For fans of teams who struggled mightily in the previous season, the last Thursday of April can be seen as a beacon of hope and an indicator of the future. This was the case for numerous teams this year, perhaps the New York Giants the most, at the 2025 NFL Draft in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
With the third overall pick, the Giants selected edge rusher Abdul Carter from Pennsylvania State University, who many analysts argued was the best overall player in this year’s draft class. Carter will be explosive on a defensive line where he joins Dexter Lawrence II, one of the best defensive players in the National Football League, as well as Brian Burns and Kayvon Thibodeaux, to make for what should be a very strong defense. In the season where the Giants might be experimenting at the quarterback position, it will be important for their defense to be able to carry their weight.
Speaking of quarterbacks, the Giants traded back into the first round for the 25th pick to select quarterback Jaxson Dart from the University of Mississippi. Dart will join Jameis Winston and Russell Wilson in the quarterback room, two veterans the Giants signed in the offseason. This will give Dart the time to develop and learn from more seasoned NFL veterans instead of being thrown into the starting job immediately, as he would have with other teams. In a transitional year for Big Blue, this was a perfect move: the Giants got their preferred quarterback, are putting him in a situation positive for his development, and they still got the best available player with their top pick. Alongside picks in the later rounds, Giants fans should be very pleased with the selections the team made, and after a very difficult 2024 season, fans have something to look forward to.
On the Jets’ end, they didn’t make any surprising, flashy moves, but that is not necessarily a negative. With their first round pick, the seventh pick overall, they selected University of Missouri tackle Armand Membou, adding to an offensive line that has the chance to be the best in the league. He joins Olumuyiwa Fashanu and Alijah Vera-Tucker from last year’s team, as well as new free-agent signing John Simpson. In the second round, Gang Green went with tight end Mason Taylor out of Louisiana State University, adding athleticism at the position. They had a need at tight end, and they filled it nicely. Overall, Jets fans also have a lot to anticipate this season, especially with an already fantastic offensive line getting bolstered.
Outside of New York, a few other teams and players made headlines. With the first overall pick, the Tennessee Titans selected quarterback Cam Ward from the University of Miami, altogether not a surprising pick. Second overall, there was a surprise, as the Jacksonville Jaguars traded up from the fifth overall pick to select University of Colorado wide receiver and cornerback Travis Hunter, who also won the Heisman Trophy last year. Hunter is extremely talented at both positions and wants to play both in the NFL, which is extraordinarily unique. The Jaguars have been up and down in the last few seasons, and this move has the potential to completely turn things around. The Jaguars’ aggression in their pursuit of Hunter also shows how much they believe in his potential and are willing to go after players of his caliber, the kind that could turn around a franchise.
One name floating around the NFL universe for much of the Draft was that of Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders, son of Hall of Famer Deion Sanders. Sanders was once projected as a very early pick, possibly even top three. He ended up falling not to the second round, or even the third, but all the way to the fifth round, where the Cleveland Browns finally selected him with the 144th overall pick. Five quarterbacks were taken before Sanders, and one of those five was also selected by the Browns, the University of Oregon’s Dillon Gabriel. It is unclear why Sanders fell so far, but there have been rumblings that his meetings with teams did not go well, and analysts have discussed how Sanders’s potential drawbacks outweighed his positives to make him a first-round selection. Sanders and Gabriel join veterans Joe Flacco and Kenny Pickett in Cleveland’s quarterback room, and there is no clear starter there, especially with the seeming end to the Deshaun Watson era in Cleveland due to injury. Sanders’ fall puts a chip on his shoulder, and it will be up to him to prove that the first 143 picks missed out.
Ultimately, it will be the products on the field that prove whether the 2025 draft was successful for any team, but many fans across the league have reason to be optimistic and count down the days until September.
