Virginia Tech Football: Hokies DL Wilfried Pene Predicts NFL Playoffs and Super Bowl Winner

The now-declaree for the 2025 NFL Draft and former Hokie defensive lineman Wilfried Pene, has made his prediction for the 2025 NFL Playoffs. The Frenchmen’s playoff picks were posted to NFL France’s social media accounts.

🇫🇷 @PeneWilfried voit les Lions remporter leur premier Super Bowl !

Le defenseur francais de l’université de Virginia Tech se présente à la Draft 2025 en avril prochain.

Es-tu d'accord avec lui sur son tableau des playoffs NFL ?

🔗 https://t.co/c32vaQ1y9y pic.twitter.com/e9oBIAIZ4E
— NFL France (@NFLFrance) January 11, 2025

As a shock to almost nobody, the defensive lineman picked the red hot Detroit Lions to pick up their first Super Bowl title. The Lions are tied with the Chiefs for the best record in the National Football League, as Detroit won 15 out of their 17 games this regular season. Pene’s choice for the Lions’ path to the Super Bowl includes wins over the 14-3 Vikings, the No. 2 seed Eagles, and the 15-win Kansas City Chiefs.

In terms of what teams would be favorites according to sports books, Pene did not pick any upsets to happen, but he did pick some upsets based off of the seed of the teams. Pene has the No. 5 Vikings beating the No. 4 Rams and the No. 5 Chargers beating the No. 4 Texans.

In this year’s NFL Playoffs, there does seem to be a pretty large discrepancy between some of the higher seeds and the teams that just made the playoffs. The Lions seem like the absolute clear cut favorite to win the NFC. The Commanders and Packers have some pretty tough matchups in the first round.

For the Eagles-Packers Wild Card game, Pene chose the Eagles, and would eventually pick the Eagles to advance all the way to the NFC Championship. With Jalen Hurts battling a concussion, and with the assumption that Jordan Love will be healthy, the Packers might have a chance to knock off the Eagles. Saquon Barkley is having a historic season of historic seasons, but Green Bay is fairly healthy. Jordan Love could play against Philly, and the Eagles, although they were a different team, got jumped on last year in the Playoffs. The Packers are a young team though, and that could be the reason for a Packers win or a Packers loss.

The Commanders-Buccaneers game is another one that is extremely hard to pick. Jayden Daniels was breaking records all throughout 2024, he has the highest completion percentage of qualified rookie quarterbacks, he has the most rushing yards by a rookie quarterback, most passing touchdowns in the 4th quarter and overtime by a rookie QB, and the most points per game by a team with a rookie quarterback in NFL history. Don’t forget though, the Buccaneers have a rookie of their own. Bucky Irving has taken over the spot he once shared with Rachaad White and the Bucs have been rolling. They already have one win over the Commanders (37-20), an upset win against the Lions, a blowout of the Eagles, and a blowout win of the Chargers. The Bucs sneakily have one of the best resumes in the playoffs, and I wouldn’t be shocked if they make a run.

Virginia Tech Transfer Portal Commitments (16)

Safety Sherrod Covil Jr (Previous School: Clemson)

RB Terion Stewart (Bowling Green)

RB Marcellous Hawkins (Central Missouri)

DL Jahzari Priester (Hampton)

DB Isaiah Brown-Murray (ECU)

DB Tyson Flowers (Rice)

DB Joseph Reddish (Wingate)

DB Isaiah Cash (Sam Houston State)

OL Tomas Rimac (West Virginia)

OL Kyle Altuner (West Virginia)

OL Lucas Austin (West Virginia)