Reviewing the 2025 NFL Draft

The 2025 NFL Draft took place between 22-24th April and once again this event provided fans with enough controversy and talking points to last for the entire remainder of the off-season until play resumes in September.

The NFL, like all major American sports, conducts a draft of the best college prospects before each new season, allowing each of the 32 teams a chance to replenish their rosters and change their fortunes. The draft order is decided by reversing the final standings (including the playoffs) of the previous season, meaning that the worst teams from 2024 now get first dibs on the best prospects entering the sport.

The story of the draft however was undoubtedly the ‘draft slide’ of Shedeur Sanders, son of legendary NFL athlete and TV personality Deion Sanders

As always, the priority when drafting for every team is to find their quarterback, as this position provides the most disproportionately valuable single player in all of sports; without a good quarterback, no NFL franchise can hope to succeed. Predictably therefore, the first pick of 2025 was the best quarterback available, with the University of Miami’s Cam Ward selected by the Tennessee Titans.

Following Ward, picks two and three took the consensus best players in this year’s class, with elite edge rusher Abdul Carter joining the New York Giants as the first defensive player selected at pick three, and the Jacksonville Jaguars trading up to pick two to acquire a unique two-way prospect in Travis Hunter. Hunter hopes to become one of the first NFL players ever to play full-time on both sides of the ball (offensive and defensive) making him one of the most publicised prospects in recent memory.

The rest of the first round of the 2025 draft was filled with all the typical drama that surrounds this event; teams gave up huge hauls of future draft picks in order to trade up for certain players, others stayed where they were and found steals as talented players inexplicably fell into the latter stages of the first round.

In total, 257 prospects found new teams within the NFL, and will join their squads for pre-season training camps commencing from June onwards

The story of the draft however was undoubtedly the ‘draft slide’ of Shedeur Sanders, son of legendary NFL athlete and TV personality Deion Sanders, who, having been touted as one of elite quarterback prospects of this class, slid all the way to the fifth round of the draft at pick 144. Even those who had been the most critical of Shedeur prior to the draft could never have projected him to fall outside of the top 50, let alone the top 100, and his slide appears to be far more related to his personality than his play. Reports have emerged of Shedeur performing very poorly in pre-draft interviews with NFL Teams, with executives feeling that his confidence off the field exceeded his talents on it. Despite that, Shedeur was the 6th quarterback selected in this draft having been the consensus 2nd most talented prospect in his position behind Cam Ward, so the extent of his slide through the draft continues to confuse everyone throughout NFL Media.

In total, 257 prospects found new teams within the NFL, and will join their squads for pre-season training camps commencing from June onwards. While those selected in the first round are likely guaranteed a starting position, later draft picks often come straight into fierce competition to make up part of each team’s 53 man roster. Wherever the prospects were drafted, the real work starts now.