- The Ravens and Eagles do it again: Seemingly every year, Baltimore and Philadelphia find a way to secure top players with later picks. Both teams are trending up after Round 1.
- The Falcons gave up a lot in a big trade: If the team's Round 1 move for James Pearce Jr. doesn't pan out, it will go down as a tough look.
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Draft Position Rankings
The 2025 NFL Draft kicked off as expected with Cam Ward going first, Travis Hunter going second and Abdul Carter going third, but chaos ensued early with the Jaguars trading up to the Browns‘ No. 2 pick for what many consider to be a generational prospect.
As usual, some teams were fortunate to have top prospects fall to them late after others made questionable decisions with reaches. With that in mind, let’s take a closer look at three teams trending up and three teams trending down after the first round.
Trending Up
Baltimore Ravens
The Ravens targeted the best player available and landed safety Malaki Starks, the eighth-ranked player on the PFF Big Board, at 27th overall. He is a sure tackler, as evidenced by his 8.1% missed tackle rate (one of the lowest in the class) and a top-tier 85.6 PFF run-defense grade.
Starks is a versatile player in the secondary; while most of his snaps came at free safety (1,191), he lined up in the slot 664 times and in the box 544 times over his three seasons at Georgia. He is a proven playmaker with a high football IQ, and his presence will allow Kyle Hamilton to be a movable chess piece on a stout Ravens defense.
Philadelphia Eagles
Seemingly every year, the Eagles are among the teams trending up during the NFL draft because they’ve developed quite the knack for drafting the best player available, regardless of where they are picking. This year, they selected Alabama linebacker Jihaad Campbell (13th on the PFF Big Board) at 31st overall after moving up one spot in the order.
Campbell has the ideal build and athletic ability to play any linebacker spot. He is one of the best tacklers in the class (5.9% missed tackle rate) and led all college football linebackers with 30 coverage stops across 300-plus snaps in 2024. In Philadelphia, Campbell will have the opportunity to learn alongside All-Pro Zack Baun in the middle of an elite defense.
Denver Broncos
Most mock drafts seemed to pair Denver with a running back in the first round, but instead, the Broncos landed an elite cornerback prospect in Jahdae Barron (11th on the PFF Big Board) with the 20th overall selection. Barron is a versatile defensive back, capable of lining up at wide/slot cornerback or safety on any down. Last season, opposing quarterbacks produced a 34.2 passer rating when targeting Barron in coverage — lower than if they threw it into the ground on every play (39.6).
Barron is coming off a season in which he was the highest-graded cornerback in the nation (91.1). In Denver, he will pair up with reigning Defensive Player of the Year Pat Surtain II, forming one of the top duos in the league from day one.
Trending Down
Dallas Cowboys
The Cowboys opted to fill a void on their interior offensive line with Tyler Booker following Zack Martin’s retirement in March. Booker was the 48th-ranked prospect on the PFF Big Board, so the value here could be viewed as a bit of a reach.
The Alabama guard earned an 86.5 PFF pass-blocking grade in 2024 and should help a Cowboys offense that ranked 23rd in PFF pass-blocking grade (62.1) this past season. Booker is praised for his competitiveness, leadership and high football IQ, so he should transition well to the NFL. With that said, it’s fair to question if the Cowboys leaned too heavily on a need early on instead of focusing on the best player available at 12th overall.
San Francisco 49ers
The 49ers seemed likely to address their defensive line early heading into the draft, a thin position for them behind Nick Bosa. Mykel Williams is stout against the run, ranking in the 97th percentile among college edge defenders over the past three seasons; however, his pass-rush profile and consistency (11.1% pass-rush win rate and 61.0 true pass set PFF pass-rush grade) are lower than ideal for a player who was selected 11th overall.
In San Francisco, Williams will work with Robert Saleh, who will aim to unlock his true potential in the longer term. Like a handful of other players in Round 1, it’s less about the player (Williams is projected as one of the safer NFL transitions in this class) and more about the draft slot (top 12), a spot where you’d like to have more confidence in a player's potential ceiling down the line.
Atlanta Falcons
On paper, the Falcons did a good job of upgrading their defense with linebacker Jalon Walker at 15th overall and edge defender James Pearce Jr. at 26th overall. Atlanta ranked 31st in pass-rush win rate (34.2%) and 29th in total quarterback pressures (230) last season, so the team clearly needed some juice on the edge.
The concern for Falcons is the price they had to pay to move back into the first round to acquire Pearce. They traded Nos. 46 and 242 and a 2026 first-rounder in exchange for the Rams' No. 26 and 101 selections. If Walker (19.6% pass-rush win rate) and Pearce (22.4% pressure rate over the past two years) translate immediately to the NFL, this will look like a good trade. If they struggle and the 2026 first-round pick becomes a top-15 selecton, it’s going to be tough looking back. There is a lot riding on this move for Atlanta.
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