3 Lessons I learned while working on the 2025 NFL Draft

Each draft cycle has lessons for us to learn, this year I learned three with one of them being reaffirmed from past draft cycles. I really hope this piece helps people who are on the fence.

Every year, the NFL Draft and the players in it seem to teach us all a lesson. Whether we realize it or not, the fact that no class is the same means that they have something for us to take away from it that we can then carry over to the next year.

For me, I always learn something about how to watch, what to watch, and what to dig into when it comes to the players themselves.

The 2025 class, though, was a lesson where I was able to do the work as a full-time writer and managing editor for a site (two sites, actually). When I started getting into the NFL Draft on an actual evaluation scale in 2018, I was all over the place. Draft breakdown was the go-to option. I had no idea what All-22 was, and I had no awareness of anything except how to look at skill players because I was covering fantasy football. From there, I was able to learn by listening to podcasts and reading various analysts like Matt Miller, Connor Rogers, Mel Kiper Jr., and Todd McShay.

I wanted to learn as much as I could. Nowadays, learning about the draft process is easier than ever. Along the way of my Football Life, I have learned one valuable lesson from the best in the business: pay it forward. Which is why, as we are eight days out from the draft, I wanted to share the lessons I learned from the 2025 NFL Draft class and its players.

Testing Numbers are okay to be excited about

Each year, someone dazzles us with some miraculous testing number. Usually it is the 40-yard dash, sometimes it is the broad or vertical jump, it used to be the bench press before that test fell to the wayside. While everyone will point to the scary examples of getting too excited about testing numbers, we hear about the John Ross’s or the Dri Archer’s of the NFL world. Their speed makes them one-trick ponies, so to speak, but that doesn’t mean everyone is that way.

Applying this to this year, compared to Ross and Archer, the 40-yard dash king in 2025, Matthew Golden, has more than speed in his bag of tricks. The Texas Longhorn wide receiver isn’t going to live and die by his speed. And yes, the speed of someone who can run 4.29 does not show up on film, but isn’t it nice to know he has that potential? Be excited about the idea of him being able to use that, and be excited about testing as long as it is applied properly.

Don’t overlook high school background

Over the Summer, I really started to look at players and their high school backgrounds. Some players would have these deep high school backgrounds and stories to tell, while others had nothing except say district honors. As someone who didn’t even play high school football, not because I couldn’t but because my school didn’t even have it, I am not diminishing district honors. What I am simply pointing out is that sometimes you will find yourself being surprised by how many honors players can earn.

Some things I like to look for in terms of awards are Gatorade Player of the Year, All-American Games, State All-Star Games, and state records. Apart from the trivial things, each position has me looking for a second sport for the player to be playing besides football. If you are a skill player or an offensive lineman, track and field is always a plus. Defensive backs running track is also a bonus for obvious speed reasons. One underrated one for me is quarterbacks with baseball.

If a quarterback plays baseball, that tells me their arm is conditioned, they have a good work ethic to develop it further, and they are open to changes.

There is no perfect way to do this

The NFL Draft and the evaluation process is a tough one. What doesn’t make it easier is that there are so many people who are good at this, or at least put up a front that they are, and it is hard not to think less of yourself. A lesson I learned a long time ago but never shared was to do your best to block out all the other noise and influences. I am not saying stop trying to get better at your process, but don’t let others influence your work.

Some of the best people I know in talent evaluation have takes that they will stand on and defend to the death. Tyler Forness of A to Z Sports believed in Malik Willis and thought he could be the second overall pick to the Lions in 2022. Trevor Sikkema believed Arik Gilbert was the top tight end over the Summer of 2022. In hindsight, those predictions were bad, but you know what? They didn’t care, they believed in their evaluations and would defend them till they were blue in the face.

If you have a feeling about a prospect, as long as you did the work, you are right in your own way. If you can defend your reasoning for your ranking, you did what you were supposed to. People will tell you that you are wrong, and that is okay. People tell the biggest names in this industry that they are idiots every day on social media, but they don’t let it destroy their work.

For anyone reading this who is wanting to or already in the NFL Draft or talent evaluation circle, don’t ever give up on your work. Do not think your work is undeserving of anyone else’s eyeballs, take that thought and remove it from your mind. There is no perfect way to evaluate players in the NFL Draft and that is what makes it so damn fun.