The 2025 Draft Thread

Was watching some Croskey-Merritt and Tahj Brooks.

Tahj Brooks I've watched on and off and has grown on me. It hit me today what made me pause about him in the past. He's seems slow to get started. It stands out when watching so many one cut and go runners in this class. But its just he's super patient. Maybe too patient at times but he's just waiting for his blocks to develop more than most. He reminds me a little of Kaleb Johnson in that when he builds momentum he's tough to stop in open field. He's a power type back with enough juice to hit some doubles.

He has pretty soft hands. And he's a really good pass blocker. Better power back than Brian Robinson IMO. But they hit me with one similar weakness for different reasons. Both for power backs aren't always hot at breaking through that first level on their runs. Brian IMO struggles because he's more of a brute athlete runner than a running back -- he rams through or tries to do so. With Brooks IMO its he waits a bit too long to get going because he's waiting to see the crease. So its sort of the opposite side of the spectrum for both. But he has better hands than Robinson. Is a better pass blocker than Robinson. And is more elusive especially when he gets to that 2nd level. Also better contact balance. I watched an interview with him, seems like a smart dude.

I've been tough on Robinson at the start of this. and I haven't softened And the more I've watched this RB class, heck even the late rounders, the more I want to get rid of Robinson.

Now to Croskey-Merritt. He looks to me a lot like Jaquez Hunter for any who watched Hunter. He has good athleticism like Hunter and likes to power his way in between tackles. Both are often straight line runners. Good contact balance. But Croskey-Merritt IMO has another gear to him, where he is elusive in open field. Wicked spin move. I think he can be really good in this system. In the games i watched I didn't see much pass catching. Decent pass protector too -- not a violent pass protector like Portis was but a willing one. Brings some power and can make something out of nothing. The hard thing about him is its much easier to break tackles against teams like Fresno State then it is Texas, etc. So that's not always easy to project. But his vision, contact balance, speed, looks good enough where he'd be a good get.

I do think a bunch of these runners would do better with this team in the pros than they did in college.
 
MartinC said:
Love Taylor Tomlinson. Going to see her in Phoenix later in the year.
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I want to go when she comes to DC in November. Ironically, she’s appearing at the same hall where I had my HS graduation, constitution hall.
 
RWJ said:
Really like LB Nick Martin from Oklahoma State in the later rounds (6th/7th). He was out most of last season but he blew it up in 2023.
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My wife is a Poke, so have seen A LOT of OSU football. Martin is a tackling machine, and solid in coverage. Would love him as a third day get.
 
skinsinparadise said:
I agree. I am not talking about coaches not weighing in as to players that fit schemes. I am talking about coaches flat out doing player scouting and them running with their takes.

I recall that's the impression of how Gibbs approached the drafts when he was here, each coach would give the list of the players they liked for their position. And the scouts were somewhat ancillary. It should be IMO the reverse. The coaches should be ancillary versus driving it.

I don't want Del Rio running the draft board and saying Forbes is the guy. I want it the way we saw with Peters' going to the defensive staff saying here's Sainstrill. You like picks, here's your guy.

Peters referenced the scouts (not the coaches) giving him the list of players they liked per round.

If the coaches are driving scouting what's the use of scouts at all. Just assign Whitt to scout defensive players he likes. Assign Kingsbury to do the offense. The LB coaches to the LBs, etc. So your coaches expertise do not just extend to coaching but they are also master evaluators of college tape, too. That's how Rivera seemed to do it to some extent.

And I don't get the impression at all that's how its being done now. Evaluating players and coaching players is a different skill set. Part of the reason why even the great Bill Belichick, seemed to suck at player evaluation in the draft.
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Agreed. I've compared AP to Bobby Beathard in the way he approaches the draft and finding late round gems as I believe he did just that for the 49ers. He has yet to prove himself as BB but I think he's on the right road.
 
SkinsNumberOne said:
It is funny because now in some ways I am glad we had Forbes over Gonzalez now.

Anything that led us to JD, I am just going to move forward now because this is truly a player that I like on and off the field from what I see. 1 or 2 wins here and there and we don’t end up in that position. For me, liking a player as much as I like JD is super rare; I can’t remember the last time it happened to this extent. On a personal level (not analytical), the way he works and carries himself as a leader really connects with me. I love his even keel, “just put in the work” - limited talk, limited distraction, mindset. At least, that is what I noticed.

So I like how it ended enough at this point to put a lot of personal angst on the other stuff aside.

The weirdest part of the whole story is RR ending up in a GM like role now with a team, NCAA or not. What he was probably worst at is apparently what he has a job now doing…
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I mean, think about all of those Ron Rivera drafts. I’ll give him a pass on Chase Young, because that was probably the consensus pick. But if we had just continued to follow ES board consensus, we would have had Christian Darrisaw, Christian Gonzalez, and either Chris Olave or Kyle Hamilton.

Add all of those guys onto our 2023 roster, or really, maybe even one of those, and we are in the Pennix/McCarthy/Nix sweepstakes instead of getting Daniels.

But also, it’s really mind boggling to look at those three first round picks. I feel like a GM couldn’t have done worse, even if they were randomly drawing 1st round prospect tickets from a hat. Just, embarrassingly bad.
 
At this point, there is only one player that I hope AP selects at #29 and that's EDGE Donovan Ezeiruaku. I'll stand by whatever he does. Eze could very well be taken but EDGE is our biggest need and his value at #29 is very good to excellent. Hopefully trade down occurs if DE is taken before we have the opportunity to select him.
 
RWJ said:
At this point, there is only one player that I hope AP selects at #29 and that's EDGE Donovan Ezeiruaku. I'll stand by whatever he does. Eze could very well be taken but EDGE is our biggest need and his value at #29 is very good to excellent. Hopefully trade down occurs if DE is taken before we have the opportunity to select him.
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I wish, but do not see him dropping to 29
 

riggosrag.com

9 rough 2025 NFL Draft diamonds the Commanders could unearth on Day 3

The Commanders need to maximize every resource during the draft.
riggosrag.com riggosrag.com

9 rough 2025 NFL Draft diamonds the Commanders could unearth on Day 3​

The Commanders need to maximize every resource during the draft.
BySeth Jones|4 hours ago

All aboard all of these suggestions with the exception of Frazier who I've cooled on the more I watch

OLB/Edge Kaimon Rucker
CB Quincy Riley
RB Trevor Etienne
CB Jaylin Smith
LB Jay Higgins
OG Miles Frazier
WR Kobe Hudson
OT Gerard Christian-Lichtenhan
RB Jacory Croskey-Merritt
 
Gooseneck said:
I wish, but do not see him dropping to 29
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Very possible, Gooseneck. I am hoping though. Most of the recent drafts have him being selected before our pick. We need to fortify our roster and I am hoping that AP moves down at least once, if not twice to do what, I think he's good at and that's drafting quality players. The more picks, the better the chances.
 
skinsinparadise said:
I got to watch him. PFF loves him. Mcshay talked him up recently.
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I missed that, yeah the dude is good and I hadn't heard much on him at all.

Clump, I like McCleod later like you suggest You have me on Bruener, I am not familiar with him.

RWJ, yes Martin fits right in like McLeod as a good late rounder for sure. I really think that is the area they look at LB and there are quite a few that fit in that category. 6th round backup and teamer.
 
skinsinparadise said:
Was watching some Croskey-Merritt and Tahj Brooks.

Tahj Brooks I've watched on and off and has grown on me. It hit me today what made me pause about him in the past. He's seems slow to get started. It stands out when watching so many one cut and go runners in this class. But its just he's super patient. Maybe too patient at times but he's just waiting for his blocks to develop more than most. He reminds me a little of Kaleb Johnson in that when he builds momentum he's tough to stop in open field. He's a power type back with enough juice to hit some doubles.

He has pretty soft hands. And he's a really good pass blocker. Better power back than Brian Robinson IMO. But they hit me with one similar weakness for different reasons. Both for power backs aren't always hot at breaking through that first level on their runs. Brian IMO struggles because he's more of a brute athlete runner than a running back -- he rams through or tries to do so. With Brooks IMO its he waits a bit too long to get going because he's waiting to see the crease. So its sort of the opposite side of the spectrum for both. But he has better hands than Robinson. Is a better pass blocker than Robinson. And is more elusive especially when he gets to that 2nd level. Also better contact balance. I watched an interview with him, seems like a smart dude.

I've been tough on Robinson at the start of this. and I haven't softened And the more I've watched this RB class, heck even the late rounders, the more I want to get rid of Robinson.

Now to Croskey-Merritt. He looks to me a lot like Jaquez Hunter for any who watched Hunter. He has good athleticism like Hunter and likes to power his way in between tackles. Both are often straight line runners. Good contact balance. But Croskey-Merritt IMO has another gear to him, where he is elusive in open field. Wicked spin move. I think he can be really good in this system. In the games i watched I didn't see much pass catching. Decent pass protector too -- not a violent pass protector like Portis was but a willing one. Brings some power and can make something out of nothing. The hard thing about him is its much easier to break tackles against teams like Fresno State then it is Texas, etc. So that's not always easy to project. But his vision, contact balance, speed, looks good enough where he'd be a good get.

I do think a bunch of these runners would do better with this team in the pros than they did in college.
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I find your Brooks to Kaleb comparison funny and pretty accurate. I guess that's why I was pleasantly surprised earlier this week when I checked him out and liked him. I mean, of course Kaleb is well above him but guys like Brooks, Croskey-Merritt and Giddens makes me comfortable that we don't need to take a RB in the 2nd round, even if that's where me favs will go.
 
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NFLStockExchange doing a 7 round live mock draft, they took Pearce at 29. We'll see how the rest goes.

Pearce is so hard to get a read on. Some people saying he's a bum who takes snaps off, others saying it's just silly rumors.

I will say, Jeremy Greene spent a ton of time investigating Pearce, since he lives so close to TENN, and he seems to think he doesn't have major issues, that a lot of the negative stuff is overblown.

From a talent perspective he'd be huge. And honestly, if his ceiling is Chase Young, I don't hate that. Chase was a bust at 2 bc he never developed fully but if he could have stayed healthy and put in at least some effort he'd be a great rotational pass rusher, and if you can get that out of Pearce then we'd be good to go.


And they took Judkins at 61. John Keim would be happy I think.
 
Yeah, I'd probably be happy if we came away with a high potential edge and a starting running back, too.
 
skinsinparadise said:
Listening now to Jeremy Greene on Take Command. As was mentioned here by someone else, Greene swears by him. He agrees he's arrogant but doesn't think he's a bad dude. Hopefully he's right.

Here are what some scouts said about him.

www.golongtd.com

Part 2, TE: Is Tyler Warren the next Great American NFL Tight End?

This year's TE class is loaded, from the Gronk'ish tight end out of Penn State ("Better than Bowers") to Colston Loveland, Elijah Arroyo, Mason Taylor and several others. Here's what the scouts say.
www.golongtd.com www.golongtd.com
5. JAMES PEARCE, Tennessee (6-5, 248, 4.48, 1): Third-year junior, one-year starter. “He’s talented — really talented,” one scout said. “Built like an NFL player. He’s got twitch, can get off the ball, got production. Some scouts are worried about the guy. I was at a game and the guy was just a complete Lone Ranger. By himself on the sideline, standing 20 yards from anybody on his team. Didn’t look like he cared at all. Claims he was a captain and a leader and all that stuff, but it’s just one of those things that he might just have been anointed that versus earning it. Traits-wise, he’s for sure first round.” Ran a blazing 40 but his vertical jump (31) was the poorest of the top 20 at the position. “Really liked the get-off and burst of speed and bend,” a second scout said. “Not a lot of power in his rush but he can really run. Didn’t play a ton of snaps like you would think. Not soft. Mid-first round.” Arms were 32 ¾, hands were 10.

“There’s some concerns on the character,” said a third scout. “Lot of emotional outbursts and inconsistency. He’s not quite Von Miller but he’s got that kind of ability to turn the corner and get home on the quarterback. More of a one-dimensional player at this point in his career. Not heavy enough to play the run. He’s a leaky tackler who falls off too often. He had top-5 buzz coming off 2023 (10 sacks) and then with more attention focused on him he disappeared in some games.” Finished with 71 tackles (30 for loss), 19 ½ sacks and two passes defensed in 39 games, including 12 starts. “Pearce belongs with the top three but the mental part, the personality part is what I would say pushes him down,” a fourth scout said. “You knew at the combine he would put on that show, and he did. He did not disappoint. He probably goes after Williams, Carter and Stewart. But it will probably be to a successful team that will feel like they can take him on. At Tennessee, he was literally a no-go. You ask somebody there: ‘Hey, if you had a chance to come to the league, would you bring this guy?’ They’re, like, ‘Absolutely not.’ On his own program. The whole team’s working out and he’s in his apartment. They didn’t know where he was.” Four-star recruit from Charlotte. “Almost a basketball player’s body,” a fifth scout said. “Got some first-step quicks but not really explosive. He’s not strong. They push him around. Not very physical at the point of attack. A 3-4 guy. I’ve seen a lot of profiles like this go bust. He’s scary. He had a lot of hype coming in. That will carry him a long way.” Volunteers’ first defensive lineman to make first team All-Southeastern Conference two straight years since John Henderson 25 years ago.
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This post from SIP kind of turned me off of James Pearce. Judkins had 61 would be fine, though if I was drafting I would probably pick a more high value position in the second round and try to pick up a RB in the 4th.
 
I've seen Golden drop to us pretty often. Also see him just outside the top 10.

I wonder if McMillian might drop to 29. Would probably mean a big DB run before us unfortunately.

That would be a great pick though.
 
Judkins is the lowest of the "all around" backs I'm willing to gamble on in terms of getting high impact this year. I know there's a lot of names out there for guys farther down the draft, BUT I don't trust it. We've spent 15 years trying to moneyball our way back into a Portis-in-the-aggregate so unless they think there's some diamond in the rough (because I assume a ton of talent is coming off the board before our 4th rounder) I kinda want to say "Eff it we ball" and throw some real capital at it. We haven't spent a 1st rounder on an RB this century, and spent a 2nd only twice, and we've never had consistent runningback play outside of Portis since Y2K (even AlMo my beloved was here for a good time, and not a long time).

Now in fairness they may really love some guys farther down. I'm almost certain they do, given how many they've looked at. But I would love to just get a guy who we can expect to threaten 1200+ yards a year on 250 carries every year for the next 8 years.
 
Hail Raiser said:
I've seen Golden drop to us pretty often. Also see him just outside the top 10.

I wonder if McMillian might drop to 29. Would probably mean a big DB run before us unfortunately.

That would be a great pick though.
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I can't imagine Tet dropping to 29. It feels like a Mike Green situation. Either he's the most damaged of goods, and he's off our board, or he's fine and Dallas is gonna scoop him up by 12 at the latest.

That being said, if we got Tet at 29 I'm going to get a noise complaint lodged against me, 100000%.
 
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