2025 NFL Draft Awards

Best Value Pick Round 1:

Baltimore Ravens: S Malaki Starks

It gets annoying to hear every year how the Ravens stood pat and let a great player fall into their lap, but the mantra has truth to it and was given a fresh dose of proof in the 2025 NFL Draft. Starks was a top-20 talent and one of the safe picks in the draft to be a good pro starter. Starks had three seasons of rock-solid tape at Georgia to go along with rave reviews for his off-the-field character and his locker room leadership. It was a surprise when Starks slid to the 27th pick in the first round, and was there for the Ravens. Starks is a natural fit as a single high safety playing the deep middle of the field. With his instincts and intelligence, Starks is going to be a weapon for shutting down the deep part of the field. With Kyle Hamilton at strong safety, Baltimore has the makings for one of the best safety tandems in the NFL. Once again, the Ravens stayed patient and allowed a special prospect that should have gone much earlier to fall into their lap.

Best Value Pick Day 2:

Seattle Seahawks: S Nic Emmanwori

The Seahawks stole some excellent values in the second round of the 2025 NFL Draft. Throughout the lead-up to the draft, the consensus among team sources was that Emmanwori would be a first-round pick, and some sources thought he could easily go in the top 20. Emmanwori has an amazing combination of size, speed, and athleticism, with a lot of splash plays on tape. With the size of a linebacker, Emmanwori also has the speed of a cornerback and can do rare things in coverage for a large safety. He could be a dynamic strong safety in Seattle and is a great fit in Mike Macdonald’s defense. This was a brilliant pick by general manager John Schneider and the Seahawks landed a massive steal with Emmanwori on day two.

Best Value Pick Day 3:

New Orleans Saints: LB Danny Stutsman

The Saints had one of the best steals of day three of the draft with Oklahoma linebacker Danny Stutsman. Stutsman is a pure football player with excellent instincts, intelligence, and toughness. He is a good run defender and could grow into being a starter for New Orleans. Stutsman can learn behind DeMario Davis for a season and then take over next to Pete Werner for the Saints. I think he is going to be an overachiever and quality starter for New Orleans.

Best Trade:

Philadelphia Eagles: LB Jihaad Campbell

Throughout the lead-up to the 2025 NFL Draft, Alabama linebacker Jihaad Campbell was consistently projected to go in the top 20. Sources from around the league raved about Campbell’s 2024 tape and that excellent skill set he displayed, along with the production. In 2024, he had 108 tackles with five sacks, two forced fumbles, one interception, and two passes broken up. Campbell was all over the field for Alabama. Many thought Campbell would get selected in the top half of the first round.

Multiple sources said that Campbell was a top-10 talent and one of the 10 best prospects in the 2025 NFL Draft. Campbell slid in the draft because of medical concerns with his shoulder, but the Eagles said their doctors did not feel the same. Philadelphia moved up one spot to land Campbell, and that was a steal at pick 31. Campbell will be an asset for defending Washington quarterback Jayden Daniels and taking on ground attacks from conference rivals like the Lions, Packers, 49ers, Rams, and Buccaneers. Ensuring they landed Campbell was a great move for Philadelphia.

Biggest Reach Round 1:

New York Giants: QB Jaxson Dart

At the NFL Scouting Combine and the weeks around the event, I surveyed sources from 11 different teams, and of those 11, 10 of them said that Dart did not have a first-round grade for their franchises. Yet the Giants moved up into the first round to land a quarterback prospect that is a day-two caliber player. Coming from a Lane Kiffin offense designed to produce a lot of points, Dart is a system quarterback who lacks some pocket presence, should have thrown more picks, had issues with fumbles, and had a meltdown performance against a very beatable opponent to cost his team a shot at the playoffs. I think Dart could be Zach Wilson 2.0 and another busted quarterback in New York.

Biggest Reach Day 2:

Cleveland Browns: QB Dillon Gabriel

The Browns selected Gabriel in the third round, and that looks like it has the potential to be a wasted pick. Gabriel has a limited skill set for the NFL. While he is very short, Gabriel also does not have elite athleticism or arm talent. He was expected to go well into day three but the Browns reached on him in the third round.

Best Undrafted Free Agent Signing:

Carolina Panthers: K Ryan Fitzgerald

The Panthers were wise not use a draft pick on a kicker and were able to land a good one with Fitzgerald as an undrafted free agent. Fitzgerald was perfect last season, not missing a field goal and showed superb strength and accuracy being good on all five of his attempts from over 50 yards including a 59-yarder. He hit 91 percent the previous season. I think Fitzgerald could be a very good kicker for Carolina.

Worst Draft Class:

Minnesota Vikings

The Vikings used some of their 2025 draft capital on 2024 draft picks, so they were at a disadvantage in terms of assets available to draft this year. However, I still feel like the Vikings came away from this draft with only one starter in Ohio State guard Donovan Jackson. Minnesota spent heavily on the interior of their offensive line in free agency, adding veteran center Ryan Kelly and guard Will Fries from the Colts. To use their first-round pick on another guard when there were plenty of good defensive backs available to upgrade their secondary was a very questionable decision. The Vikings’ secondary is average at best, and not only did they miss on adding a first-round talent, they did not even draft a defensive back at all in the 2025 NFL Draft. Next year, I think the Lions, Packers, and Bears will all exploit the Minnesota defensive backs.

Minnesota could have had an upgrade at cornerback with Will Johnson or Maxwell Hairston. They also could have landed a difference maker at safety in Malaki Starks or Nick Emmanwori. Last year, Minnesota lost twice to the Lions, and Detroit was without some of its best players. Any of those defensive backs would have been helpful in defending the Lions’ passing attack, along with the young receiving talent with the Packers and Bears. This draft class reminds me of the 2022 group when general manager Kwesi Adofo-Mensah ended up with nothing to show for the 12th-overall pick and a high second-rounder that were turned into busts of Lewis Cine and Andrew Booth while allowing the Lions to get better by adding Jameson Williams. It would not surprise me if, in a few years, the Vikings have little to show for their 2025 draft class.

Best Draft Class:

Atlanta Falcons

My favorite draft classes were the Falcons and Patriots. I thought both teams drafted extremely well with excellent values at each spot and really improved their rosters dramatically in the 2025 NFL Draft. I think Atlanta could get more bang for their buck with some huge impact players, and therefore I give them the edge for the best draft class in 2025.

The lack of pass rush has been a problem for the Falcons in the past few seasons, and Atlanta was aggressive to get it fixed on the opening night of the 2025 NFL Draft. Nobody expected Georgia linebacker Jalon Walker to slip to the 15th pick, but there he was, and the Falcons snatched him up. In 2024, Walker had 6.5 sacks as a part-time pass rusher, and he is a dynamic blitzer with the ability to rush from different spots. After having Walker fall into their laps, the Falcons did not sit and wait for round two as they used next year’s first-round pick to make a huge jump back in the first round and select Tennessee pass rusher James Pearce Jr. Pearce is coming off two excellent seasons of pass rush production in the SEC as he has 17 sacks and a plethora of pressures. The 6-foot-5, 240-pounder could be a double-digit sack producer early in his pro career, and he has the upside to be one of the top quarterback hunters in the NFL. Both Pearce and Walker are NFL-ready, so the Falcons could start reaping the dividends as soon as next September. While it was an expensive night of spending draft capital, Atlanta won on the opening night and looks to have resolved a weakness that has been plaguing them for years.

After the first round, the Falcons added an interception machine in Notre Dame safety Xavier Watts, and added another big-play threat for the backend with Oklahoma safety Billy Bowman. I also think seventh-round offensive tackle Jack Nelson could prove to be a solid swing tackle backup in the NFL.

It would not surprise me if the Falcons look back at this draft as a turning point to turn their defense into a playoff-caliber stop unit with a pair of big-time pass rushers and safeties that are threats to take the ball away. I think this draft is going to help propel Atlanta to the playoffs in 2025 or 2026.