25. Houston Texans: Lander Barton, LB, Utah
The Houston Texans are one of the most exciting young teams in all of football right now, but their roster is still a bit of a work in progress in some places. They managed to outscore the Indianapolis Colts in Week 1, and DeMeco Ryans’s defense could certainly tighten up as the season progresses, but that is an area of this team where the personnel could be upgraded going forward. Here, the Texans land a playmaker out of Utah in Lander Barton who had a season-ending injury last year but has all of the traits Ryans will look for in an off-ball linebacker prospect.
26. New York Jets: Mansoor Delane, CB, Virginia Tech
The New York Jets get the benefit of picking this low because the power rankings list had to be turned in by Monday morning, but they would be picking much higher if they had played against the 49ers on Sunday. It was a pretty dreadful all-around performance for the Jets, especially considering the 49ers didn’t even roll Christian McCaffrey out there. The future of Aaron Rodgers looms over this team, but getting another playmaker at cornerback is not a bad option late in round one either. Mansoor Delane already has an interception and three passes defensed this season.
27. Philadelphia Eagles: Aireontae Ersery, OL, Minnesota
We’ve seen Philadelphia Eagles general manager Howie Roseman go away from his typical round one strategy a bit this past year, which is usually to attack the trenches on one side of the ball or the other. The Eagles hadn’t taken a cornerback in the first round since the 2001 NFL Draft when they selected Quinyon Mitchell this past year. After a couple of years focusing on the defensive side, I think we’ll see Howie go after an offensive lineman in the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft and Ersery is the best on the board in this scenario.
28. Detroit Lions: JT Tuimoloau, EDGE, Ohio State
The Detroit Lions are a well-oiled machine at this point and one of the best-looking rosters in the entire NFL. With that being said, teams like this can never have too many good players on the offensive and defensive lines, because if you start getting whipped in the trenches, all of the other stuff becomes makeup on pigs. The Lions understand this as they already have one of the best offensive lines in football and they’ve been working on upgrading the defensive front. JT Tuimoloau would give them another absolute dog off the edge and someone who could contribute to a rotation right away.