The NFL Draft is always unpredictable. Even last year, when most analysts had a consensus about the top talent and where each player would go, everyone was stunned when the Falcons selected Michael Penix at 8th overall, or when the first defender off the board was only at pick 15th. This year, when the only consensus is that there wasn’t much of a consensus, the first round promised chaos – and it somewhat delivered.
1. Travis Hunter, WR/CB, at 2nd overall
The surprising thing isn’t that Hunter, the best prospect in the 2025 Draft, was the second player off the board. It’s everything else surrounding the pick, though. In a class with few deemed blue-chip prospects, Hunter was the only one everyone agreed was a can’t-miss player, so when the Browns accepted an offer to trade down surprised most watching.
The Jacksonville Jaguars, who traded up for Hunter, hinted that they wanted to make a big splash on Thursday night, but at least I thought it was going to be a big trade down with someone wanting to jump the Raiders for Ashton Jeanty.
2. Tyler Booker, iOL, at 12th overall
As I said earlier, there wasn’t much of a consensus on the board after the sixth or seventh pick. Even after losing future Hall of Famer Zack Martin to retirement, very few (if any) mock drafts had the Dallas Cowboys taking a guard at the 12th pick. Among the reasons, the Cowboys have big needs at wide receiver and running back, so most people had them taking players like Matthew Golden, Luther Burden, and Omarion Hampton.
If Tetairoa McMillan were available is possible that he would be the pick there, but with Dak Prescott coming back from another injury and arguably the best offensive linemen in franchise history gone, making sure the QB is upright was a priority in Dallas.
3. James Pearce Jr., EDGE, at 26th overall
Similar to Hunter, albeit on a lower level, Pearce going in the mid-20s wasn’t necessarily a surprise. He let a lot of people down in 2024, as he was touted as the future 1st overall pick at this point last year. However, a down year at Tennessee and some question marks off the field dropped him from the first player selected to the late-first to mid-second range.
But the amount of Draft capital the Atlanta Falcons gave up to select him was absurd. They gave up their second-round pick today (46th), a seventh-rounder (211th), and their first-round pick in 2026 to the Rams for picks 26 and 101. They gave up all of this to select an edge rusher just 11 picks after they used their original first-round selection on edge rusher Jalon Walker.
For the second year in a row, the Falcons stunned almost everyone, and, for GM Terry Fontenot’s sake, they better work out.
4. Jihaad Campbell, LB, at 31st overall
The other three players were surprising because they went either earlier than expected or after a team made a trade that few saw coming. This one, to me, is more infuriating than surprising. After selecting arguably the best player of the 2023 Draft class, Jalen Carter, at 9th overall, two of the best cornerbacks of last year’s Draft at 22 (Quinnion Mitchell) and 40 (Cooper DeJean), Howie Roseman now selected the best linebacker and one of the top defenders in this class at 31. HE CAN’T KEEP GETTING AWAY WITH THIS.
