The 2025 Draft Thread

[The Chump Bailey]

Has he grown as a person or is he a legit problem

Green is the one I'd label a character issue with 2 alleged sexually assaults. I'm not sure how Pierce is being cast as a character concern based on what you posted - much ado about nothing. Young guys do dumb things, especially those without a strong nuclear family. We breed this dysfunction in America IMO but that's another topic for a different thread

 

[HTTR]

So many articles are just sorta Woozle-hunting and cite anonymous league sources, specifically some anonymous AFC team's guy saying they are thinking of dropping him off their board, BUT this website (be ready for some pop up ads and such) https://www.sportskeeda.com/college...teammate-vouches-anger-issues-ahead-nfl-draft

has 2 things:

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1) someone from his high school saying he has anger issues; and

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2) stemming from his arrest in 2023 about driving 63 in a 35 and having a suspended license and no insurance card.

Now, for me, I do not give a singular crap about #2. I'm a criminal defense attorney and #2 is like, a normal every day occurrence. If I had a dollar for every person I represent with a security clearance who got charges similar (or worse!) than #2, I'd get like $200 a year.

#1 is more concerning bc what I desperately do not want is him to get here and then suddenly there's a domestic violence accusation against him. But you're also talking about a kid who would have been somewhere between 14 and 17 years old when he was playing in highschool, who got pulled over at age 19, and who won't turn 22 until this fall. There's a lot of character growth he could have done.

This is where our beefed up scouting department will be hugely important. Has he grown as a person or is he a legit problem. Our FO should be able to find out.

That’s it? Couple of driving violations. And someone possibly from his high school says he’s a little crazy. I’m with Chump, that’s nothing. Hell, even if it’s true I want my QB hunter to have a little crazy streak in him anyway!

 

[skinsinparadise]

I watched some Tai Felton I like him, too. But i think am more intrigued by Thornton among the burners. Thornton with the bigger upside -- freakish size, more dangerous with the ball in his hands though Felton is good on that front, too. Felton also is a good punt returner.

If I think of a poor man's Brian Thomas for Jayden, its Thornton.

 

[DWinzit]

APs team will do deep dives on both of their character concerns. I don't think either has certain "Commander" qualities like being a team leader or having a non stop motor and they are a little lite in the pants. However, they sure as hell have tons of really good Edge qualities. If Pearce was there at 29 he would be one of the few players that I would run the card up asap.

 

[skinsinparadise]

Green is the one I'd label a character issue with 2 alleged sexually assaults. I'm not sure how Pierce is being cast as a character concern based on what you posted - much ado about nothing. Young guys do dumb things, especially those without a strong nuclear family. We breed this dysfunction in America IMO but that's another topic for a different thread

I've heard enough rumbilings from different draft podcasts about Pearce that I assume there is at least a chance there is some smoke to the fire. I haven't heard yet from any of the draft talking heads dismissing it -- only so far fans dismissing it. Having said that, it seems to be vague depending on who is talking about it. The real goods on these type of subjects tend to come out with Mcginn's scouts talking off the record, and I believe that happens next week so it should be interesting one way or another.

The thing in the soup with Pearce is mixed in some concerns about how good he is against the run and some think he's not that good with his hands and is relying too much on athleticism which may or may not translate to the NFL. Been a long time since I watched him, need to do so again.

In general not a lot of rumbilings about character concerns among some of the top prospects. You got Green, Burden, Pearce but can't think of anyone else.

 

[DWinzit]

I watched some Tai Felton I like him, too. But i think am more intrigued by Thornton among the burners. Thornton with the bigger upside -- freakish size, more dangerous with the ball in his hands though Felton is good on that front, too. Felton also is a good punt returner.

If I think of a poor man's Brian Thomas for Jayden, its Thornton.

Are you thinking 3rd round with these two? Much different players.

I like Felton and never realized he had returner experience, that is a bonus. I think he will need to get a little stronger going up aganist NFL press but that aside, he has some moves and can separate well with limited contact. I really like Thortons size and handling himself versus press. He's good on contested catches but I like Felton as a player better

 

[skinsinparadise]

Are you thinking 3rd round with these two? Much different players.

I like Felton and never realized he had returner experience, that is a bonus. I think he will need to get a little stronger going up aganist NFL press but that aside, he has some moves and can separate well with limited contact. I really like Thortons size and handling himself versus press. He's good on contested catches but I like Felton as a player better

Tony Pauline seems to think Felton goes the 2nd day even though most mocks have him go in the mid to later rounds. Thornton am guessing 5th-6th.

To use a baseball analogy, Thornton has some sick stats granted with limited at bats. You got a 6 '5 WR with a 25 plus yard per catch rate, and 10 plus yard YAC who runs 4.3. That's absolutely sick metrics and sick stats. First round type of things. But considering he was basically Wr #3 albiet he ended up first on the team in yards. They didn't really play him much until last year -- there are some unknown variables about Thornton.

I get that over the years some draftnicks have become gun shy about touting freak athletes playing WR without freakish production to match. But Thornton is sort of somewhere in between on that front. I am not comparing him to Terry but they have similar college profiles. Dudes that broke out during their last college season, in somewhat the same way, similar total yards, sick YPC numbers. From what I can tell both good run blockers.

Both high character guys. I've read that Thornton is a leader type. And in high school, was close to a 4.00 GPA and was class president.

Felton to me is the safer pick. More production. When I watched both WRs, neither seem to have a comprehensive route tree. Both dangerous on quick crossers, go routes, comebacks, etc. I'd be happy with either one but Thornton intrigues me a bit more.

Head to head: Thornon better than Felton on: YAC, drops, contested catches, YPC. He's a bigger dude, faster.

Coach: 2021 WR Dont'e Thornton Is "A Unicorn"

Dont'e Thornton's head coach talks about what makes the 2021 Maryland wide receiver and Notre Dame target such a high-profile target.

irishsportsdaily.com

When college coaches ask Rich Holzer about Donte Thornton Jr.‍, the Mount St. Joseph High School head coach describes his 2021 Maryland wide receiver as “a unicorn.”

“I tell that to all of the college coaches because I’ve had high-profile recruits before; they were good kids and had decent grades, but he’s got the whole package,” Holzer says of Thornton. “I haven’t had a kid like this before.

 

[DWinzit]

Wow, I have a hard time seeing Thornton last until the 6th. I would love seeing him grow with Terry and JD. I am more prone to taking a safer pick, especially if we are talking 3rd-4th round. That's why I'd go Felton who is a technician.

 

[skinsinparadise]

Wow, I have a hard time seeing Thornton last until the 6th. I would love seeing him grow with Terry and JD. I am more prone to taking a safer pick, especially if we are talking 3rd-4th round. That's why I'd go Felton who is a technician.

I like Felton but not sure about the technician part. He's experienced which is good. But from what I watched, the route tree didn't look much different from Thornton. A lot of screens, crossers, and go routes.

I just looked it up on Sharp's site. To quote him "Felton was not tasked to win much as a receiver on route running." About 33% of his catches were screens -- one of the highest rates in this class. He also had one of the lowest rates as to targets 20 or more yards down the field and had one of the lowest catch rates on them.

What got my attention on this ironically was dude posting on twitter about how elaborate a route runner Felton is and posted a full half of his catches from a game to feature it and i watched it and it was screen after screen. lol, I think on twitter people can say anything because most won't bother to watch what they described.

What do i like about Felton over Thornton? I think becuse of his size -- he's shorter and 20 yards lighter he looks more fluid when he cuts and makes his breaks. Also looked good when he returned punts, at least when i watched him. And while he majors in making plays on the first level, that's not a deal breaker for me considering our offense is a lot about the quick game so his skills match that. Also, i like that Felton has put up strong numbers two years in a row.

My fear about Felton? He's just a guy. Another Dyami Brown.

What do I like about Thornton over Felton? He'd provide potentially two things we lack. A. Size. B. A deep threat. Even as far as YAC goes, he's more explosive than Felton. Explosive player in general. Keep in mind he's faster than Felton and by a decent margin yet he's 20 plus pounds bigger. He's a more physical player. And the run blocking would be an asset, too. Ditto his character seems to fit the building.

My fear about Thornton? He becomes a bust.

 

[skinsinparadise]

 

[The Chump Bailey]

Kyle Williams is no longer a sleeper type but this group perhaps still is and some of the more interesting to me:

Isaac TeSlaa
Kaden Prather
Efton Chism III
Pat Bryant
Isaiah Neyor
KeAndre Lambert-Smith *Biggest sleeper of the bunch for me

I love Chimere Dike as a potential slot type for us

And
Tre Harris & Jalen Royals could fall into our laps as a value pick too and Roc Taylor Memphis who I overlook constantly.

 

[skinsinparadise]

Kyle Williams is no longer a sleeper type but this group perhaps still is and some of the more interesting to me:

Isaac TeSlaa
Kaden Prather
Efton Chism III
Pat Bryant
Isaiah Neyor
KeAndre Lambert-Smith *Biggest sleeper of the bunch for me

I love Chimere Dike as a potential slot type for us

And
Tre Harris & Jalen Royals could fall into our laps as a value pick too

Lambert-Smith i encounter mentions in some podcasts. As far as Dike no mentions that i can recall aside from McShay. I plan to get to him. I want to watch Horton and Lane first. I don't like to rush through prospects otherwise they get lost in the sauce for me as to what i remember come draft day.

 

[The Chump Bailey]

I don't like to rush through prospects otherwise they get lost in the sauce for me as to what i remember come draft day.

I know the feeling - all too well

 

[DWinzit]

I like Felton but not sure about the technician part. He's experienced which is good. But from what I watched, the route tree didn't look much different from Thornton. A lot of screens, crossers, and go routes.

I just looked it up on Sharp's site. To quote him "Felton was not tasked to win much as a receiver on route running." About 33% of his catches were screens -- one of the highest rates in this class. He also had one of the lowest rates as to targets 20 or more yards down the field and had one of the lowest catch rates on them.

What got my attention on this ironically was dude posting on twitter about how elaborate a route runner Felton is and posted a full half of his catches from a game to feature it and i watched it and it was screen after screen. lol, I think on twitter people can say anything because most won't bother to watch what they described.

What do i like about Felton over Thornton? I think becuse of his size -- he's shorter and 20 yards lighter he looks more fluid when he cuts and makes his breaks. Also looked good when he returned punts, at least when i watched him. And while he majors in making plays on the first level, that's not a deal breaker for me considering our offense is a lot about the quick game so his skills match that. Also, i like that Felton has put up strong numbers two years in a row.

My fear about Felton? He's just a guy. Another Dyami Brown.

What do I like about Thornton over Felton? He'd provide potentially two things we lack. A. Size. B. A deep threat. Even as far as YAC goes, he's more explosive than Felton. Explosive player in general. Keep in mind he's faster than Felton and by a decent margin yet he's 20 plus pounds bigger. He's a more physical player. And the run blocking would be an asset, too. Ditto his character seems to fit the building.

My fear about Thornton? He becomes a bust.

I definitely see Thornton as a boom or bust type as he wasn't overly productive in college where he should have dominated based on his size and speed.

Now I see you threw in a Higgins post. Now that guy I am totally in on. He is absolutely one of my guys in this draft.

Chump, I haven't really seen some of those guys you mention. Some of them can't separate well enough for me, like Harris. I will look deeper into the positions for late rounders later on. Prather is ok. If we don't go WR until real late, the player needs to either be a burner or a physical dude on the 50 50 ball and a teamers. Returner would be a bonus/

 

[Hail Raiser]

I don't understand why Thornton isn't considered a easy 1rst round pick. I'd take him at 29.

Work ethic is there, insane size and speed. It's like the next Randy Moss and he's being slept on big time.

 

[Gooseneck]

 

[The Chump Bailey]

I don't understand why Thornton isn't considered a easy 1rst round pick. I'd take him at 29.

Work ethic is there, insane size and speed. It's like the next Randy Moss and he's being slept on big time.

I wondered the same, especially when I was attempting to rank this group. The 'negative' side of the equation that I read about him is simply lack of a more advanced route tree and he is being pegged as a 'scoot and clear' defenses type of guy to help keep them honest, which is still valuable for sure.

 

[skinsinparadise]

I definitely see Thornton as a boom or bust type as he wasn't overly productive in college where he should have dominated based on his size and speed.

Now I see you threw in a Higgins post. Now that guy I am totally in on. He is absolutely one of my guys in this draft.

Chump, I haven't really seen some of those guys you mention. Some of them can't separate well enough for me, like Harris. I will look deeper into the positions for late rounders later on. Prather is ok. If we don't go WR until real late, the player needs to either be a burner or a physical dude on the 50 50 ball and a teamers. Returner would be a bonus/

I guess will see. Similar arguments were made against Terry McLaurin and I recall the arguments well because I more than anyone on the board defended that pick. Yeah Terry is fast. Yeah he killed the combine. Yeah he was great at the Senior Bowl. Yeah he has good character. Yeah he's a good blocker. Yeah he has some sick stats in his last season as for YPC. But, he's a late bloomer. And his total yards number was decent but nothing special and he wasn't the featured guy for the offense

lol, not saying this will translate the same way but the parallels are striking to me.

I think he's a gamble worth betting on. It's not like he had Peyton Manning throwing him the ball. This isn't just another run of the mill fast WR but can he catch in the pros. His size-speed is in another orbit. And his production was sick aside from total yards. Beyond the stats I gave, 23.1% of his catches were TDs, the highest rate in this class. Red Zone target. Big plays. YAC.

 

[skinsinparadise]

I wondered the same, especially when I was attempting to rank this group. The 'negative' side of the equation that I read about him is simply lack of a more advanced route tree and he is being pegged as a 'scoot and clear' defenses type of guy to help keep them honest, which is still valuable for sure.

Yeah he is one of a number of WRs in this class that didn't run a comprehensive route tree. That and like Terry coming out of Ohio State you have to go with a leap of faith that his total yard rate which was decent but nothing special doesn't define his career in the NFL.

But as the total package -- size-speed. And his stats this season outside of total yards -- this dude is insane. He's the type of guy you bet on especially if its the mid rounds. I get early teams might want a higher floor and go for a safer pick but later on, why not?

 

[skinsinparadise]