A quarterback has been selected No. 1 overall in six of the past seven drafts and eight of the last 10. It's the most important position on any team, and you could argue by a large margin. Who knows what happens over the next eight months, but the 2025 NFL Draft could see a non-quarterback be the first off the board since the Jaguars took Trevon Walker in 2022.
This is my annual preseason Top 50 Draft Board. And if you missed it, we talked about all of the prospects below (and then some) during our summer scouting series on the "With the First Pick Podcast" with Rick Spielman and Mike Renner.
And while a year ago provided little suspense -- Caleb Williams was the frontrunner from August through late April -- as we sit here, Michigan cornerback Will Johnson is No. 1 on my board.
It's worth noting that, in the Super Bowl era, exactly zero cornerbacks have been drafted first overall (or No. 2, for that matter), and only three have been selected with the third pick: Shawn Springs in 1997, Jeff Okudah in 2020 and Derek Stingley Jr. in 2022. Other notable names to go in the top 5: Denzel Ward and Sauce Gardner (No. 4 in 2018 and 2022), and Patrick Peterson and Jalen Ramsey (No. 5 in 2011 and 2016).
Will Johnson deserves to be in the same conversation as those names, and if his 2024 season builds on what he put on tape in 2023, he'll be a top-5 pick all day long. Rick, Mike and I all raved about Johnson over the summer, and our three player comps for him reflected as much: Christian Gonzalez, Patrick Surtain II and Patrick Peterson (you can check out the segment on Johnson below):
At 6-foot-2 and 202 pounds, Johnson moves like a much smaller, twitched-up corner with the added benefit of size and physicality throughout the route. The size and physicality shows up in run support, too, where he plays more like a strong safety coming downhill. History suggests he won't go first overall, and in a quarterback-driven league, that makes sense. But whomever lands him in the top 5 will have a Day 1 difference-maker based on his tape to date.
1. Will Johnson, CB, Michigan
2. Kelvin Banks Jr., OT, Texas
3. Mason Graham, DL, Michigan
4. Mykel Williams, ED, Georgia
5. Travis Hunter, CB, Colorado
Five players in and still no quarterback, but there is no shortage of freakish athletes scratching the surface on what they can be as football players. Perhaps the most intriguing is Travis Hunter, who is listed as a cornerback here but who, in addition to three interceptions a season ago, hauled in 57 passes for 721 yards and 5 more touchdowns as a receiver for the Buffs. He's more polished as a cornerback right now, but he's so incredibly dynamic on both sides of the ball that he's a first-rounder at two positions.
6. Carson Beck, QB, Georgia
7. Will Campbell, OT, LSU
8. Tetairoa McMillan, WR, Arizona
9. James Pearce, ED, Tennessee
10. Harold Perkins, LB, Louisiana State
Carson Beck is QB1 (and No. 6 on our preseason Big Board). Yes, he has the benefit of playing at Georgia with a bunch of 5-stars, but he's a good athlete who has shown the ability to get through his reads, get the ball out on time and throw with anticipation. He has a strong arm and showed last season he was willing to throw the ball accurately into tight windows -- all things that translate to the NFL. But unlike Caleb Williams or Trevor Lawrence, the race for QB1 is wide open. Not because Beck can't be that guy, but because there could be a Jayden Daniels or Joe Burrow in this class who makes huge strides during the season.
Who might that be? Keep reading.
11. Luther Burden III, WR, Missouri
12. Abdul Carter, ED, Penn State
13. Benjamin Morrison, CB, Notre Dame
14. Deone Walker, DL, Kentucky
15. Shedeur Sanders, QB, Colorado
Abdul Carter is moving from off-ball linebacker to edge rusher for the Nittany Lions, and at 6-foot-3 and 259 pounds, that makes sense on paper. It makes even more sense when you see Carter play. He lined up as an outside linebacker/edge rusher on 90 snaps in 2023 and had seven pressures while flashing an assortment of pass-rush moves. He's not Micah Parsons (who is?), but he's an explosive player whom I feel comfortable talking about in the same breath as his former teammate, Chop Robinson, and other first-rounders from last year's class like Dallas Turner and Jared Verse.
I know Deion Sanders currently isn't happy with CBS Sports, but perhaps he'll take some comfort in knowing that Shedeur is my QB2. He was one of the toughest players in college football a season ago, and I thought he made huge strides in his first year at the FBS level, especially behind such a suspect offensive line. He needs to do a better job of getting the ball out on time, but there's a lot to like about his game.
16. Colston Loveland, TE, Michigan
17. Jonah Savaiinaea, OT, Arizona
18. Quinn Ewers, QB, Texas
19. Emeka Egbuka, WR, Ohio State
20. Malaki Starks, S, Georgia
There is no Brock Bowers in this tight end class, but there are a lot of really good players, and it starts with Colston Loveland. He has an enormous catch radius and makes catches outside of his frame look easy at times. He's also a precise route runner with some juice in the open field that consistently proved to be matchup problems for linebackers tasked with trying to cover him.
Meanwhile, Savaiinaea, my OT3, is a mauler in the run game who can play in both gap and zone schemes. He needs to hone his technique in pass protection, but he plays with an incredible anchor and may have the heaviest hands in the class. His style of play and demeanor remind me of Saints first-rounder Taliese Fuaga.
21. J.T. Tuimoloau, ED, Ohio State
22. Denzel Burke, CB, Ohio State
23. Barrett Carter, LB, Clemson
24. Cameron Ward, QB, Miami
25. Landon Jackson, ED, Arkansas
26. Tyleik Williams, DL, Ohio State
27. Quinshon Judkins, RB, Ohio State
28. Danny Stutsman, LB, Oklahoma
29. Emery Jones, OT, LSU
30. Conner Weigman, QB, Texas A&M
Two more QBs round out the top 30: Cam Ward and Conner Weigman. (NOTE: it's important to emphasize that this isn't where I necessarily think these players will be drafted; it's where I have them ranked -- irrespective of where teams are drafting or team needs -- after summer scouting.)
Ward is my darkhorse to make a Jayden Daniels/Joe Burrow ascent up draft boards after the fall. (Yes, the hope is that, now that he's transferred to Miami, coach Mario Cristobal won't throttle his play-making abilities like we saw with Justin Herbert when Cristobal was the Oregon coach.) And while I'm not as high on Weigman as, say, Spielman and Renner, I recognize that there's a lot to like about him, especially since he only played in four games a season ago due to injury.
31. Ollie Gordon II, RB, Oklahoma State
32. Tyler Booker, OL, Alabama
33. Princely Umanmielen, ED, Ole Miss
34. Ricardo Hallman, CB, Wisconsin
35. Nic Scourton, ED, Texas A&M
36. Jalen Milroe, QB, Alabama
37. Donovan Jackson, OG, Ohio State
38. Oscar Delp, TE, Georgia
39. Omarion Hampton, RB, North Carolina
40. Walter Nolen, DL, Ole Miss
There are four running backs in my top 50.
For perspective, only two were drafted in the first two rounds this spring (Jonathon Brooks, Trey Benson), three went in the top 52 in 2023 (Bijan Robinson, Jahmyr Gibbs, Zach Charbonnet), three in the top 63 in 2022 (Breece Hall, Kenneth Walker III, James Cook), three in the top 35 in 2021 (Najee Harris, Travis Etienne, Javonte Williams) and six in the top 62 back in 2020 (Clyde Edwards-Helaire, D'Andre Swift, Jonathan Taylor, Cam Akers, JK Dobbins, AJ Dillon).
Ollie Gordon II is my RB2 and he is smooth, patient, shifty … then explosive. His patience reminds me at times of Le'Veon Bell even if he's some 25-30 pounds lighter than Bell was at Michigan State. I'd like to see him run with a lower pad level but he's a playmaker, especially when he gets to the edge.
Hampton, meanwhile, had 4.2 yards after contact last season, which was best among the top runners in this class. He needs to improve in pass protection, but he's a power back who welcomes contact, is tough to bring down in the open field, and has surprisingly good hands coming out of the backfield.
41. Mitchell Evans, TE, Notre Dame
42. Smael Mondon, LB, Georgia
43. Drew Allar, QB, Penn State
44. Ashton Jeanty, RB, Boise State
45. Isaiah Bond, WR, Texas
46. Wyatt Milum, OT, West Virginia
47. Kenneth Grant, DL, Michigan
48. Garrett Nussmeier, QB, LSU
49. Evan Stewart, WR, Oregon
50. Howard Cross, DL, Notre Dame
Two more QBs round out my top 50 -- Drew Allar and Garrett Nussmeier. You can see what Rick, Mike and I we said about them during summer scouting here and here. But I want to talk about No. 50 on my list, Howard Cross. Last October, in my mid-season top 50 big board update, I had Cross at No. 51. What I wrote at the time remains as true as ever:
"The Notre Dame defensive tackle is undersized in the traditional sense, but apparently no one relayed the news to him. His measurables don't scream 'top-50 player,' but I don't care because my man is regularly disruptive on the interior, whether it's the first snap of the game or the final play of the fourth quarter."
He doesn't have the physical attributes of a Braden Fiske, but the tenacity with which he plays reminds me of Fiske, the former Florida State defensive linemen who was a second-round pick of the Rams this spring.