2025 NFL Mock Draft: Mel Kiper's First Round Picks

College football put a bow on a historic 2024 season as Ohio State won the national championship, and now it’s time to get a line on where the country’s most talented players could end up starting their careers are we look ahead to the 2025 NFL Draft.
To that end, NFL Mock Drafter extraordinaire Mel Kiper, Jr. revealed his initial mock of the 2025 offseason. What do his selections look like as we come out of the Divisional Round games?
Here’s your look at Kiper’s first-round selections.
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2025 NFL Draft: Mel Kiper’s first round mock
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1. Titans
The pick: Cam Ward, QB, Miami
Kiper projects that Will Levis hasn’t played well enough to keep the QB1 job, and the Titans couldn’t do much better than Ward, who set single-season passing records for the Hurricanes program over the past season.
Ward led the country with 39 touchdown passes, is a legitimate deep passer, and is a credible dual-threat player who can extend plays with his legs.
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2. Browns
The pick: Travis Hunter, WR/CB, Colorado
You might think quarterback would be a more pressing concern for Cleveland, which learned Deshaun Watson re-tore his Achilles, and as Jameis Winston becomes a free agent.
But Kiper foresees the Browns taking college football’s reigning Heisman Trophy winner, a stud two-way player who proved to be a difference maker on both sides of the ball, catching 15 touchdown passes and intercepting four from opponents.
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3. Giants
The pick: Shedeur Sanders, QB, Colorado
If the Browns don’t take Sanders, then Kiper expects the Giants to make this selection as they badly need a long-term answer at quarterback after Daniel Jones’ departure.
Sanders put up big numbers at Colorado, basically embodying its offense in the absence of a rushing threat, boasting big-play ability, deep-field accuracy, and mobility in and out of the pocket.
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4. Patriots
The pick: Abdul Carter, Edge, Penn State
New England appears to have a quarterback in place going forward, which could put its focus on the defensive side of the ball, and towards one of college football’s most disruptive pass rushers.
Carter was a game-changer off the edge and the Patriots could see him as the next Micah Parsons, another chaos agent from PSU wearing No. 11, racking up 12 sacks and two-dozen tackles for loss.
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5. Jaguars
The pick: Mason Graham, DT, Michigan
Defense is a priority for the Jaguars, especially in building their capacity to rush the quarterback from the interior, and Graham could prove a worthwhile investment.
Graham was a versatile piece on Michigan’s line, picking up 9 sacks and 19 tackles for loss while compiling 108 combined stops in 39 career games, including a national championship.
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6. Raiders
The pick: Tetairoa McMillan, WR, Arizona
Tom Brady could get involved in the Raiders’ draft process as a minority owner, and it’s possible that he’ll lean on the team making a selection at quarterback, but Ward and Sanders are likely out of reach.
McMillan was integral to Arizona’s offense during his career, catching 84 passes for 1,319 yards and scoring 8 touchdowns last fall and totaling over 3,400 yards and 26 TDs in his career.
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7. Jets
The pick: Mykel Williams, OLB, Georgia
It looks like Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn is in line to take the head coaching job with the Jets, so it’s expected they’ll focus on defense when it comes to their first draft pick.
Williams is a solid run defense who’s physical at the point of attack, picking up 5 sacks and forcing 2 fumbles this past season, finishing his career with 14 sacks and 65 total tackles.
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8. Panthers
The pick: Jalon Walker, LB, Georgia
Carolina won two of its final three games and got better play from quarterback Bryce Young, but finished ranked dead-last in football in scoring defense.
Having a player like Walker patrolling the middle of the unit is a major advantage, with the versatility to play both linebacker and come off the edge, picking up 6.5 sacks with the Bulldogs this year.
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9. Saints
The pick: Will Johnson, CB, Michigan
It’s unlikely that Johnson will be around after the first 10 picks are made in this draft as the consensus top cornerback coming out of college football this year.
Johnson was integral to Michigan’s national championship run, effectively locking down half the deep field when in coverage, but missed roughly half of the 2024 season with an injury.
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10. Bears
The pick: Will Campbell, OL, LSU
With all those sacks rookie quarterback Caleb Williams absorbed this year, it’s not a surprise that the Bears will have to invest in better protecting him going forward.
Kiper is down to either Campbell or Texas offensive tackle Kelvin Banks, Jr., but leans towards the LSU alum after he allowed just 2 sacks on over 500 pass blocks in 2024.
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You can see all of Kiper’s picks here.
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