The 2024 NFL season is finally almost here, and the 2024 college football season will be here even sooner. The wait for actual football to get going is finally over, and as soon as those college football games start getting played, discussion over the 2025 NFL Draft is going to ramp up significantly.
For the first time in the modern NFL era, we could see all 32 teams actually make a selection in the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft. That’s one of the reasons why making 2025 NFL mock draft predictions right now is so much fun. You rarely see all 32 teams actually involved. But we’re going to take it a step further together and go for a full second-round projection as well.
We’ll take a look at every team’s situation going into 2024, their top perceived roster needs right now, and what college football stars could end up being the next generation of NFL stars.
2025 NFL mock draft: Full 1st-round predictions
1. Las Vegas Raiders: Carson Beck, QB, Georgia
We expect the Las Vegas Raiders to make a quarterback change after this season anyway, but if they finish with the worst record in the league, it’s a foregone conclusion. The combination of Aidan O’Connell and Gardner Minshew actually might offer some decent upside if the Raiders can continue to improve defensively as we saw last year, but there’s just so much uncertainty there.
The Raiders are a really interesting team from top to bottom. They have some big-time studs on both sides of the ball with Davante Adams and Maxx Crosby, and the addition of Christian Wilkins is huge, but do they have enough to be a viable contender in the AFC West?
Getting a player like Carson Beck could allow them to take the next step as a franchise rather quickly.
2. Carolina Panthers: Shedeur Sanders, QB, Colorado
Panthers head coach Dave Canales didn’t draft Bryce Young, but the Panthers made such an extravagant investment in Young that it feels like they are going to sleep in the bed they’ve made. I don’t know how long that will last, though. The Panthers traded up to get the #1 overall pick in 2023, they earned the #1 pick in 2024, and if they get the #1 or #2 overall pick in 2025, I don’t see how they could pass on a quarterback.
Allow Dave Canales to come in and pick his own guy. Right? They need to make sure they take advantage of this draft positioning without spinning their wheels on a guy like Young. If he plays poorly and the Panthers stink again in 2024, there’s no way they could pass on a prospect like Sanders in this pick slot.