2025 draft look back: Seahawks capitalized on a weak class with smart choices

Last year's first round rookie class is a concern for the NFL

The Seahawks had a guard who got votes for Offensive Rookie of the Year and a second round hybrid safety/linebacker/cornerback who finished second in Defensive Rookie of the Year voting. What’s good for the 2025’s Executive of the Year should scare the hell out of the NFL.

Good news for John Schneider. Good news for Seahawks fans. Bad sign for the incoming “top talent” in the NFL Draft every year.

I made a compelling case for Grey Zabel to win Offensive Rookie of the Year last season, but that wouldn’t have been possible if ANY first-year quarterback, running back, receiver, or tight end had a season like we expect of some rookies.

Winner Tetairoa McMillan is now RETROACTIVELY touted as having a remarkable rookie season, but this is a receiver who caught 57% of his targets, only reached 100 yards two times (one of which was exactly 100), and barely crossed the 1,000-yard threshold in 17 games.

Go back to 2021 and see that Ja’Marr Chase won the award with 1,455 yards and 13 touchdowns. Go back to 2023 and Puka Nacua finished second behind C.J. Stroud after he had 1,486 yards.

McMillan may have been swimming upstream with Bryce Young and the Panthers, but don’t lose track of the point being made:

This is not about whether McMillan could have done better in a better offense. This is the fact that NOBODY had a better rookie season on offense than a mid-tier number two receiver on the 27th-ranked scoring team? Not a quarterback who went 1st, a receiver who went 2nd, or a running back who went 6th?

Defensively, Nick Emmanwori finished second behind linebacker Carson Schwesinger, meaning that the 15th and 16th DEFENSIVE players off the board (Schwesinger was the first pick of the second round) did better than EVERY FIRST ROUND PICK ON THAT SIDE OF THE BALL.

Rookies struggle

They always do. But do they always struggle at this level? And are they supposed to struggle relative to their rookie peers? It’s not as though we’re saying “Yeah, the 2025 rookie class wasn’t that good but did you see Andre Carter???”

The 3rd overall pick was bad.

“Did you see Travis Hunter?”

The 2nd overall pick was bad.

This puts more pressure on the 2026 rookie class to be a lot better than last year’s rookie class because if they struggle and this becomes a pattern, the spotlight on how college football’s new rules have impacted the product coming into the league will grow brighter and then the NFL is going to have to step in and do something about it by changing their rules of who is eligible for the draft.

Until then, it could be less about how high you pick (like 32nd) and more about who is doing the picking (like the Executive of the Year).

Let’s review the 2025 first round and see if I’m overreacting or just being faithful to the truth of how bad it’s gotten.

😐=neutral

📉=stock down

📈=stock up

1. QB Cam Ward, Titans📈

Like Fernando Mendoza, Ward was not considered to be a lock for the first round until the end of his final college season. And even then, they were elevated to first overall because there hasn’t been a quarterback who went into the league with a lot of hype since Caleb Williams in 2024.

Ward gets a pass because the hardest position in the league isn’t just being a quarterback…it’s being a quarterback on the worst team in the league. But year two he has to be good and he has to at least get the Titans close to the playoffs.

2. WR/CB Travis Hunter, Jaguars📉

ESPN’s Mike Clay projected 73/884 for Hunter’s rookie season, aided by already having a quarterback and a WR1 in Jacksonville. Instead, Hunter had 28 catches for 298 yards (33% of his yards came in one game and he had to be targeted 14 times, which is also when he got injured) in seven games. Hunter missed over half of the season and the Jaguars are rumored to be switching him to corner full-time, both outcomes being entirely predictable when you try to have someone play 100 snaps a game.

Instead of being Shohei Ohtani, he’s more like “So-so Okay-ni”.

3. EDGE Abdul Carter, Giants📉

NFL.com’s Bucky Brooks gave Carter a “D” for his rookie season, which included only four sacks and multiple benchings. Former teammate Dexter Lawrence said publicly that Carter needed to “grow up” and then the Giants hired the hard-nosed John Harbaugh and drafted Arvell Reese as a potential edge rusher upgrade.

People wanted him to be like Micah Parsons, but the differences in their rookie seasons is impossible to omit from a comparison.

4. OT Will Campbell, Patriots📉(if he’s a guard)

We are so bad at judging the performance of individual offensive linemen that a lot of people have started to praise Campbell’s rookie season because the Patriots reached the Super Bowl. A Super Bowl in which Campbell set an NFL record by allowing 14 pressures.

The Patriots then moved up a few spots last week to draft left tackle Caleb Lomu in the first round. New England will not move Campbell…yet…but there were a lot of people saying even before last year’s draft that Campbell would have to move to guard in the NFL because of his arm length and very little about his rookie season would suggest otherwise. This would mean that the fourth overall pick was not only a guard, but probably a worse guard than Zabel.

5. DT Mason Graham, Browns📈

I made a bold prediction last year by saying that Seattle could trade up for Graham, which obviously did not happen and probably wasn’t discussed very seriously. Graham’s rookie season (49 tackles and a lot of playing time) was nondescript itself, but helped Myles Garrett get 23 sacks. Now Graham needs to be descript.

6. RB Ashton Jeanty, Raiders😐

Jeanty was projected by PFF to have over 1,600 total yards and 10 touchdowns. Before the season nobody was talking about the Raiders being the worst team—with the worst rushing offense—in the league. Jeanty had 975 rushing yards and 3.7 yards per carry. Now Klint Kubiak has to develop an offense around Jeanty because Mendoza isn’t going to be help much and Las Vegas still has the worst receivers room.

7. OT Armand Membou, Jets📈

Membou might have had the best rookie season for an offensive player, widely considered to be better than Campbell’s.

8. WR Tet McMillan, Panthers📈

9. OT Kelvin Banks, Saints📈

Banks and Membou together are arguably the best picks in the top-10, perhaps suggesting that tackles were a safer bet in the class than other positions. Coincidence or could it be easier for NFL coaches to put offensive linemen in a position to succeed earlier in their careers?

10. TE Colston Loveland, Bears📈

As the season went on, head coach Ben Johnson put more of a workload on Loveland’s plate and he ended up having almost 800 yards in the last 12 games, including the playoffs. The Bears drafted another tight end (Sam Roush) at pick 69 this year, suggesting that Chicago will go heavy 13 personnel after seeing what the Rams did last season.