Trying to evaluate an NFL Draft is always a tricky proposition no matter when you do it. And to measure it the day after players are selected is a crap shoot at best. Sometimes it takes a few years to evaluate if a prospect has reached their potential. They might stumble out of the block and endure a couple of rough initial seasons, or they might begin their careers like a house afire and then fall short of their goals due to injuries, trades, or off the field transgressions.

The same goes with NFL teams themselves. One minute they might claim to have drafted the “steal of the draft” and the next they have a potential star that simply flameouts. But, because us football fans love to speculate, predict, and over analyze such things, I took a stab at determining the biggest haves and have-nots of the 2025 NFL Draft first round. Time will tell how correct my observations have been but let’s have a little fun in the meantime. First, I’ll start with the have-nots.

2025 NFL Draft First Round Have-nots

1. Shedeur Sander’s, QB, Colorado

You knew this one was coming. At different times during the pre-draft period, it was predicted that Sanders would be a top three or at worst a top ten pick. Then as the draft got closer, the consensus was that he would fall no farther than the Cleveland Browns with the 21st pick. But something happened on the way to signing his big first round draft bonus.

Not only did he fall out of the first round, but the New York Giants (a possible location for Sanders) moved up to the 25th spot to select Jaxson Dart, quarterback out of Mississippi. It’s a good thing Shedeur stayed home in Texas to watch the festivities rather than having the cameras shinning on him the entire evening. I have no doubt that the Browns will end the slide early in the second round, giving him a chance to prove his detractors wrong.

2. Cleveland Browns

As I mentioned earlier, the Browns will likely select Shedeur Sanders early on Day 2 of the draft thereby selecting the quarterback they coveted in the first place. But until then, they face the prospect of starting the 2025 NFL season with Joe Flacco and Kenny Pickens at quarterback. Flacco is a faded former star and Pickens, well he never got a free dinner.

Perhaps this will all be a moot point if Cleveland selects Sanders today. Perhaps it was all part of a master plan to pay him a smaller bonus. But in trading their second pick to the Jacksonville Jaguars, they lost out on the chance to select the remarkable two-way phenom, Sanders college teammate, Travis Hunter. We shall see how it all pans out for Cleveland.

3. Will Johnson, CB, Michigan

Johnson went from being a high first round lock at the start of last season to completely falling out of the initial round last night. It was all due to a foot injury that caused him to miss most of the 2024 campaign. That was complicated further by a knee condition that was discovered at the NFL Combine. The contributing factors were enough to scare teams off from spending first round bonus money on him.

The productivity and the potential are there, and it is likely that the Las Vegas Raiders (37), the Dallas Cowboys (44), or the Atlanta Falcons (46) will snap him up in the second round. Still, NFL teams have serious concerns regarding the long-term prognosis for Johnson’s knee

4. Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Sure, wide receiver Emeka Egbuka is a fine prospect, and he will mesh well with the Bucs combo of Mike Evans and Chris Godwin. But with more pressing need on both lines, the secondary, and at linebacker, this just didn’t seem like the right fit. Not to mention I believe this selection might have been a bit of a reach.

Egbuka might work out well for Tampa Bay short and long-term as Evans and Godwin aren’t getting any younger. Still with five selections left in the draft, it will be up to the Bucs front office to choose these picks wisely to fill the remaining gaps on their team.

5. Jameis Winston and Russell Wilson New York Giants

If you are these two veteran quarterbacks, you have to be looking over your shoulder. the Giants planning for their future moved up to pick 25 to select Dart as their next franchise signal caller. This mobile qb has great situational awareness and runs through his progressions well. He is an accurate passer and anticipates his receiver’s cuts very well

Now Dart may not be ready for “Prime Time” his first season but if you are Winston or Wilson and you are having a bad game, you might be tempted to look to the sidelines to see if the young rookie is coming in to save the day. This one will be interesting to watch as the season progresses, especially if the Giants are having another down year.

Next

In the next segment, I will share my 2025 NFL Draft first round haves.