NFL Draft: 7 Things To Watch

By: Mike Johnson (@Mjohnson86)

To all of our Daily Dose subscribers, all of us here at One Week Season hope your Spring is going well. We are in your inbox today because the NFL Draft starts tonight. The NFL Draft serves as the unofficial starting block for the upcoming NFL season, as most teams have done the majority of their free agency and trade acquisitions. Therefore, this is the last weekend of major organizational shifts before teams start practicing and preparing for 2025.

Whether you play traditional fantasy football, daily fantasy, Best Ball, or any other format – the NFL Draft will have major implications for your upcoming season. Part of my offseason process is that I like to have an idea of the things I am looking for prior to the actual draft taking place. I find this useful because after the draft, there will be no shortage of reactions, “takes”, draft grades, etc., and it can often be overwhelming and misleading at that point if you don’t already have a strong foundation. With all of that said, here are the seven things I will have my eye on this weekend – and you should too!!

(For those of you who are ready to start drafting some fantasy football teams NOW, I’d encourage you to check out our 2025 Best Ball offerings. We will help you strategically put together some high quality teams in Underdog, Drafters, and Draftkings contests over the next five months!!)

1. Tight End Landing Spots

Over the last two seasons, we have seen multiple rookie tight ends make huge immediate impacts for their teams and fantasy owners, as Sam LaPorta set the league on fire in 2023 and Brock Bowers smashed rookie and tight end records in 2024. We have two highly touted tight end prospects in the 2025 NFL Draft class in Penn State’s Tyler Warren and Michigan’s Colston Loveland. These players reportedly both have a chance to go in the top 10 and both seem to be virtual locks to be selected at some point in the first round. That being said, there are no guarantees based on their profiles and expected draft capital that they will continue the recent trend of dominant rookie TE seasons. LaPorta was taken in the second round and went to one of the best offenses in the league (Detroit) with a QB who prefers to target the middle of the field. Bowers went to a team that ended up winning only four games (meaning they threw the ball often) and had very little target competition thanks to the early-season Davante Adams trade. Perhaps the most intriguing storyline of this year’s NFL Draft from a fantasy perspective will be the landing spots for these two talented tight ends. Will they go in the early to middle part of Round 1 to a team that throws a lot and has limited competition? Or do they “slip” to the end of the round and fall to a contender where they will have to compete for opportunities in a crowded offense?

2. RB Trend Chasing

After 2024 saw a running back resurgence, led by Saquon Barkley and Derrick Henry, the league may be tilting back to a higher valuation on the position. Heisman Trophy runner-up Ashton Jeanty of Boise State had a massive 2024 season and has been rumored to potentially go as high as No. 5 in Thursday’s NFL Draft, with him being a virtual lock to go in the top half of the first round. After that, Omarion Hampton out of North Carolina seems likely to be selected later in the first round, and there are a handful of talented RBs expected to go in Rounds 2 and 3. The combination of an increased emphasis on the running back position, a highly touted draft class at the position, and the fact that we have a huge number of “feature backs” in the league right now who are approaching the twilights of their careers make this an extremely interesting year for the position in the NFL Draft, with a potential “changing of the guard” on the horizon. Running backs touch the ball more than any other position and, as such, the state of the position will have an enormous impact on how the 2025 season plays out from a Fantasy Football perspective. Be prepared for a third of the league’s backfields to project very differently by the end of the weekend.

3. WR "Fits"

Justin Jefferson. Ja’Marr Chase. Malik Nabers. Brian Thomas Jr.

In recent seasons, we have seen some insanely talented wide receivers take the league by storm in their rookie season. Unfortunately, the 2025 NFL Draft class does not seem to have anything close to that level of talent profile at the wide receiver position. Travis Hunter is expected to go second overall to the Browns, but we don’t know if he will be a full-time wide receiver, and even if he is, he will likely need some time to refine his craft and adjust to the physicality of the NFL game. Tet McMillan (Arizona State) has a chance to go in the top 10, but he has far more questions in his profile than any of the aforementioned receivers had. Matthew Golden (Texas) is a speedster with production questions, and many experts question the validity of his 40-time. Emeka Egbuka (Ohio State) is by no means a player who jumps off the page from a metrics or physicality standpoint, and is viewed as just a solid, dependable receiver. There are six to 10 more receivers who could go anywhere from late Round 1 to the end of Round 3. The key for this class will primarily be the “fits” of where these players are selected. Fit always matters to some extent, but for a class like this, it becomes even more important. I will be watching closely for not only when and in what order these players are selected, but what their target competition will look like and how their skill sets fit with their team’s QB and scheme.

4. Which Teams Don’t Select A Quarterback

Quarterback is the most important position in professional sports. If you don’t have one, you have to be looking for one. This year’s QB draft class is not one that blows you away, yet Miami’s Cam Ward will almost certainly be the No. 1 pick and join the Titans on Thursday night (and likely immediately become their starter). After that, all bets are off. We can expect an additional four or five QBs to be taken in the first three rounds, but when and where is yet to be seen. The big thing that I will be watching for is not necessarily where these guys go or when they are taken, but rather which teams DON’T address the position. The Browns, Giants, Raiders, Jets, Saints, Colts, and Steelers are all teams with major questions at the position and no significant commitment to any QB on their roster beyond 2025. Any of those teams who do not address the position this weekend are essentially sending the message that they are rolling with what they have and hoping for the best. For example, if the Jets don’t take a QB in the first couple of rounds then we can feel very confident in them building around Justin Fields this season and seeing a run-heavy offense all year. If the Saints take a QB in the first round or two, that may be a bad sign for Derek Carr’s 2025 availability and we could potentially see them move on from some other veterans and look to the future. Do the Giants pass on QB altogether? If so, we will get gun-slinging Jameis Winston or deep-ball maven Russell Wilson paired with dynamic WR Malik Nabers.

5. Draft Night Trades 

So far we’ve been talking mostly about the impacts of rookie landing spots, but we could also see a handful of impactful veterans changing teams over the weekend. Dolphins WR Tyreek Hill, Ravens TE Mark Andrews, Eagles TE Dallas Goedert, Raiders TE Michael Mayer, Falcons QB Kirk Cousins, and Steelers WR George Pickens are all heavily rumored to be on the trade block. These potential moves could significantly alter the value of these players and the outlook for the offenses they land on, while also opening the door for players on the teams they leave to ascend to a higher level. How good can Jaylen Waddle be without Tyreek Hill? Is Isaiah Likely a top-five tight end with Andrews out of the way? Can the talent of Pickens shine if he gets away from Pittsburgh’s conservative offensive approach?

6. Plugging Holes 

The Philadelphia Eagles lost six of their last seven games in 2023 and were promptly stomped in the first round of the playoffs. There were multiple things that led to that meltdown, but a leaky secondary was near the top of the list. Fast forward to the 2024 NFL Draft and the Eagles selected cornerbacks Quinyon Mitchell and Cooper DeJean with top-40 picks. Both players ended up on the All-Rookie team last year and DeJean returned an interception for a touchdown in the Super Bowl en route to an Eagles victory. Can any teams that we saw falter down the stretch in 2024 match the precision with which Philadelphia plugged their holes in last year’s draft? Some spots that stand out to me of teams who had solid seasons but glaring needs to take the next step:: Bucs secondary, Bengals pass rush, Texans offensive line, Lions secondary, Falcons pass rush, and Dolphins offensive line.

7. In The Trenches

The dominance of the Eagles at the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball could not have been more glaring in the Super Bowl. The NFL is a copycat league, and while the flash of the perimeter is always fun to discuss, the game is more often than not won up front. I will be watching to see how many teams place a heavier-than-usual emphasis on winning in the trenches and specifically watching for how the other “contenders” react to last year’s results. The Eagles had a Week 5 bye in 2024 and after that went 16-1, with their only loss coming in a game that Jalen Hurts was injured in the first quarter. The rest of the league was put on notice, and unless someone can match the Eagles up front, we could be in store for a similar outcome in 2025.