was last in the league in sacks in 2024, with 28.
Teams looking for wide receivers with the speed to provide needed "blitz control" for their quarterbacks might gravitate toward Matthew Golden of Texas (4.29 at the combine) or Tennessee's Don'te Thornton, Jr., who not only ripped off a 4.30, but is also an imposing 6-foot-5, conjuring up memories of Calvin Johnson. The fastest cornerbacks in the draft are Maxwell Hairston of Kentucky (4.28) and Darien Porter of Iowa State (4.30). And let's not forget Sanders' Colorado teammate Travis Hunter, who proves that The Scarecrow from "The Wizard of Oz" knew what he was talking about when he said that of course people do go both ways!
LSU offensive tackle Will Campbell is tailor-made for a team like the Bears, whose 68 sacks allowed were the most in the league a season ago.
Not a particularly good year for linebackers though — and when it comes to running backs, there's Ashton Jeanty, and there's "Not Exactly" — although Virginia Tech's Bhayshul Tuten led all RBs at the combine with his 4.32 in the 40. (Jeanty is 5'8", while Tuten is 5'9".)
The market this season seems incredibly static — making observers wonder whether this is a weak draft.
Not expecting too many surprises this week — although there are always some, mostly of the "head-scratching" variety.
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