2025 NFL mock draft: Predicting the top five teams picking next year
The 2025 NFL Draft is still a ways away, but let's go ahead and try to predict the top five teams selecting next April. The players from the 2024 NFL Draft have not even taken a regular season snap in the NFL, but here I am talking about the 2025 NFL Draft.
But there is nothing wrong with looking ahead, so we'll do that in this piece. There are a handful of teams that clearly seem to be a tier or two below some of their NFL rivals, so it'd be a safe bet to think that they could pick at the very top of the 2025 NFL Draft, where the offensive talent won't be nearly as good as it was in the 2024 NFL Draft.
Let's try to pick the order of the teams picking in the top five of the 2025 NFL Draft.
2025 NFL mock draft: Predicting the top five teams picking next year
5. Carolina Panthers
The Carolina Panthers probably will not be as bad in 2024 as they were in 2023 when they won just two games. Fortunately though, they have their own first-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, so them picking fifth overall will be a breath of fresh air. Now yes, them picking fifth overall might not be the type of improvement they were hoping for, but this would actually be a massive improvement from their 2023 season.
The Panthers could be building something special, but if they do pick fifth overall, would they consider moving on from Bryce Young?
4. Washington Commanders
I personally did not agree with the Washington Commanders selecting Jayden Daniels over Drake Maye, but here we are. The Commanders roster still needs a good bit of work, and they seemed to hire a good-not-great coach in Dan Quinn, so this could be another rougher year for the Commanders, who probably are not eyeing being super competitive in 2024.
Them picking fourth overall would not be the worst thing ever, as they could get a blue-chip tackle prospect, which is a position they totally botched this offseason.
3. New York Giants
The New York Giants have Daniel Jones and Drew Lock as the top two quarterbacks in their room, so that alone is enough to thing they are picking very high in the 2025 NFL Draft. Giants GM Joe Schoen is clearly in over his head, as he's made head-scratching after head-scratching move during his brief tenure.
Perhaps finishing with a top-three pick in the 2025 NFL Draft can be a gift to Schoen, who could surely select a QB and move on from Daniel Jones, who is someone he should have never given a contract extension to.
2. Las Vegas Raiders
I have no idea what the Las Vegas Raiders were trying to do this offseason, but they've made their bed and are most definitely going to sleep in it. They seem prepared to roll with either Gardner Minshew or Aidan O'Connell in the 2024 NFL Season, and that might propel them to the top of the 2025 NFL Draft order.
This could land them the best QB prospect if the team picking first overall does not decide to take that position. I am also quite low on head coach Antonio Pierce, who was just a position coach during 2023, but was elevated to the interim HC role after Josh McDaniels got fired.
1. New England Patriots
The New England Patriots are going to be a horrible team in the 2024 NFL Season. Frankly, them hiring Jerod Mayo was the wrong decision, as he is more of the same that did not work. He has been a Patriot for his entire NFL career and is just too engrained in the "Patriot Way" which was clearly mostly a Tom Brady thing, and not a Bill Belichick/Tom Brady thing.
The Patriots offensive line and WR rooms are disasters, and it's just not going to be a great year for them. Now yes, they are undergoing a full rebuild, so them picking first overall may actually be a good thing, so this might land them a generational type of prospect in 2025.