Reviewing the 1st Round of the 2025 NFL Draft

While the Stanley Cup and NBA Playoffs commenced, and the MLB's first month was coming to a close, the NFL Draft took place. Amazing that Draft time has come already, and it's always the NFL Draft that is the biggest deal out of the main four leagues. You always hear Draft talk during the season, and the NFL's Draft gets the most TV coverage out of the four leagues. My remote trigger finger was quite busy, as I not only watched the playoff action, I peeped in on Round 1 of the Draft. I remember semi-religiously watching the Draft for a few years; I even wrote down all of the picks as I watched one year--I think it was the fateful 2005 Draft that I did that.

This year's Draft was in Green Bay, which is fitting because it marks the 20th anniversary that Aaron Rodgers was shockingly drafted by the Packers. That's not why I was curious, though. I wanted to know who'd go #1 overall, because everyone wants to know that. I was curious to know who would draft Shedeur Sanders, the quarterback son of the iconic Deion Sanders, and also, I was hoping that the stories were true and the Packers would actually draft a wide receiver.

Before I get to all of that, let's talk about how the Draft order works:

This year, there are 257 picks in the NFL Draft, and regarding the first two rounds, it's 32 picks each. The draft order is determined by the previous season's standings, in reverse order. This is why you always hear talk about "tanking" in sports; when teams know their season's over, they take it easy, scale back, and basically play for hopes of a better draft pick--with that type of scheming turned up big time in the NFL. The draft order goes like this: the 18 teams who miss the playoffs get those first 18 picks, and that's determined via reverse standings order, with the worst record drafting first, the second worst record drafting second, and so on. As for the 14 playoff teams, picks #19-#24 go to the teams who lost on Wild Card Weekend (in reverse standings order). Picks #25-#28 go to the teams who lost in the Divisional Playoff (in reverse standings order), while picks #29 and #30 go to the conference runners-up, with the worse one picking #29 while the better one picks at #30. The losing team in the Super Bowl picks #31, and the Super Bowl Champions draft 32nd.

Everything I laid out occurs barring trades, and draft picks can be traded before and during the season, and even during the Draft! So here are some of the notes from Round 1 of this year's Draft:

You always remember the first pick of any sport's draft, especially if #1 turns out to be either a superstar or a super bust. Regarding this year's Draft, Cam Ward ended up getting that honor, as the QB was selected by the Tennessee Titans--who actually picked up Tyler Lockett via free agency days prior. I do have a sinking feeling the Titans will turn heads in 2025. No playoffs, but they could end up winning about 7 games and stay in it until about a few weeks left. I wouldn't be surprised.

I did mention that picks could be traded during the Draft. They always are, but this one was a big one:

The Cleveland Browns were set to draft 2nd, but in a stunner, it was announced that they traded their #2 position to the Jacksonville Jaguars, and the Jags ended up drafting Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter! What a huge deal for the Jags. Hunter and Shedeur Sanders were two of the top prizes in the draft, and I was looking to see where they would go. So Hunter now serves as a new target for Trevor Lawrence, and we'll see if he could push the Jags back to being a playoff team--coming just a few years after their big division title in 2022.

Now for the grand question. Who did the Packers draft during Round 1?

We did it. We actually drafted a wide receiver in Round 1. The last time the Packers drafted a WR in Round 1 was 2002. Brett Favre was our QB. I was hoping for Emeka Egbuka, the WR from Ohio State, coming off a National Championship. However, I am happy with who we did end up drafting. Matthew Golden, from the University of Texas. I've heard Golden's name mentioned a lot, and he's damn good with a lot of speed. So we have Golden to go with Jayden Reed, Romeo Doubs, and Christian Watson. That is an embarrassment of riches right there!

So in all of this, where did Shedeur Sanders go? He didn't, not yet, anyway. Sanders was expected to be drafted high in the first round, but after the teams who needed QBs didn't draft him, it became a foregone conclusion that Sanders would not be drafted in Round 1. He'll most likely be an early second round pick, but still, it's a shocker. I can't help but think that the snubbing could be racially motivated. People are actually criticizing Sanders' number being retired at the University of Colorado. "It's only because he's Deion's son," we keep hearing. I swear, the outrage against any form of nepotism is selective. This is the same racist crap Bronny James is going through. I guarantee you, if Shedeur Sanders was White and the son of a White NFL legend, he would be applauded immensely and probably get his own statue, with people saying that he "earned his own path."

So those are some of the highlights of Round 1 of the 2025 NFL Draft, which included some good picks, and quite a few trades, which incuded the Eagles and Chiefs swapping spots, the Giants trading up to a second Round 1 pick, and the Rams trading themselves out of Round 1. Six rounds remain, but Round 1 gets the most pomp and circumstance, because that's usually where the top stars are made.