2025 NFL Mock Draft: Only two QBs go in first round as teams prioritize defensive players in loaded class

Everything we thought about the 2025 NFL Draft just may come true. It’s a bad year at quarterback, with no sure answers. It’s a banner year for defensive players. So, two polar opposites of the 2024 draft.

Another major difference? While the 2024 NFL Draft tied a record with seven first-round picks at receiver, we currently project only three such players in 2025, a combination of a down year at the position, plus the simple fact that so many teams have taken receivers early in recent years.

If my mock draft holds, it’d be the fewest receivers taken since 2019. And just like we have our first receiver going off the board at No. 22 (warning: you may scratch your head at the fit), that 2019 draft didn’t see a wideout get taken until No. 25.

The draft order below was determined using the current 2025 NFL Draft order. To check out the NFL betting odds on who will be the No. 1 overall pick in the draft, head on over to Caesars Sportsbook.

For more draft coverage, you can hear in-depth analysis twice a week on “With the First Pick” — our year-round NFL Draft podcast with NFL Draft analyst Ryan Wilson and former Vikings general manager Rick Spielman. You can find “With the First Pick” wherever you get your podcasts: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, etc. Listen below!