The 2025 NFL Draft is not exactly being lauded for its top-end talent, but there are plenty of enticing prospects who can help teams and make an immediate impact. Instead of taking a look at a 2025 NFL Mock Draft scenario just like always, we're going to have a little fun with this one and play a little "What if?"
What if the top 10 picks in the 2025 NFL Draft were all traded to playoff teams? Obviously, that's not going to happen, but you never know when an individual move or a couple of moves might happen as teams get desperate.
And odds are, if you're reading a 2025 NFL Mock Draft, you're not overly worried about "realism" but you love scenarios more than anything else. Let's have a little fun with this. Let's look at just the top 10 picks of the 2025 NFL Draft if they were all traded to teams that made the playoffs this past season.
2025 NFL Mock Draft: Every top 10 pick traded to playoff teams in new scenario
1. Pittsburgh Steelers (from Titans): Cam Ward, QB, Miami
If there's one playoff team that really needs to make a blockbuster move up the board this year, it's the Pittsburgh Steelers. I thought about doing a Titans-Chiefs swap here thanks to new Titans GM Mike Borgonzi having ties to the Chiefs' organization, but desperation outweighs connection in this case.
The Steelers look like the lone playoff team that is truly desperate for a quarterback. You might be able to make an argument for the Rams with the Matthew Stafford situation, but in this case, the Steelers trade the Titans a bounty of picks for the rights to select Cam Ward and make him their new franchise quarterback.
2. Los Angeles Chargers (from Browns): Abdul Carter, EDGE, Penn State
The next most aggressive team entering the top three picks of this 2025 NFL mock draft scenario is the Los Angeles Chargers, a team that could be losing both Joey Bosa and Khalil Mack in the same offseason. The Chargers already began gutting the roster of the former regime's players in 2024 and Jim Harbaugh is going to continue the purge in 2025.
With the EDGE position obviously losing two big-name players, the Chargers look as likely as anyone among last year's playoff squads to move up and make a bold move for the best pass rusher in the entire draft. Abdul Carter should be a well-known player for Harbaugh and his staff since they coached against him in the Big Ten a couple of years ago.