2025 NFL mock draft: Full 1st-round mock draft predictions with QBs galore
5. Jacksonville Jaguars: Will Johnson, CB, Michigan
The Jacksonville Jaguars finally got their first win of the 2024 season after starting off 0-4, and I think when you look at this team, what’s really holding them back right now is the offensive side of the ball. But with the long-term investment that’s been made in Trevor Lawrence, the Jaguars aren’t going to be making wholesale changes offensively. They need to figure out how to make that clock tick.
The best possible thing they can do is keep surrounding Lawrence with talent, and supporting him with a stellar defense. Supporting him with a stellar defense is easier said than done, but it gets a little bit easier to do with a player like Will Johnson out there at the cornerback position. Johnson is an NFL-caliber corner who is still lingering at the collegiate level right now due to the NFL’s eligibility rules, and we’ve seen his dominance on display early this season.
He’d be an instant impact starter for any NFL team in 2025.
6. Carolina Panthers: Cam Ward, QB, Miami
One of the fastest-rising prospects in all of college football is the polarizing Cam Ward. There are some people out there who just absolutely love Cam Ward and everything he does, and there are other folks who criticize him for putting Miami in bad situations before pulling out his heroics.
Whatever your thoughts are regarding Ward, I think we can all agree that the perception of him in NFL circles is becoming more and more favorable by the week. Ward has ascended to a possible QB1-caliber prospect in the eyes of NFL Draft analysts and the Carolina Panthers would have a strange decision to make here.
Dave Canales is the head coach of this team, and he should have the final say on who his quarterback is. There’s no more important on-field relationship in the league. If Canales says he doesn’t want to work with Bryce Young, then the Panthers need to trade him to the highest bidder and move on as quickly as possible.