NFL Draft 2025: Will the New York Giants draft QB Shedeur Sanders?

The 2025 NFL Draft has officially come and gone and it was quite the doozy.

Some things went chalk and others were complete surprises. This is part of the magic of the draft: There is always something that happens that catches us off guard.

With the dust fully settling on the results we figured now would be the best time for us at The Skinny Post, Michael Peterson and RJ Ochoa, to address some of the larger things to happen throughout it all.

Let’s begin.

Mel Kiper seemed to crash out on live television, stating that the NFL has been clueless on quarterback evaluation for over 50 years. Was this the pot calling the kettle black?

Michael:

It seemed so out of left field. The Shedeur Sanders discourse was unsurprisingly at the forefront of all NFL Draft coverage due to a slide that absolutely no one on the outside of an NFL franchise saw coming.

Following Sanders’ selection by the Browns in the fifth round, Kiper went on a strange, emotional, and lengthy tangent calling out NFL evaluators for their inability to properly scout quarterbacks over the past 50 years. To borrow a phrase out of the Gen Z playbook, it was super “cringe.” It was hard to watch from the guy many deem to be the “godfather” of modern draft coverage.

Here’s the thing: Kiper is the same guy who said he’d retire if former Notre Dame quarterback Jimmy Clausen did not make it in the NFL (he did not). He also thought JaMarcus Russell would be the next coming of John Elway (he was not). To top it all off, he was a big proponent for Lamar Jackson switching to wide receiver so he could have a better chance of making it as a successful pro (spoiler alert: Jackson has multiple MVPs as a quarterback).

Was this, in some way, the beginning of the end for Kiper as a respectable draft voice? I know that sounds a bit over-exaggerated, but there’s a wealth of young, up-and-coming draft voices who could easily step in and provide the same, if not better, coverage of NFL draft prospects across all three days. I’m already seeing people on X bring up the idea of keeping Kiper off the desk for next year.

I’m not sure I disagree with that sentiment.

RJ:

To be quite honest, I do not have a really passionate take on all of this.

It was definitely predictable that there would be strong, deeply held opinions about Sanders falling — maybe a reason why he did so if we allow ourselves to zoom out — and Mel Kiper certainly exhibited passion in his point.

I think it is fine for him to defend that he found the situation to be preposterous and unfair while not calling out the process at large. To act like any single person is batting even .250 at evaluating NFL Draft talent is disingenuous. I know that Michael brought up Kiper’s mistakes in evaluation in the past, but everyone misses. We all are sure about something that doesn’t work out or guarantee a player will fail who goes on to thrive.

If I have a grand takeaway it’s that sometimes it is okay to say you don’t know what’s happening. In the case of Shedeur there were obviously assumptions about his fame derailing everything, but guessing at anything is really just advanced conjecture. I would have personally been fine if Kiper or anyone would have offered something along the lines of, “look I cannot believe this is happening… I have no logical explanation for it.”

Sometimes that is more than fine.

Close your eyes and see the future… who is winning OROTY?

Doug Engle/Florida Times-Union / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

RJ:

There are a handful of options to choose from, obviously. Tennessee’s Cam Ward will make a lot of sense and has the advantage of being a quarterback… perhaps in that respect someone like Jaxson Dart will surprise us by getting in the mix and running away with it.

As far as I am concerned there is no reason or need to overthink this and therefore I am going to go with Travis Hunter. The Jaguars traded up to get him and in all likelihood did not do so for him to not be a main part of their overall operation. Trevor Lawrence is in need of a bounce-back kind of season… the math just makes too much sense.

For what it’s worth I have not seen a ton of “Travis Hunter could win BOTH Rookie of the Year awards” but I will say that I’ll hedge my bet a bit and guarantee that he wins at least one.

Michael:

As much as I hate to admit it, I think new Raiders running back Ashton Jeanty is going to run away with the award this year (pun absolutely intended).

The Raiders did get their new starting quarterback by trading for Geno Smith but I just don’t see how Pete Carroll won’t try and ride Jeanty to the promised land. I can already see it. Smith is going to pelt tight end Brock Bowers with a billion targets because Jeanty’s effectiveness will keep the play-action game wide open. The latter will be fed, fed, and fed en route to winning the league’s Offensive Rookie of the Year honor, right after his new teammate Bowers did it in 2024.

And yes, I am so down bad knowing that the Chargers will have to face the Raiders and Jeanty twice a year for the foreseeable future. It’s not exactly the same, but it feels reminiscent of when I realized Patrick Mahomes was going to be amazing and that I’d have to watch him dominate the Bolts every year after I was pushing for him to be LA’s pick at No. 7 that year over Mike Williams.

Which team put together your favorite draft class?

Michael:

A lot of teams posted photos on X of their entire draft classes following the end of day three. The one class that really made me stop and stare was the Seattle Seahawks. This is a team that blew me away with their group that was packed with size and athleticism.

Their first-round pick, offensive guard Grey Zabel, was one of the safest picks for a offensive lineman in the class. He’s 6’6 and a mauler. Seattle then followed that pick up by selecting South Carolina safety Nick Emmanwori, a 6’3, 220-pound safety who blew the doors off of the NFL Combine.

The final two picks on Day 2 were Miami tight end Elijah Arroyo and Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe. Again, two dudes with immense athleticism and dynamic play-making ability. The Seahawks don’t even need a quarterback but the offensive minds in the room will probably find a way to get the elusive Milroe on the field to make a difference for their team as a rookie.

Last but not least, I have to shout out their fifth-round selection of Alabama fullback/tight end Robbie Outzs. This guy sported the best mustache at the NFL Combine and is a house.

There’s so much to love about this group. After being the only 10-win team in the NFL to miss out on the playoffs in 2024, expect the Seahawks to be incredibly motivated to never be in that position again.

RJ:

It pains me to say this, but I really like what the New York Giants did.

To be clear I think the smart teams in the Philadelphia Eagles and Baltimore Ravens all did their usual thing, but I think that the Giants are at the very least one step closer to fixing everything that has been going on for a decade (longer if we are willing to acknowledge that their two Super Bowl wins were incredible, but also the product of supreme luck).

I am a proud Arizona State Sun Devil and therefore devastated that Cam Skattebo is going to run at my Dallas Cowboys twice a year for the foreseeable future. The thing is that the Giants have begun to build an established core of young offensive players in Skattebo and (obviously) quarterback Jaxson Dart… oh and Abdul Carter now gets to wreak havoc and maybe even make life easier for Kayvon Thibodeaux.

It is super easy for a team like the Eagles as mentioned to keep being elite. That is boring.

Seeing the Giants take a serious step forward is applause-worthy.

Which was the most “of course” draft pick of the entire group?

Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

RJ:

Anyone who watched the College Football Playoff knew that Jack Sawyer was going to be a fun pick for whoever ultimately wound up with him. The play that he made for Ohio State to close out the Cotton Bowl against the Longhorns was an all-timer.

It was the kind of play that superstar defensive players like T.J. Watt make, so of course fate would lead Sawyer to the Pittsburgh Steelers. By all measures, Sawyer seems like a dude who is going to just grind forever and ever which makes him a perfect fit for the Steel City.

If I can add to this I’ll say that Will Howard, Sawyer’s Ohio State quarterback, ending up in Pittsburgh is something we are not talking about quite enough. I know we wonder if Aaron Rodgers is ultimately still going to sign there, but Howard presents a project to work on for the future at the very least.

Michael:

Jack Sawyer is a really good pick here.

For me, I can’t help but pick a team that — without missing a beat every year — finds a way to draft a player that had no business being available when they were on the clock in the first round. Of course, I’m talking about the Philadelphia Eagles somehow getting the chance to pick Alabama linebacker Jihaad Campbell at No. 31 when he was expected to come off the board anywhere from No. 8 to No. 15.

In a class that seemed to lack any elite talent at the off-ball linebacker spot, the Eagles took advantage and got the top guy at a position that seems to have been devalued in recent years. At the same time, if you look at the teams who have been the most successful in recent years, they all tend to employ a pretty good player in the middle. Think about Zack Baun who was extended by the Eagles this offseason. The 49ers and Fred Warner. The Ravens and Roquan Smith. There seems to be a trend here.

The Eagles didn’t even NEED Campbell, but they took him anyway because they really do stand by the concept of picking the best player available and I guarantee — on more than one occasion this upcoming season — we’ll be watching the Eagles defense dominate and say to ourselves, “I cannot believe they were allowed to draft this guy.”

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