2025 NFL mock draft: Early 1st-round predictions with Jalen Milroe on top

21. Philadelphia Eagles: Emeka Egbuka, WR, Ohio State

Howie Roseman went against his typical NFL Draft strategy by taking a cornerback in the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft (Quinyon Mitchell). Because it’s been a year since he took a defensive front-seven player in the first round, I hesitated to make this selection but the Eagles seem to really struggle every year with depth at wide receiver.

They’ve tried everyone from Julio Jones to Jahan Dotson and it might be time to just figure out the best receiver on their board early in next year’s draft and bring him in.

Emeka Egbuka would honestly be a great third option to go along with AJ Brown and DeVonta Smith as he can work from the slot and provide the Eagles with a desirable upside option at one of the game’s most valuable positions.

22. Atlanta Falcons: Deone Walker, DL, Kentucky

The Atlanta Falcons invested so heavily in the offense in 2024 that they almost have no choice but to “overcorrect” on the defensive side of the ball in 2025. Projecting the Falcons to finish with this low of a pick in the 2025 NFL Draft is obviously a pretty big vote of confidence in Kirk Cousins and this Falcons team.

As far as what players they could be interested in at this juncture of the 2025 NFL Draft, I don’t know how you can look past Deone Walker. Walker is one of the most physically impressive players in the class at 6-foot-6 and over 340 pounds with the athletic talent and overall range as a player to line up as a nose tackle or stand-up edge rusher.

Walker was wildly productive last year for Kentucky and while his production behind the line of scrimmage would be hard to duplicate, I still think his impact is going to be significant at the next level.