I Have No Wins and I Must Draft (Part 3)

(I Have No Wins and I Must Draft is our ongoing series that follows the 2025 NFL draft order and the players projected to be taken at the beginning of that draft.)

  Following the Raiders defeat of the Jaguars on Sunday, they have improved to 3-12 on the season and moved from the #2 overall pick in the draft all the way back to #6. This is devastating news for any Las Vegas fans who were hoping for a simple route to getting a top quarterback prospect for next year. The Panthers, who are in a much less dire situation, pulled a surprise overtime victory over the Cardinals and are now slated to received the #8 overall pick with a record of 4-11. These two teams winning has drastically reshaped every mock draft in existence, and your projected top 10 draft picks now look like this:

1. Giants

2. Patriots

3. Jaguars

4. Titans

5. Browns

6. Raiders

7. Bears

8. Panthers

9. Jets

10. Saints

  It seems like a forgone conclusion that the Giants are taking a quarterback with the #1 pick, most likely Shedeur Sanders. They play the Colts at home this Sunday and face the Eagles in Philadelphia after that. 

   The Patriots and Jaguars are not in the market for a QB, at least not in the first round. Travis Hunter is widely considered to be the best player available, but whether or not he’s a good fit largely depends on what position(s) he plays in the NFL. The Patriots are desperate for help at receiver, but actually have a pretty good pair of cornerbacks in Marcus Jones and Christian Gonzalez. Both are very good in pass coverage, and if the plan is for Travis Hunter to primarily play defense with the occasional cameo on offense, one could argue that he isn't a great fit for the Patriots at the #2 pick and they would probably find better positional value by trading down.

   Conversely, the Jaguars are truly abysmal in terms of pass defense. They're averaging a league-worst 390 yards allowed per game, with another league-worst average in their 263 passing yards allowed per game. Jacksonville needs all the help they can get on defense, but actually have a fairly competent group of receivers when healthy. They seemingly hit their 1st round pick from last year out of the park, as rookie Brian Thomas Jr. has 73 catches for 1,088 yards and 9 touchdowns with two games left to play in the season. Christian Kirk can be hit-or-miss but has consistently put together a few great games over the years when he's healthy, and Evan Engram is sneakily one of the more reliable tight ends in the AFC when he can stay on the field. If New England trades their pick to a team that needs a QB like Las Vegas, it's almost guaranteed that the Jaguars would end up with Travis Hunter in the first of many moves they need to make to fix their defense.

  Not many experts are mocking Tennessee to take a quarterback, but if the Patriots and Jaguars don't decide to trade down, it would be very hard to believe that the Titans aren't taking one of either Cam Ward or Shedeur Sanders, whichever QB the Giants don't select. 2nd year signal caller Will Levis has posted a season stat line of 12 touchdowns and 12 interceptions in 11 games played. His often-maligned veteran replacement Mason Rudolph is looking at 8 touchdowns and 8 interceptions in his 6 games played. They might be looking into other teams' reclamation projects if they don't expect Sanders or Ward to still be around when they make their pick, but if somehow one of them is still on the board when Tennessee is on the clock, it would be pretty shocking if they don't pick that QB.