I Have No Wins and I Must Draft (Part 10 - the Finale)

(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. You can find all the previous parts, as well as a few supplemental articles about the 2025 NFL Draft here)

Super Bowl LIX is less than one week away, and we now have enough information about the 2025 NFL Draft order to break down all 32 draft picks of the first round. We have gone over the first 25 picks already, but we will be revisiting those picks in the near future since there have been a lot of changes to the head coaches, general managers, or both roles for some of the teams picking near the top of the draft. For now, let's dive into the final 7 picks of Round 1:

Pick #26: Los Angeles Rams

The Rams are one of the more surprising teams around right now. Since going "all in" for a championship in 2021, they were expected to go through a few rebuilding years and slump through the post-Stafford era until their new quarterback of the future arrived. Instead, they had one bad year immediately following Super Bowl LVI but have been back to the playoffs in back-to-back seasons since then. Matthew Stafford is still under center in Los Angeles, and despite turning 37 years old later this week he shows no sign of stopping anytime soon. 2024 marks the 8th year that Sean McVay has been running the team, and the 13th year that general manager Les Snead has been around. Both of those jobs are very secure, but what makes this pick so interesting is the fact that the Rams have almost never made a first round pick since McVay took over as head coach. When he inherited the team, the Rams had already spent two first round picks to trade up and draft Jared Goff. Over the next 6 years, they traded away all of their first round picks in order to acquire Jalen Ramsey, Matthew Stafford, Brandin Cooks, and a few more middle round draft picks along the way. It wasn't until last April that they finally used a first round pick to draft Jared Verse. It remains to be seen whether the Rams plan to use this pick or if they go back to their old ways and trade down, but if they do use this pick they're probably going to use it on an offensive lineman to keep their aging quarterback upright and make sure that whoever takes over for Stafford in the future is well-protected when they arrive. We're expecting this pick to be Josh Connerly Jr. from Oregon, Aireonta Ersery from Minnesota, or the best offensive lineman available at this point.

Pick #27: Baltimore Ravens

The Ravens are telling a very familiar story this off-season. An excellent season with a ridiculously productive running game and an MVP-quality season from Lamar Jackson ended in a divisional round loss that featured some head-scratching turnovers. This upcoming season will be head coach John Harbaugh's 18th year with the franchise and general manager Eric DeCosta's 7th in that role. Nobody is calling for their jobs at this point, but playoff windows don't stay open forever. This is a team that has made the playoffs 5 times in the last 6 years, yet only has 3 postseason wins to show for it. If they want better results next season, they need some reinforcements in the defensive secondary. This unit dealt with a lot of injuries down the stretch and weren't playing at 100% when it mattered most, so even if the player taken here isn't a day 1 starter, they will most certainly provide a welcome insurance plan in the event that the secondary can't stay healthy again. Our pick here is Shavon Revel Jr. from East Carolina, or Jahdae Barron from Texas if he falls this far.

Pick #28: Detroit Lions

The Lions did everything right this year except beat the Commanders in the NFC Championship. It's very hard to find an area on this roster that underperformed and presents an obvious draft need. With that said, head coach Dan Campbell and general manager Brad Holmes understand that defense wins championships and they're going to look at the war in the trenches with this draft pick. As of now, we are predicting that this pick will either be Mike Green from Marshall or Walter Nolen from Mississippi, depending on which section of the defensive line they feel would be better to bolster. 

Pick #29: Washington Commanders

The historic and meteoric rise of the 2024 Washington Commanders should become the blueprint for how to rebuild a team as quickly as possible going forward. Head coach Dan Quinn and general manager Adam Peters were given a 4-13 team, gutted the roster, and brought them to an NFC title game appearance in their first season. With solid position groups on both sides of the ball, the Commanders should focus on the continued health and wellbeing of their offensive skill players by drafting an offensive lineman with pick #29. Aireonta Ersery from Minnesota could be a great fit here if he is still on the board, or they could go with Armand Membou from Missouri if they feel the interior line is the greater need.

Pick #30: Buffalo Bills

If it wasn't for those meddling Chiefs, the Bills would have won a Super Bowl by now. In their 8 years together, head coach Sean McDermott and general manager Brandon Beane have made the playoffs 7 times and they've seen 4 of those playoff runs get cut short by Kansas City. This is another team that has a solid roster with no real weaknesses, but one area they could be looking to reinforce with this pick is their defensive line. This draft class is very deep with edge rushers, but generating consistent quarterback pressure from the interior defensive line gives a team a lot more flexibility in terms of how they use their linebackers and how often they need to blitz. They can do that by drafting a player like Walter Nolen from Mississippi or Tyleik Williams from Ohio State.

Pick #31: Kansas City Chiefs

That's right, we're picking the Eagles to win Super Bowl LIX. The Chiefs would pick 31st in that scenario. The Chiefs understand what it takes to win, and they've shown time and time again that it doesn't really matter who they throw out there on offense. They find a way to score even if they don't seem talented enough on paper to put up points against highly ranked defenses. Given their success in this area of the game, it seems like they would be likely to use this pick on a lineman on either side of the ball just to add some depth to those positional groups. We've already mocked Armand Membou from Missouri and Tyliek Williams from Ohio State to other teams on this list, but it seems unlikely that both of them are taken before this pick so the Chiefs should be able to grab whichever one of them is still available here. If they really want to boost their offensive line but can't get Membou, then Cameron Williams from Texas should be the next best offensive lineman left on the board. If the Chiefs want to go with a defensive pick here instead but aren't able to get Tyliek Williams, then Derrick Harmon from Oregon seems like the logical conclusion.

Pick #32: Philadelphia Eagles

As evidenced by their 55-23 beat down of the Washington Commanders in the NFC title game, the Eagles are an offensive powerhouse and don't need to spend high draft capital on that side of the ball to ensure their continued success. Still, a little extra depth at offensive line never hurt a team's chances. For this pick, any of the players we mentioned connected to the Chiefs are fair game for the Eagles as well: If they want to go with an offensive lineman, they will probably be looking at Armand Membou from Missouri or Cameron Williams from Texas. If they want to use this pick for a defender, then Tyleik Williams or Derrick Harmon will probably be the selection.

This will functionally conclude our I Have No Wins and I Must Draft series. Our next publication will be a full first round mock draft with updated picks for the first 25 teams in the draft order, since many of them have gone through some kind of significant change in the last few weeks since we first broke down those draft picks. Coming soon will be a series focusing on individual draft prospects and how they might fit with certain teams at the next level. Check back here all off-season long as we continue diving into the 2025 NFL Draft.