The days of statuesque passers are a thing of the past. Shedeur Sanders is the evolution of the pocket passer. He’s athletic enough to get on the hoof and pick up first downs with his legs, but many might be surprised to hear he’s not close to the athlete his father was. Instead, he fits into the Geno Smith or C.J. Stroud-like mold. Sanders’ almost instantaneous release makes up for what is only a slightly above-average arm. It lets him consistently test tight windows, and his class-best accuracy helps his projection as a long-time NFL starter. Sanders’ pressure-to-sack rate and willingness to hold onto the ball could, and should, cause some concern. However, the context to that is he’s also operated on an NFL timeline for the past two seasons behind arguably one of the worst offensive lines in the country.
With every arm angle and endless reserves of velocity at his disposal, Cam Ward is the most exciting quarterback in college football. He also boasts impressive athleticism, allowing him to make rushers miss while also boasting a dense frame that can shake weaker sack attempts. Unfortunately, Ward’s urge to create also leads to a bevy of bad habits, including cross-body and cross-field attempts into traffic. He also struggles to take care of the ball inside of the pocket while creating. However, Ward’s biggest issue is not remaining on schedule and living as a quarterback on a down-in, down-out basis. He lives and dies by the big play, and while he’s a better athlete with a better arm, his game resembles Zach Wilson’s. Ward likely needs a runway to sit behind a bridge quarterback. If afforded that, he has the highest ceiling in this class by a wide margin.
We haven’t seen hands this violent on the interior since Jeffery Simmons was coming out of Mississippi State. Mason Graham’s explosiveness makes him a terrifying interior matchup alone, but his rare ankle flexibility makes him special. Michigan frequently used him from the A gap to the outside of the tackle, and he’s often seen looping from his interior position to bend around the edge. Graham also displays outrageous anchoring ability and a quick processor against the run, making him one of the most well-rounded interior defenders of the past decade. His play with his pants on fire while craving violence is reminiscent of Braden Fiske, who is prospering as a rookie despite having half the physical tools Graham has at his disposal.
Travis Hunter is one of one. If we had allowed ourselves to split the player into a cornerback and wide receiver, he would have ranked first and 12th, respectively. He’s the top cornerback in the NFL Draft, and he’s the best receiver. His rare ball skills as a wide receiver translate to the other side of the ball, and he’s played with more physicality in 2024 than in 2023. Hunter won’t play full-time on both sides at the next level. Teams must decide if he’s more valuable to them as a full-time defensive or offensive player. All that said, it would be malpractice to take away a potentially generational defensive prospect from that side of the ball entirely. A “best of both worlds” scenario would be playing 80-100% of the team’s defensive snaps while also playing 10-20% of the offensive snaps.
Tetairoa McMillan’s length is his greatest weapon. He possesses a wingspan matched only by the likes of Mike Evans and Kyle Pitts, which makes him an enticing prospect that the Jaguars may not be able to pass up as they look to get someone opposite rookie sensation Brian Thomas Jr. However, as consistently outstanding as Evans is, he’s never been considered one of the five best wide receivers in the game. He is 20 pounds heavier and has far more physicality than McMillan. The Arizona WR isn’t nearly as explosive as Pitts. His closest comparisons are probably Drake London and Tee Higgins. While both have been excellent as pros, neither are among the league’s best. McMillan might be an outlier to bet on, though. He’s smooth and technical as a route runner, and he attacks the football and makes it disappear better than anyone in recent memory not named Mike Gesicki. However, his lack of post-catch creativity and overall explosiveness means he lacks two of the most consistent indicators for NFL success.
Malaki Starks possesses the frame necessary to survive in the box and the reactionary athleticism to legitimately line up as a boundary cornerback. However, his best role would be as a back-end safety. Starks is an intelligent coverage defender on the back end with a quick downhill trigger as a buzz defender and as an alley filler in the run game. In a league moving more and more toward coverages requiring safeties to survive against the vertical threat from No. 2 receivers, players like Starks are a huge relief for defensive coordinators worried about explosive plays.
Mykel Williams hasn’t racked up the pass-rush productivity we’d all like to see from a top-flight NFL Draft prospect, but the physical tools he possesses are rare. His wingspan is otherworldly, and there are reps of him on the interior (at 265 pounds) extending a wing on an interior defender while anchoring down against a second blocker coming his way. Although raw as a rusher, we’ve consistently seen players like Williams quickly round into dominant forces at the NFL level. Pass rushers frequently exchange notes and train together with private coaches who have found the secret sauce to turn these ingredients into five-star meals. Williams’ upside will be hard to walk away from in a class lacking many true “first-round” graded players. However, his physical gifts only extend so far. He potentially has more lower-half flexibility to produce than he currently provides on tape, but his lack of bend, in addition to his technical smoothness, could land him lower in Round 1 than we originally anticipated.
In this mock draft, Carter falls to the eighth pick, and the Panthers don’t hesitate to turn this card in. In April, Carter is likely to be taken within the first five picks, if not the first three. It’s impossible not to see Micah Parsons in Carter’s game. They’re similarly built, although Carter clearly has more anatomical length. Penn State figured out that Carter should live on the edge, just as Dallas figured out with Parsons before too long. Carter plays with the same violence, but he’s far more developed as a pass rusher than Parsons was at the same point in his career.
In his first full season rushing the passer, Carter’s progression has been linear. After a slow start, he became increasingly dangerous as the season progressed. His hands are lightning-fast, violent, and accurate. He possesses the bend and lateral agility coveted in NFL rushers, and he flashes the same instant transmission closing speed as Parsons.
The Texas offense is an architectural masterpiece. It quickly attacks space while making almost everyone’s job easier, including its offensive tackles. We don’t see Kelvin Banks Jr. in many traditional pass sets. He rarely kick-steps vertically and is often not even forced into a 45-degree set. Although he’s a bit more heavy-footed than is ideal for a tackle, Banks makes up for it by understanding his opponent and playing to attack their weaknesses while combatting their strength off the edge. You’ll often see him employing different strike techniques within the same game depending on the situation and which opponent pass rusher is coming off the edge at him.
Saquon Barkley was a unique athlete. Bijan Robinson’s usage at Texas made him a special prospect. But neither player was as complete as Ashton Jeanty. Aside from not being able to ride every ride at the amusement park, Jeanty’s profile has no weaknesses. He led all running backs in receiving yards in 2023 and few are more alert and adept in pass protection. His vision is S-Tier good. Jeanty pops off Marshawn Lynch-esque runs of strung-together broken and missed tackles, all while possessing more than enough long speed to be an explosive threat every time he touches the ball. Just like the Lions selected Jahmyr Gibbs early in the first round, new head coach Ben Johnson might look to do the same in Chicago.
