The Picks are In: The 2025 NFL Draft
February 8, 1936, at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel. There were no agents, fan presence, 24-hour sports media coverage, and only 90 players to choose from. Only 14 teams and their coaching staff were present at the first inaugural NFL Draft.
Since then, there has been an upsurge in fan, scout, and spectator attendance.
The first round of the 2025 NFL Draft took place on Thursday, April 24th, at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
The teams and their standings decide the draft order at the end of the regular season. Teams that didn’t qualify for the playoffs at the end of the 2024 regular season are assigned draft slots 1-20. The club with the worst record will pick first, and the one with the best will pick 20th.
For the 2025 season, the pick list from one to ten looked like:
However, this order changed soon into the draft due to the Browns. The Browns traded out of the number two pick to acquire a first-round 2026 pick, as well as a number five pick and a number 36 pick in this year’s draft from the Jacksonville Jaguars.
This change created a new top ten order, which looked like this:
Before the Draft, these were the top recruits, according to Scout Inc.
Top Ten Prospects:
1. Abdul Carter, Edge, Penn State
2. Travis Hunter, WR/CB, Colorado
3. Mason Graham, DT, Michigan
4. Ashton Jeanty, RB, Boise State
5. Tyler Warren, TE, Penn State
6. Jalon Walker, Edge, Georgia
7. Cam Ward, QB, Miami
8. Armand Membou, OT, Missouri
9. Mykel Williams, Edge, Georgia
10. Colston Loveland, TE, Michigan
Top Five Quarterbacks:
1. Cam Ward, Miami
2. Shedeur Sanders, Colorado
3. Jaxson Dart, Mississippi
4. Tyler Shough, Louisville
5. Jalen Milroe, Alabama
The first ten picks didn’t exactly turn out how viewers and scouts anticipated. Shedeur Sanders, son of Hall of Famer Deion Sanders, wasn’t picked in the first round…or the second…or the third.
Sanders has been coached by his father his entire life, so finding a team that was willing to do so was a challenge for the talented player. After a long 4 rounds of waiting, Sanders was the sixth pick of the fifth round, 144th overall, by the Browns.
So, who was picked?
The Titans' first overall pick was Quarterback Cam Ward from the University of Miami. The second pick in the first round was Travis Hunter from the University of Colorado, followed by Abdul Carter from Penn State, Will Campbell from LSU, and Mason Graham from the University of Michigan in the third through fifth picks.
With a total of seven rounds and 257 picks, 257 players got drafted for the 2025-2026 season. After the draft finishes, teams will start to pursue undrafted free agents and established players that are wanting a change of pace.
Every team leaves the draft with hope. Hope that their picks will spark a playoff run, fuel a culture shift, or even deliver a Super Bowl title. Expectations are sky-high, and every snap from here on out will shape the stories of the season ahead.