Day 1 of the 2025 NFL Draft kicks off this Friday live from Lambeau Field.
The draft is always one of the most exciting dates on the NFL calendar; with teams trading up for prospects, trading down for assets, reaching for players and finding late round gems.
The three-day spectacle that is the NFL Draft is never short of storylines.
Of course, the biggest of those storylines always starts with the first overall pick.
For those not in the know, the draft order is determined by how you finished on the ladder in the previous season.
Whichever team wins the Super Bowl, will pick at number 32, if you “won” the wooden spoon you get first choice of the incoming crop of talent and have the first chance at picking who you think will be the best player to turn your team around.
The first overall pick is always a very heavily scrutinised selection and teams don’t always get it right (do yourself a favour and Google JaMarcus Russell).
That being said. there has been a plethora of generational talent come through the drafts in recent years and I decided to take a break from prepping my own dynasty draft to rank the First Overall Picks from the last decade.
10. Travon Walker (2022)
The Georgia Bulldogs player wasn’t expected to be taken first overall until the day of the draft when the news broke that the Jags preferred him over Aidan Hutchinson, who ended up going second to the Detroit Lions.
It was certainly an interesting pick to say the least.
Walker was certainly an incredible athletes but his college stats weren’t anything interesting at all.
65 Tackles and 9.5 sacks in three years of college ball wouldn’t normally earn you first overall pick status but the Jags saw potential in Walker.
It immediately paid dividends for the Jaguars as well, Walker scored himself a sack and an interception on debut but they were almost his only highlights all year.
His rookie year finished 2022 with 3.5 sacks, 49 tackles, 1 interception and a forced fumble.
Travon’s stats have improved year on year so far with 10 sacks in 2023 and 10.5 in 2024 but Walker will forever be compared to Aidan Hutchinson, the player you went second overall to the Lions.
Hutchinson only played five games last season but had already amassed 7.5 sacks in that time and was favourite for DPOY before getting injured.
So far in for their careers, Hutchinson has played 10 less games than Walker and has four and a half more sacks than Walker.
9. Jameis Winston (2015)
It’s Famous Jameis’ last year in this article and it’s time to give him the love he deserves.
There may not ever be another quarterback that was as hot and cold as the Florida State signal caller.
The Buccaneers went 2-14 in the 2014 season, their quarterback room consisted of Mike Glennon and Josh McCown.
To say they were desperate for a franchise QB would be a massive understatement.
There were only two genuine day one starter quarterbacks in the 2015 Draft, Winston and Marcus Mariota who both won Heisman Trophies in college and they were taken first and second respectively.
Jameis’ first pass attempt ever ended up being a pick-6 (talk about foreshadowing).
He put it behind him however and broke a plethora of rookie records for the Bucs, including most pass attempts, most completions, most pass yards and most passing touchdowns.
He became the third Quarterback ever to throw for 4000 yards in their first season and subsequently won Rookie of the Year.
Famous Jameis also became the first rookie QB ever to be selected in the Pro Bowl.
2019 ended up being Jameis’ last year in Tampa before some bloke named Tom Brady took over and that final year in Tampa for Jameis will go down in history as one of the best/worst seasons ever.
Jameis threw for a whopping 5,109 pass yards and 33 touchdowns which is an incredible season, those numbers would put a lot of QBs in the MVP conversation, however Jameis also threw an eye popping 30 interceptions.
Yes you read that right 30 INTS.
Since his time in Tampa, Jameis has bounced around the league as a backup QB and more of a motivator than anything else.
This season he is with the Giants and is every chance to outplay Russell Wilson to win the starting QB role (If the Giants don’t draft a Quarterback).
Jameis knows his time in the league is drawing to a close rapidly and has now started focusing on become more of a media personality which I am all for.
I love you Jameis but I don’t think you ever fully lived up to that first overall draft capital.
8. Bryce Young (2023)
“Bryce Young will not be a bust and that is a hill I’m willing to die on.” is how I finished his entry last season and I’m starting to feel excited about that.
The Carolina Panthers traded a suite of assets before the 2023 NFL Draft to jump up to the first overall spot.
That included all pro wider receiver DJ Moore and the 2024 first overall pick which ended up being Caleb Williams
When a team sells the farm to go and get a guy, there is always going to be a considerable amount of expectation and pressure on them to perform and out of the gate Bryce did not perform well at all.
All Bryce knew since he was a young athlete was winning, from High School Player of the Year in 2018, to winning the Heisman in 2021 to being the first player taken in the 2023 NFL Draft.
Winning and leading the way has been the only way for Bryce his entire life.
The price of being that good however normally means a pretty poor NFL team with a lack of direction and support is likely to pick you up – and that was exactly what happened to Bryce.
Bryce Young did everything he could to live up to the hype that was fairly or unfairly put on him but the fact of the matter is he had no offensive line to block for him, his best wide receivers were Adam Thielen and DJ Chark and he had an incredibly incompetent coaching squad that are suddenly no longer working for the Panthers.
Bryce Young in 2023 was the third most pressured QB and the second most sacked QB in the league.
One of the biggest knocks on his draft profile was that he was undersized and wouldn’t survive in the league.
Given he’s copped that much abuse already and is still standing is an incredible testament in itself.
Given that lack of protection and the inability for his wide receivers to get open quickly, Bryce Young had the most throwaways in his rookie season by any QB in the last five years and finished his first season with a stat line of 2,877 yards, 11 tds and 10 interceptions.
Dave Canales came in as head coach for 2024 and early into the season it looked like Bryce wasn’t going to take that next step.
Young was benched after two disappointing weeks to start the year but once he got another opportunity in Week 8 we saw a brand new QB.
Suddenly Young had a bit of swagger about him, he was attempting and making throws we hadn’t seen from him before, he was elusive in the pocket and the most important difference, he was winning games for Carolina. It was enough for fans to nickname him “The Carolina Reaper”
The Panthers finished 2024 with a record of 5-12 a massive improvement year on year and suddenly look like a young team with upside.
A strong draft this week and who knows what the Panthers could achieve in 2025.
One thing that I know, I’m enjoying being a Bryce Young Believer.
7. Trevor Lawrence (2021)
After what I’m going to call a “Gap Year” under Urban Meyer, Trevor Lawrence really started to live up the expectations many put on him.
Lawrence was the guaranteed first overall pick even before he had even finished high school.
Regarded as one of the best high school prospects of all time, the Clemson Tigers went all out to make sure they locked down Trevor to their program.
In his three seasons as a Tiger “Sunshine” only lost two games in total.
The Jaguars secured one of their many first overall picks in recent memory thanks to just general incompetence from every single person in the organisation.
The Jags won their Week 1 matchup in 2020 and then went on to lose the next 15 finishing 1-15 on the year.
Lawrence was $1.00000001 odds to be drafted by the Jags and to the surprise of no one, he was taken first overall.
Sadly for Lawrence, the then Jaguars coach had no desire to be a mentor to the young QB let alone a coach.
Meyer got his marching orders at the end of the soap opera that was the Jaguars’ 2021 season and Jacksonville hired Super Bowl winning coach Doug Pederson.
Fans will know Pederson as the guy who developed Carson Wentz in 2017, when he was on track to an MVP season before his ACL decided it had other plans.
In his second year in the NFL, Lawrence finished with 4,113 yards, 25 TDs and just 8 interceptions.
Not only that he completely turned the Jaguars around and lead them to their first playoff win since 2017 in an incredibly memorable game against the Chargers.
Many expected TLaw to continue to improve in 2023 but he certainly didn’t take the next step like a lot of people thought. 3641 yards, 12 touchdowns and a massive 17 interceptions simply is not good enough for a player of Trevor’s expected calibre and it saw the Jaguars finish 9-8 and miss the playoffs.
Things in fact did not improve for Lawrence in 2024. He had some good games but ended up with a shoulder injury and a monster concussion that saw him finish the season on the sideline.
We are once again at the top of the cycle for Trevor Lawrence where he has a new Head Coach, weapons and optimism things will finally click for the QB who once had as much upside as Andrew Luck. Will Liam Coen finally be able to unlock him?
6. Caleb Williams (2024)
Caleb’s college tape is some of the most enjoyable Youtube footage I’ve ever watched.
Just like Burrow & Lawrence before him, the world knew Caleb was going to be drafted first overall long before we even knew who had the first overall pick.
Caleb Williams started his college career at Oklahoma but could not lock down a starting spot.
There’s a famous game against Texas where he came in as an injury replacement for Spencer Rattler and broke the internet.
Caleb then took his talents to California where he took over the starting job at USC and balled out immediately.
In his first year as QB1 he threw for 4,537 yards, 42 touchdowns and just 5 interceptions that was enough for Caleb to not only win the Heisman but also start drawing profile comparisons to Patrick Mahomes.
When Caleb was drafted to the Bears there were a lot of people (me included) that expected him to hit the ground running from Day 1 and lead the Bears to the playoffs instantly.
“He has the best WR room a 1st overall QB has ever had” is a talking point that a lot of people (including myself) hammered home way too much.
While it may have been true, the Bears interior o-line was a turnstile and Caleb ate an incredible amount of sacks. 68 sacks in 16 games to be exact.
While he did get belted a lot, Caleb still finished with 3,541 yards, 20 tds and just six interceptions. That is something a lot of people forget. They are very respectable numbers.
The Bears finished 5-12 and without the Coach that drafted Caleb.
HOWEVER.
The offensive mastermind behind the Lions’ success Ben Johnson is now the Bears coach and his first act as HC was to go out and spend big on o-line to keep Caleb upright this season.
The future is bright for Williams and I think this next season will be monster for the young QB.
5. Kyler Murray (2019)
Since coming into the league in 2019, Kyler Murray has been an absolute stud.
The Cardinals got their man, the second Heisman winning Oklahoma Sooner to be drafted first overall in as many years in 2019 after the Cards finished the 2018 season with a record of 3-13.
During his time in college, Murray was just as good a baseball player as he was a quarterback, there were a lot of questions about where his allegiance lied.
In 2018 the Oakland Athletics actually drafted Murray in the 9th Round of the MLB draft but Kyler opted for football instead and went on to win the Heisman in 2018.
Murray’s size was a very large talking point coming into the draft. He was considered too small to take his game to the pros.
A lot of analysts thought he wouldn’t be tall enough to see over his O-Line and that his hands were too small to even hold the football properly.
Since joining the Cardinals, Murray has been a dual threat on the ground and through the air.
Kyler’s first season in the NFL saw him finish with 3,722 passing yards, 20 passing TDs as well as 544 rush yards, four rushing touchdowns on 93 carries.
This was enough to to see him win Offensive Rookie of The Year, the first #1 Pick to do this since Cam Newton in 2011.
Murray’s second and third years as a starter has seen him earn two Pro Bowl appearances and the Cardinals made their first playoff appearance in 2021.
Kyler returned from an ACL halfway through the 2023 NFL season and finished with a stat line of 1799 yards, 10 tds, 5 ints as well ass 544 rushing yards and 4 tds on the ground in just eight games.
Kyler in 2024 returned to the QB we knew he was pre ACL tear, throwing for 3851 yards, 21 tds as well as 572 rush yards and five rushing tds.
Despite not making the playoffs in 2024 the Cardinals weren’t too far behind the pace. Finishing 8-9 in a division where every team seems to be sliding backwards.
Could we see Arizona back in the playoffs this year?
4. Baker Mayfield (2018)
The Browns had the pick of the litter once again in 2018 after they became only the second team in NFL history to go 0-16.
The QB Class in 2018 was STACKED according to analysts and for weeks it was a two horse race between USC’s Sam Darnold and UCLA’s Josh Rosen as to who was going to go first overall to the Browns.
Very late mail came through in the last week that Cleveland liked the 2017 Heisman Trophy winner Baker Mayfield and on Draft night, the Sooner was the first name off the board in front of Sam Darnold, Josh Rosen, Josh Allen and 2019 & 2023 MVP Lamar Jackson.
Baker had leadership, raw talent and swag by the boat load.
He got his first game time in Week 3 when Tyrod Taylor went down hurt and took the Browns to their first win in what felt like an eternity.
Baker finished his rookie season with 3,725 Pass Yards and broke Peyton Manning & Russell Wilson’s rookie record for most passing touchdowns in a season.
Things looked to be on the up for Baker and the Browns.
In Baker’s third Season, he finally got a taste of playoff football as the Browns won their Wild Card game but went down to the Chiefs in the Divisional Playoffs a week later.
Baker bounced around the league in 2022, getting traded from the Browns to the Panthers before getting released only to land with the Rams.
His Rams debut was one of the greatest games I’ve ever seen, despite not having many believers left in the league, Baker lead a very depleted Rams outfit to a late comeback against the Raiders with two minutes left on the clock and about 30 minutes of playbook study completed.
2023 saw Baker take his talents to Tampa Bay, a move a lot of people thought would not pay off and that the Buccs would have a very early pick this year.
That wasn’t the case at all and Baker once again proved that he has the talent to hang with the big dogs in this league.
Mayfield threw for 4,044 yards, 28 tds and 10 ints in 2023. That was enough for the Buccs to finish 9-8, win the NFC South, go to the playoffs and even got a win in the wildcard round. Eliminating Jalen Hurts and the Eagles before going down to Detroit 31-23.
Baker signed a three year $100M contract with Tampa Bay and lead them to a NFC South title in 2024 by throwing for a jaw dropping 4,500 yards and 41 tds.
Turns out all he needed was stability and belief and Baker would play like a first overall pick.
He also plays with a Zyn in his top lip.
I love you Baker Mayfield.
3. Jared Goff (2016)
The 2016 Draft started with a bang when the Tennessee Titans traded their first overall pick, a fourth round and sixth round picks to the Rams in exchange for their 15th overall, two second round picks and a third as well as the Rams first and third round picks in next years draft.
The Rams were all in on Jared Goff, the QB from the University of California.
Things didn’t go well for the young QB straight off the bat, he started his rookie campaign 0-7 and was regarded league wide as a very expensive dud pick.
The Rams invested heavily in their QB prospect, new coach Sean McVay began building a pretty impressive roster around Goff when he took over in 2017 and they became a regular feature in the post season.
It all came to a head in 2018 when Goff lead the Rams to a Super Bowl matchup against the New England Patriots.
Unfortunately for Goff it was too tall of a mountain to climb, the Patriots beat the Rams 13-3 and they failed to make the playoffs in the following season.
The Rams decided they had seen enough from Goff and traded him to Detroit for Matthew Stafford and even more draft picks.
All things considered Goff had a very impressive tenure with the Rams, he finished with a 42-27 record as well as 18,171 passing yards & 107 touchdown passes.
Goff has had a massive resurgence since joining the Lions in 2022. He’s had multiple seasons of 4400+ passing yards and TD totals of 29, 30 and 37 in his three years in Detroit.
Goff lead the Lions to their first Divisional Championship in 30 years last season and fell agonisingly close to a trip to the Super Bowl, losing to the 49ers 34-31.
This Detroit team now has serious expectations year in and year out and a lot of that is to do with Goff’s incredible QB play.
What a bounce back from a player people thought might’ve been toast after that Super Bowl loss to the Patriots.
2. Joe Burrow (2020)
Joe Brrr, Joe Shiesty, HIM.
Burrow became the first ever draft pick announced via Zoom when he got drafted to the Cincinnati Bengals in 2020.
The Bengals were coming off a 2-14 season and the LSU prospect was coming off the greatest ever season by a quarterback in the history of college football.
15-0 on the season 5,671 Passing Yards, 60 Touchdowns, 6 Interceptions, 368 Rush Yards and 5 Rushing TDs.
Not to mention he lead LSU to a National Championship.
Burrow was that dude in college and he was ready to be that dude in the NFL too.
He jumped out of the gates strong and was on track to have a hell of a rookie season.
In Week 7 Burrow became the first ever rookie in NFL history to finish a game with 400 pass yards, 3 passing touchdowns and a rushing TD in a single game.
In Week 11, Joe was hit while throwing a pass and ended up with a torn ACL, MCL as well as damage to is PCL and meniscus.
He did a good job on his knee and subsequently, Joe’s rookie campaign was over.
The Bengals finished with the fifth overall pick in the next draft and a lot of fans begged the organisation to draft a top lineman prospect to keep the new face of the franchise on his feet.
The Bengals made a very bold move instead in 2021 and drafted Burrow’s college teammate and number 1 Wide Receiver Ja’Marr Chase with the fourth Overall pick.
The Burrow to Chase connection was one of the greatest things to watch in the 2021 season.
Burrow threw for a whopping 4,611 Yards and 34 touchdowns in 2021 which saw him win Comeback Player of the Year after his brutal knee injury.
Joe’s efforts took the Bengals all the way to the Super Bowl in just two seasons, unfortunately the rapid improvement of the Bengals wasn’t quite enough to win them a ring, losing a close one against the LA Rams.
The Bengals set a record for most sacks allowed in post season history (19) and Burrow had been sacked a monster 83 times in just two years.
He continued to show the world that he is that guy. Burrow lead the Bengals through another reasonably successful playoff campaign in 2022 and fell agonisingly short of a second Super Bowl appearance in as many years when the lost 20-23 in the AFC Championship game.
2023 was a down year for Burrow and it started in pre season when he had to be carted off the practice field with a calf injury.
Burrow battled through that but didn’t look himself, then disaster struck in November when he tore a ligament in his right wrist.
That was the end of Joe Burrow’s 2023.
2309 yards, 15 tds and 6 ints and a 9-8 record. Which got the Buccs into the playoffs but gets you 4th in the AFC North.
2024 was a return to glory for Burrow, he finished the season with the most passing yards and tds by a QB in the league. 4,918 yards and 43 tds but the Bengals horrific defence cost them far too many games in a very competitive division and the Bengals finished on just 9-8 missing the playoffs.
Cincy need to build a better defence if they ever actually want to cash in on this incredible QB talent. Will that happen in this years draft?
1. Myles Garrett (2017)
Myles Garrett has quickly become one of, if not the scariest Defensive Ends in the League.
Through eight seasons in the league he has 102.5 sacks, 352 tackles and 20 forced fumbles.
The Browns were coming off a 1-15 year and had just wasted a first round pick on Johnny Manziel.
Hue Jackson’s Browns needed a leader and a face of the franchise, someone that would be their anchor for years to come.
They absolutely got that with Myles but they could’ve had Patrick Mahomes, the best quarterback in the world and the very definition of a generational talent.
Garrett has not let the Mahomes noise bother him and continues to produce at an elite level. 2023 was Garrett’s best year as a pro and saw him go on to win Defensive Player of The Year.
Garrett has had just one season without double digit sack numbers and that was his rookie year.
In the offseason he also signed the biggest non quarterback contract in history. Four years, $40 million per year, $123.5 million guaranteed.
You don’t get that kind of money if you haven’t returned on investment.
With the first pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, The Tennessee Titans select…
Most likely Cam Ward but this draft class could really be anything.
Every “expert” I’ve read has all of the 2025 prospects ranked differently and while I don’t think the talent this season is at the levels of previous classes. We will certainly see a very exciting draft day.
Will Cam Ward go first? Where does Shedeur Sanders end up? Who takes Travis Hunter and do they use him like Colorado did in college? Is Ashton Jeanty going to be him like he was in college?
I’m looking forward to getting these questions answered and figuring out where this years first overall pick sits in the 2026 edition of this article.