2025 NFL Draft: X offensive players who could be secret superstars

Think of the best third-round and lower picks over the last few decades, and how many of them have either slam-dunks or at least future pathways to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Tom Brady was a sixth-round pick in 2000. Marshal Yanda was a third-round pick in 2007. Frank Gore was a third-round pick in 2010. Jason Kelce was a sixth-round pick in 2011. Jason’s brother Travis was a third-round pick in 2013. Richard Sherman was a fifth-round pick in 2011. Fred Warner was a third-round pick in 2018.

On and on it goes.

We never really know how things will turn out for those prospects whose playing potential far outstrips their draft destinations for whatever reasons. Perhaps the prospect in question played at a smaller school, and strength of competition is a question. Maybe they’re pushed down in a class packed with too much talent for everybody to get their just due. Or it could be that off-field issues get in the way.

Regardless, every draft class has those players who ascend far beyond where they were drafted. This list of prospects from the 2025 draft class is meant to feature those players who will likely be selected on the late second or third days of the draft, and who could be NFL starters far sooner than anybody imagined based on what the tape says. Because there are those players every year, and it’s our firm belief that more than one of the names below will make that particular cut.

They’re not future Hall of Famers just yet, but here are our favorite offensive players in the 2025 draft who could make a lot of NFL talent evaluators look silly sooner than later.

Dillon Gabriel, QB, Oregon

Shorter quarterbacks tend to be a mixed bag, both in NFL desires and NFL results. Drew Brees parlayed his 6’0, 209-pound frame into a slam-dunk Hall of Fame career. Russell Wilson has been a rollercoaster in peak and career value at 5’11, 206 pounds, and Bryce Young is still putting it all together at 5’0 and 204 pounds.

In the case of Oregon’s Dillon Gabriel, who measured in at just over 5’11 and 205 pounds at the scouting combine, the tape and metrics tell a positive story overall. Last season for the Ducks as Bo Nix’s replacement, the UCF-to-Oklahoma-to-Oregon transfer completed 326 of 451 passes (72.3%) for 3,854 yards (8.5 yards per attempt), 30 touchdowns, six interceptions,and a passer rating of 114.6 – sixth-best among quarterbacks in the 2025 draft class.

A few things really stand out when it comes to Gabriel’s NFL potential. First, the throws over the middle are always a question with shorter quarterbacks. As Brees and Wilson did and do, Gabriel mitigates that by getting outside the pocket to open the throwing lanes when he can’t see from the pocket. He had 94 dropbacks last season in which he threw the ball outside the pocket, one of the NCAA’s highest rates. On throws charted to the middle of the field from outside the pocket, Gabriel completed 10 of 13 passes for 292 yards, 78 air yards, three touchdowns, no interceptions, and a passer rating of 157.9. So, not a big issue there.

And while Gabriel’s high completion percentage was helped by a ton of shorter throws (115 of his attempts were behind the line of scrimmage), he was also a great deep-ball thrower. On passes of 20 or more air yards, Gabriel completed 27 of 48 passes for 960 yards, eight touchdowns, one interception, and a passer rating of 131.9 – the best among the 2025 draft class of quarterbacks.

Finally, there’s Gabriel’s performance under pressure. He completed 56 of 104 passes when disrupted for 892 yards, eight touchdowns, one interception, and a passer rating of 104.3 – which, again, was the highest among all quarterbacks in this class. In fact, no FBS quarterback regardless of class had a higher passer rating than Gabriel’s when pressured, and no FBS quarterback regardless of class had a higher passer rating on deep throws.

People in the league used to say of Russell Wilson that had he been 6’3, he would have unquestionably gone in the first round of the 2012 draft instead of the third. I tend to think that Dillon Gabriel is getting the same bias thrown in his general direction, and perhaps it would behoove the NFL to avoid making the same mistake this time around..

Corey Kiner, RB, Cincinnati

The 2025 running back class is amazingly deep – while there are usually 20-25 backs with draftable grades, there are at least 10 more in the minds of many analysts this time around. And with that, some backs will get lost in the shuffle. It would appear that Cincinnati’s Cory Kiner is one of them, because his national recognition has in no way matched his production. Kiner has two straight 1,000-yard seasons in his quiver, and in 2024, he gained 1,147 yards and scored four touchdowns on just 204 carries, despite a cracked rib he suffered early in the season.

Kiner averaged 4.12 yards per carry after contact last season, sixth-best among FBS backs in his draft class, 847 of his rushing yards came after contact, his 82 forced missed tackles ranked third in class behind Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty and Arizona State’s Cam Skattebo, and his 21 runs of 15 or more yards means that for every 10 times he carried the ball, there was at least one explosive play forthcoming.

Among the power backs in this class, the 5’9, 209-pound Kiner has one of the most impressive reels of plays in which he simply bulls through contact as opposed to just bouncing off of it. Contact balance is one thing, but when you can set the tone physically, that’s another matter entirely. Kiner is a passable receiver and a plus run-blocker, so this isn’t necessarily a guy you’re going to have to sit on certain downs.

Bhayshul Tuten, RB, Virginia Tech

Tuten at least got a bit more attention after a scouting combine in which several of his drill measurables were top of class, and in the high 90th percentile for all running backs since 1999. Of course, when you run a 4.32-second 40-yard dash with a 1.40-second 10-yard split, NFL teams want to see that on tape, and the 5’9, 206-pound Tuten can back it up.

Last season, Tuten gained 1,150 yards and scored 15 touchdowns on just 183 carries. He forced 62 missed tackles, 808 of his rushing yards came after contact, and 21 of those 183 carries were good for at least 15 yards.

Tuten’s straight-line speed and agility show up on tape as you’d expect, but what makes him more than just a quick waterbug back is his ability to blast through contact – especially through skinny gaps – and run to daylight. Add in his receiving chops – 87 catches on 118 targets for 865 yards and nine touchdowns over two seasons at North Carolina A&T (HBCU alert!) and two more at Virginia Tech, and you’re dealing with a back that would amplify just about any NFL offense.

Kyle Williams, WR, Washington State

In today’s NFL, where press coverage is all the rage to counter quick game and receivers getting off the line of scrimmage too fast, the more acceleration you have as a potential target, the better. Kyle Williams, who caught 70 passes on 101 targets for 1,196 yards and 14 touchdowns last season, could well be the best pure accelerator in this draft class at his position.

This is one where you have to get past the scouting combine numbers. Williams’ 4.4-second 40-yard dash and 1.55-second 10-yard split? Maybe he had a few too many steaks at Prime 47 the night before his drills in Indianapolis, but the tape shows anything but your everyday generic mid-speed receiver. In 2024, Williams caught 14 of 24 passes of 20 or more air yards for 454 yards and six touchdowns, and that’s outstanding downfield efficiency. But more than that, you just have to watch Williams working right out of the gate. He’s more than a straight-line guy; this is a prospect who can outrun defenders on angular routes, and it doesn’t take him long to get back up to full speed when making his cuts.

The one obvious thing Williams’ NFL team will need to deal with is the focus drop issue – five in 2024, and 21 over three years at UNLV and two more with Washington State, is not great. But given an increased ability to hold onto the ball, Williams could be completely unleashed in the right NFL offense as a speed guy who’s more than a speed guy.

(NOTE: Don’t read the player name below yet, because it’ll spoil the question).

Who led the FBS last season in targets, receptions, receiving yards, and receiving touchdowns – not just among receivers in the 2025 draft class, but overall?

(Okay, you can look now).

Nick Nash, WR, San Jose State

That would indeed be Mr. Nash, whose 104 receptions on 171 targets for 1,382 yards and 16 touchdowns did indeed pace the entire FBS. Quite a jump for the sixth-year senior, who caught 48 passes on 81 targets for 728 yards and eight touchdowns in 2023, and a grand total of 11 receptions combined in the four years before that.

The primary reason? Nash was a running quarterback in his first three seasons with the Spartans, and converted to a reserve receiver role in 2022 before his true value was revealed.

Nash may have been a late bloomer, but he didn’t so much bloom as explode in Year 6. The pure production is notable enough, but the level of nuance he’s picked up in just two seasons as a primary receiver is quite something. A finalist for the Biletnikoff Award (given to the nation’s top receiver) in 2024, Nash can grease any defender with a lethal combination of foot-fakes off the line, soundness through the route, the ability to accelerate to the catch point, and the determination to beat out anyone wearing a different uniform when the ball is coming his way. ,

So, Nick Nash isn’t so much a developmental prospect at his “new position” as he is a player and prospect in need of the right team that will understand that he’s not just a late bloomer – he’s also an incredibly fast learner.

Wyatt Milum, OL, West Virginia

Speaking of guys selected in the third round or lower who may wind up in the Hall of Fame someday, how about Joe Thuney? He was taken with the 78th overall pick in the third round of the 2016 draft by the New England Patriots, and he’s been one of the NFL’s best guards for a good long time. Primarily a left tackle in his last college season, Thuney switched to left guard in the NFL, though he did play 389 snaps at left tackle for the Kansas City Chiefs last season after that offensive line continued to fall apart at the edges. Thuney is a three-time Pro Bowler, a two-time All-Pro, a four-time Super Bowl champion, and he’s up to $99,269,428 in potential earnings.

Not bad at all.

I bring up Thuney here because West Virginia’s Wyatt Milum might have a similar career path – though he shouldn’t automatically be kicked inside. The measurables for the 6’6 ½, 313-pound Milum do scream “future guard” – his 32 ⅛-inch arms and 79 ½-inch wingspan are under the accepted numbers for tackles, but how do you reconcile that with the fact that as a left tackle, he hasn’t allowed a single sack in his collegiate career (the three he allowed in 2021 were at right tackle), and he hasn’t even given up a quarterback hit since Week 11 of the 2022 season?

Like Thuney, Milum is nasty and technically sound enough to mitigate the length concerns, and even if he is moved to guard at the next level, this is a guy I’d want on my team.