2025 NFL mock draft: Full two-round mock draft with wild trades

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9. New Orleans Saints - James Pearce Jr, EDGE, Tennessee

The New Orleans Saints need to rebuild in the worst possible way, and they could begin that process quite well if they were able to get James Pearce Jr, maybe the best pass rusher in the country for the upcoming college football season. The Saints have issues everywhere, and their biggest ones might be their QB Derek Carr, and head coach Dennis Allen. Well, you can’t draft a head coach, but you can definitely hire a new one.

The Saints can also move on from Carr after this season, which would be a wise move. Carr is pretty mediocre, but can put up some respectable statistics. That’s about it. No one is winning much with Derek Carr.

And with all of the first-round QBs off the board, the Saints opt to reinforce their trenches with a long-term fixture in Pearce, who was in the backfield regularly in 2023 with Tennessee. This would be a great pick for the Saints, but can Mickey Loomis actually make a good decision?

10. Minnesota Vikings - Travis Hunter, CB, Colorado

The Minnesota Vikings might be on the cusp of putting themselves back on the map in the NFL. Don’t look now, but their roster isn’t missing a ton, and GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah deserves a lot of credit for actually being able to re-tool the roster without sacrificing many wins in the process. The Vikings have won 20 games over the last two seasons, so they are definitely on the right track, but a change at QB was needed.

It’s nothing against Kirk Cousins; but no team is going to make a deep playoff run with Cousins under center. It’s why they let him walk in free agency and now have rookie QB JJ McCarthy waiting in the wings. Sam Darnold is projected to start for them in Week 1, but we should see McCarthy at some point in 2024.

And if he works out and develops going into 2025, the Vikings are all the way back. They take Travis Hunter, a CB/WR from Colorado to shore up their secondary.