The 2025 NFL Draft kicks off on Thursday night in Green Bay, and a lot of teams are going to significantly change their franchise for the better. There are also going to be some teams that get their top picks wrong and miss out on that opportunity. Let’s take a look at four teams that are mostly likely to mess things up on Thursday.
This is not necessarily a prediction on who each time will pick, but just an example as to how they could mess up.
Tennessee Titans
It is really difficult to mess things up when you have the No. 1 overall pick, but the Titans might end up doing so.
They seem likely to take Miami quarterback Cam Ward with the top pick, and it is at least somewhat understandable. It is a quarterback-driven league, they need a quarterback and they have an opportunity to add a player they hope will be a star.
But is Ward a franchise-changing player, or is he simply the best quarterback in a thin quarterback class?
You want to get a quarterback, but with that pick you also need to pick somebody that is going to be a superstar and have a borderline Hall of Fame career.
Penn State Edge rusher Abdul Carter could be that sort of player. Colorado two-way star Travis Hunter could be that sort of player.
Will Ward be that player? If he is not, this could be a big miss.
Las Vegas Raiders
The Raiders seem like the best bet to take Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty to give new head coach Pete Carroll the type of dominant running back he wants for his offense.
There is nothing wrong with a team taking Jeanty in the first round. He is the best prospect at his position and in the right situation could be an immediate impact player and star.
The problem is whether or not the Raiders are that team. A lot of teams are going to learn the wrong lessons from the Philadelphia Eagles and Saquon Barkley and try to duplicate that sort of blueprint. The reason Barkley and the Eagles worked was because they already had a great team and brought him in as a free agent to be the missing piece of the puzzle. They did not start their offense with him.
The Raiders are not quite in that same situation and still have big holes at wide receiver and on the offensive line, while also not having a long-term solution at quarterback. Jeanty might not excel in this setting as much as he would elsewhere, and the Raiders might miss a chance to take somebody else that can make a bigger impact in another spot.
Top-10 picks need to be immediate impact players at the most important positions. Running backs can be had in other spots.
Dallas Cowboys
This is a very similar situation to the Raiders. You have a team that tends to march to the beat of its own drum and can make weird decisions without caring about the fallout. Like the Raiders, it is also a team that could be in the market for a running back.
If Jeanty somehow falls to the No. 12 spot, that might be decent value, especially since the Cowboys already have a quarterback and some playmakers.
But what if he doesn’t? What if he is not there and they decide to reach for a running back like North Carolina’s Omarion Hampton? Or what if they do something even worse and trade up for a running back? Those would be potentially bad options.
Pittsburgh Steelers
The Pittsburgh Steelers are desperate for a quarterback. So desperate, in fact, that they are entertaining the possibility of signing a 41-year-old Aaron Rodgers and put up with his nonsense to see if he still has something left in the tank.
Are they so desperate to reach for a quarterback like Jaxson Dart of Jalen Milroe with the No. 21 pick?
If Shedeur Sanders is available he would be solid value. But if he is not they can not and should not reach for one of the other picks. They might be so desperate that they have no other choice.
