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Cover 3

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Cover 3: Overlooked storylines heading into the draft

COVER-3

In this week's Cover 3, we discuss one thing that people aren't talking about enough as the NFL turns its attention back to the draft.

John Schmeelk: I'm going to take this all the way out to left field and go on a little rant. Sorry, Dan.

I think people need to be more careful with how they talk about where players will and should be selected in the draft. For example, just because someone gets drafted in the top 10, or even in the first round one year, doesn't necessarily mean they have that kind of grade by most NFL teams. There is always a top 10 in every draft, but they are not always equal. I had 10 players with legitimate top 10 grades in the 2024 NFL draft, but this season there will be fewer than five. The 10th-best player in this year's draft might not have been selected in the top 25 in last year's draft.

There are always 32 players selected in the first round (barring any vacated picks) but there are rarely 32 players with first-round grades. Once you get into the 20s, players will get drafted that have second-round grades on them by many teams. Talking to Chad Reuter on the “Giants Huddle” podcast, which will air later this week, he told me that he doesn't think there is much difference in the players between picks 25 and 45 in this year's draft. Yet, the 27th pick will be treated with much more reverence than the 40th because of optics.

Tiers like these are often why trades get done, where one team values a player more than another. For this very reason, I suspect there will be a lot of trades in this draft since the talent pool dictates there will likely be a huge disparity and volatility in how one team stacks the players versus another. One team may have a player as their 27th-best prospect, and another may have that same player in the 50-s, nearly a round different.

Rather than thinking about players based on what round they should be picked, people should be talking about how good of a player they think they are going to be. Pro Bowler? Above average starter? Below average? Depth piece? Stack the players that way and then use position scarcity to move players within their tiers. Then the class will dictate what round they will be picked in, rather than what round they may deserve to get picked in based on class strength.

This is the end of my TED talk.

NFL Media analyst Daniel Jeremiah released his latest ranking of the top 50 prospects in the 2025 NFL Draft.

Dan Salomone: There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man's fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call … The Draft Zone.

With one month to go, everyone (on the outside) is flipping and flopping and then flip-flopping with every new piece of draft intel. Naturally, everything revolves around the quarterback position. It is in this zone that we arrived at six quarterbacks going in the top 12 a year ago, and three of the top four the year before that.

But there is a very real possibility that, with the third overall pick, the Giants break into another dimension, one of position players on offense or defense. Or, in the case of one prospect, both.

At the Senior Bowl in late January, general manager Joe Schoen was asked about the scenario if both Cam Ward and Shedeur Sanders were taken before the Giants.

"We're going to be open to anything," Schoen said at the time. "We're in a good position sitting at three with the players that are available. By process of elimination, we know we're going to get a good player. Regardless of what happens the next couple of months, we know there's going to be a really good player there."

Indeed.

You have to go down 10 spots before hitting a quarterback (Ward) on Daniel Jeremiah's top 50 prospects list. Mel Kiper Jr., meanwhile, has four position players ahead of the first quarterback (Sanders) on his Big Board. In varying orders, the biggest draft experts have cornerback/wide receiver Travis Hunter, outside linebacker Abdul Carter, defensive tackle Mason Graham, and running back Ashton Jeanty as their highest-graded players.

With four picks in the top 105 – and still time in free agency – we'll see how the process of elimination plays out for the Giants come April 24.

Matt Citak: With under one month to go until the start of the 2025 NFL Draft, there are several position groups that seem to be garnering a lot of attention in the media. The defensive tackle position appears to be significantly deeper than last year's group, with NFL Network's Daniel Jeremiah recently saying he has 24 with starter grades (compared to just 12 last year). What's crazy is that defensive tackle is likely not even the top position group on the defensive side of the ball. That honor belongs to this year's group of edge rushers, who offer top-level talent along with many strong options that will get selected on Days 2 and 3.

But as we inch closer to the draft, one position group seems to be getting overlooked by both members of the media and fans alike – running back. Boise State's Ashton Jeanty is garnering plenty of buzz as a likely top 10 pick, but the rest of the class is not getting nearly enough attention. Jeanty will most likely be joined in the first round by North Carolina's Omarion Hampton, who racked up over 3,100 rushing yards and 30 touchdowns for the Tar Heels the last two seasons. Then you have players such as Ohio State's TreVeyon Henderson and Quinshon Judkins, both of whom should hear their names called early on Day 2, along with Iowa's Kaleb Johnson, Tennessee's Dylan Sampson, and Arizona State's Cam Skattebo. Not only did all of these guys enjoy dominant collegiate careers, but all could easily become the starting back for NFL teams early in their careers. I already mentioned seven running back prospects and haven't yet even discussed guys like Kansas' Devin Neal, Kansas State's DJ Giddens, UCF's RJ Harvey, Syracuse's LeQuint Allen or Georgia's Trevor Etienne, just to name a few.

The record for most running backs taken in a single draft since 2000 is 30, which was done in 2017. I'm not sure if this year's group will reach or beat that number, but they should at least come close. More important than the depth at the position is the pure talent this RB crop has. Only two running backs from the 2024 NFL Draft ran for more than 500 yards last year (Bucky Irving and Tyrone Tracy). I expect that number to be at least three times higher this upcoming season, as several of this year's backs are going to step in Day 1 and lead their team in touches.

View the top photos from college pro days across the country leading up to the 2025 NFL Draft.

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