Finding the top value picks in the 2025 NFL Draft
Finding the top value picks in the 2025 NFL Draft
From Xavier Restrepo to some fun trench players, let's talk about some of my favorite and under-appreciated players in this draft class
Final reports of 2025 NFL Draft prospects are beginning to be written as we are deep into the College Football season now. The best thing about doing draft content? The amount of parity and the lack of overall objectivity across the board allow for a variety of outcomes from analyst to analyst.
This means there will be some players who receive higher marks from me that might now be as appreciated by the NFL or other analysts. Yet when they get to the NFL, they find an immediate role and contribute at a high level.
Some of these players include Detroit Lions defensive tackle Alim McNeil, Baltimore Ravens defensive tackle Travis Jones, Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Leo Chenal, Green Bay Packers tight end Tucker Kraft, Cleveland Browns offensive tackle Dawand Jones, and more.
So let’s talk about some of those players from this year’s draft class. Here are five prospects who deserve more love, could get drafted later than they should, and will make whatever team they land with extremely happy:
WR Xavier Restrepo, Miami
Not much of a sleeper, but Miami wide receiver Xavier Restrepo may slip a bit in the 2025 NFL Draft due to his size and slot-only alignment at the NFL level. However, Restrepo is as pure of a football player as you will find. He is a straight-up dawg.
Despite being sub-200 pounds and sub-6-foot-0 (he’s not even the 5-foot-10 he’s listed at), Restrepo will fly into the second level looking to crack the nearest player to him as a run blocker. Then comes his contested catch ability despite his size. Restrepo is fearless to go up and get the football in traffic. He is a quarterback’s best friend.
Then we can talk about his route running. While the only verticality Restrepo will bring to the field is up the seam against soft zone, he is an elite separator underneath and over the middle. Restrepo is a twitchy mover who presents a safe target for his quarterback, sitting at 710 yards and six touchdowns on the season for the Hurricanes.
Oh, and he’s dropped just one pass all season on 59 targets.
Could Restrepo still hear his name called in the top 100 of the draft despite his size? He deserves to. However, history tells us undersized slot receivers tend to slip. And if he does, the team that lands him comes home with an immediate winner.
DT Dontay Corleone, Cincinnati
After missing the beginning of the season with blood clots in his lungs, Cincinnati defensive tackle Dontay Corleone has exploded back onto the scenes as an absolute immovable object.
As a run defender, it is nearly impossible to move Corleone off the line of scrimmage. He devours double teams, giving three-techs one-on-one matchups and linebackers clean pathways to the ball carrier. And now he’s even shown massive strides as a pass rusher in 2024.
He entered the season with a career-high of just 17 pressures and two sacks along the Bearcats’ interior. This season, even after missing the first game, Corleone has amassed 20 pressures and two sacks in just seven games. So why would Corleone fall in the draft if an already good player is experiencing a career year?
Because the NFL tends to let strictly nose tackles sit on the board for a while. Over his career, he has only played about 200 snaps outside of the A-gap, and just 23 snaps in 2024. The majority of his work comes as a disruptor from 1-tech, which tends to go under-appreciated.
This could change as the NFL is experiencing an uptick in rushing attempts and success rate, however. For now, though a trend is a trend, and a player that should not get out of Day 2 just might.
EDGE Kyle Kennard, South Carolina
A late-bloomer, South Carolina pass rusher is experiencing a breakout after transferring from Georgia Tech for his fifth year. Entering the season with a career-high of 21 pressures and seven sacks, Kennard has already eclipsed those pressures (sitting at 26) and has matched those seven sacks in just seven games.
And he’d done it against SEC talent, namely with a sack against potential top-five pick Will Campbell, and another against Alabama in their matchup as well. At 6-foot-5 and 254 pounds, Kennard has played himself into Day 2 conversation after putting up great tape against the best talent he could be going against.
He still has matchups against Texas A&M, Missouri, and Clemson the rest of the way out as well.
Kennard is explosive, heavy-handed, and even possesses enough flexibility to take the outside shoulder of opposing offensive tackles. Kennard is the real deal and deserves more hype than he is getting.
OG Marcus Mbow, Purdue
While he plays right tackle at Purdue, Marcus Mbow will be kicking into guard at the NFL level (he was their starting guard as a sophomore in 2022 as well). However, he has been tremendous for the Boilermakers again this season after his 2023 season ended after six weeks with a broken leg.
His set does not look 100 percent, but that won’t be an issue when kicking inside as his depth will decrease dramatically. One thing that Mbow does exceedingly well, however, is play with aggression, but controlled aggression.
Mbow’s hands are stellar. He has a nasty snatch trap, his punch is strong, and his placement is superb. Mbow keeps his feet churning as a run blocker and loves to escort players down the field and toward the boundary.
While he had a rough game against Notre Dame, Mbow has been locked in since then. In his latest matchup, against the No. 1 team in the nation Oregon Ducks, Mbow surrendered just one pressure and put on a show as a run blocker.
Given his injury and projection inside, Mbow might slip into early Day 3, but whatever team drafts the Purdue product is going to get a Day 1 starter along the interior of their offensive line with swing capabilities.
RB D.J. Giddens, Kansas State
There are some serious limitations to the game of Kansas State running back D.J. Giddens. He does not offer much as a receiver out of the backfield and his pass protection is a major issue. However, as a pure runner, Giddens is one of the best in the class.
However, he possesses silky smooth movement skills, great eyes, and evident contact balance when he takes on contact. In all likelihood, Giddens is just a 4.5 athlete, but he is set for a committee role at the NFL level with the potential to shoulder a larger role if needed.
He likely eclipses 1,000 yards this weekend, sitting at 944 yards and four touchdowns through eight games. Giddens is averaging 6.5 yards per carry and even hit over 180 yards two weeks straight in Weeks 5 and 7 (with a bye week in between).
While he does not have the breakaway speed that will translate to being a home run hitter at the NFL level, Giddens is a solid, well-rounded back for the Wildcats.
