One of the top producers on the college football stage, can Liberty’s Kaidon Salter become a factor in the 2025 NFL Draft class with his scouting report? The potential is there, and the path has been laid out in front of him.
Kaidon Salter’s Draft Profile and Measurements
- Height: 6’1″
- Weight: 200 pounds
- Position: Quarterback
- School: Liberty
- Current year: Redshirt Junior
In a wide-open QB class like the 2025 NFL Draft, raw talent can be a separator. Salter is by no means lacking in that department.
Salter was a productive QB at Cedar Hill High School in Texas, and he earned a four-star billing in the 2021 recruiting class.
He originally committed to Tennessee and enrolled in January of 2021, but Salter’s tumultuous six-month stay on campus featured two arrests — one for an incident at a residence hall and another for a misdemeanor marijuana possession charge after being pulled over.
Salter was dismissed from the team after his second arrest, and ultimately transferred to Liberty to get a fresh start. He got acclimated in 2021, got his feet wet with four starts in 2022, and emerged as a high-level playmaker in 2023.
Taking the reins as Liberty’s full-time starter in 2023, Salter completed 177 of 290 attempts (61%) for 2,876 yards, 32 touchdowns, and just six interceptions. He also ran for 1,089 yards and 12 TDs on 163 carries.
In the process, Salter won first-team All-Conference USA honors at QB and also led Liberty to a C-USA title in its first season in the conference. Salter resurrected his career at Liberty after a shaky start — and became a team leader for the Flames — but how does he project now as a 2025 NFL Draft prospect?
Salter’s Scouting Report
Strengths
- Has the arm strength to drive the ball into tight windows outside the numbers.
- Brings the high-end arm elasticity to rifle off-platform lasers and layer passes with ease.
- Electric creative threat with stellar speed, lateral twitch, and extension ability in space.
- Has the fluid hips to redirect and channel burst out of direction changes as a runner.
- Flashes good playmaking instincts and defensive manipulation as an option threat.
- Is a danger as a passer from any platform with his torquing and angle freedom.
- Has extraordinary mechanical feel and can sequence his base with steady shoulders.
- Steady mechanics yield good general accuracy in the short and intermediate ranges.
- Capable game manager and distributor with smooth exchange skills and pace variation.
- Can climb and slide away from pressure threats while keeping himself in phase.
- Can trigger early on slot fade opportunities and can add controlled loft on throws.
- Able to place passes to WR leverage with touch on slot fades and vertical routes.
- Has shown he can use his eyes to freeze single-high safeties and open vertical space.
- Has the discretion and patience to wait for optimal second window throws.
- Tough-as-nails competitor with steely pocket poise and resolve in contact situations.
Weaknesses
- Has below-average size overall at the QB position with middling height and mass.
- Despite high-end creation capacity, might not have elite size-adjusted speed or burst.
- Willingness to engage and take big hits could bring long-term durability into question.
- Vision as a runner is questionable at times, as he’ll sometimes defer to congestion.
- Arm strength isn’t quite at the elite level to fully counteract suboptimal base load.
- At times, can better roll his base to add extra pace and drive on deep passes.
- Has room to be more consistent with situational placement on back-shoulder passes.
- Despite flashes of touch, situational precision in the deep third is very streaky.
- Sometimes gets tunnel vision and misses open WRs over the middle on rollouts.
- Can be very inconsistent with anticipation and field vision over the middle of the field.
- Overreliant on half-field reads and schemed plays without routine progression work.
- Is sometimes late to trigger on seam and wheel routes, allowing DBs to close in.
- Can get skittish at the top of his drop, losing congruence and drifting unnecessarily.
- Sometimes creates unnecessary chaos by bailing out of clean pockets prematurely.
- Played zero Power 5 schools in regular season, calling strength of schedule into question.
Current Draft Projection and Summary
Heading into the 2025 NFL Draft cycle, Salter grades out as a mid-to-late Day 3 prospect in the quarterback class. In spite of his size, he has the high-end physical tools to potentially rise farther up the board — but Salter has to develop as a passer before that happens.
Salter — who logged almost 4,000 yards from scrimmage and 42 total TDs in 2023 — is one of the most electric playmakers on the college football circuit. And at the root of that high-level playmaking ability is a physical skill set that’s very translatable.
Salter is an electric athlete, an exceptional creator, and a venerable off-platform threat with a strong arm and elite arm elasticity. And as a passer, he’s one of the most natural mechanical throwers in the class with an ingrained corrective failsafe that helps him.
That said, there are limitations with Salter’s play style and processing ability at this point in time, and NFL teams will do their due diligence about Salter’s off-field history at Tennessee.
Salter was able to feast on Group of 5 opponents for much of the 2023 season, winning largely on account of his tools and dynamic playmaking, but his operational profile was exposed at points.
Salter is still fairly overreliant on half-field reads, schemed plays, and misdirection. And when he does go through progression work, he can be inconsistent with his anticipation and trigger quickness. Additionally, his downfield precision and pocket discipline are inconsistent as well.
Salter is still relatively young — he’ll be just 22 years old at the start of the 2025 NFL Draft — so there’s time for him to keep growing on the operational side. He has early-round upside, but in the immediate timeline, he’s a quality Day 3 selection with backup and spot starter potential.
