My Top Five Wide Receiver Of The 2025 Draft.
NFL Fans Have Gotten Spoiled In Recent Years By The Load Of Superstar Receivers That Have Enter The League In Recent Years So Much So That This 2025 Crop is Filled With Excellent Talent. What This Class Lacks In Overall Star Power It Makes Up For Depth, A lot Of Talented Players With Varying Skill sets who Can Command And Complete A Wide Receiver Room. Some of these players will emerge as stars like Puka Nacua a few years ago because drafting as a science has holes. We just won't see until these guys play in the league. Like Nacua Some Of These Guys Get Mis-Evaluated Because Of The Talent And The Role They Fit Into In College And Some Get Propped Up. Despite The Scores Of Recent Successes Receivers Continue To Present A Tough Evaluation And Projection From College To Pro For Varying Reasons. Some College Offenses Don’t Take Advantage Of A Specific Receivers Skillset, Some Guys Function Better As Number Twos In The NFL Rather Than Number Ones In College, and Vice Versa, some Guy's Skillsets Take More Time To Advance and Others Get Overshadowed By More Notable But Lesser Skilled Options Of Their College Teams. Don’t Put The “ATH” Next To His Name For Athlete But Put The “U” For Unicorn Declares Heisman Trophy Winner And Top NFL Trophy. “Unicorn” The Epithet That Pervaded The NBA For A While Usually Given To 7 Foot Players With Guard Skills Like Kristal Porzingis Or Wembyama Or Spurs Found Its Way into Football. In Basketball Those Players Haven’t Always Translated Flawlessly, So far Wemby Has Made The Skill Set Work, But Will Travis Hunter Make His Desire To Play Both Sides Of The Field Stick? I Don’t Believe He’ll Play On Both Sides Of The Ball In the Pros. I’ve Seen Guys Struggle To Play Two Position On One Side Of The Ball Like Edge and Backer But The Rigor And The Demand Of The NFL at Either Position Will Prove Too Much for Hunter if He Wants To “Star”—which He Would As Top Five Pick. I think he’s best at corner, but he could play a solid number two receiver if he commits to the position. I’m just not convinced that the traits he demonstrated in Big 12 translate to the pros. I’m Not Going To Break Down Travis’s Game Just Because He’s Gotten So Much Press And I Want To Cover Other Options.
1)Emeka Egbuka— The Ohio State Product And Former Five Star Recruit Emeka Looks Like The Most “Complete” But Not Without Shortcoming Receiver In This Draft He Has The Least Question Marks Of This Group. Egbuka Played At Ohio State For Four Years, Amongst Some Of The Most Talented Receiver Groups Ever To Play In Columbus And Ever In College, And He’s Never Emerge As The Top Option On The Team, Always Getting Overshadowed By Ohio State's other Star Talents. Egbuka Ranked Higher Than Marvin Harrison In The 2021 Recruiting Class and Higher Than Garrett Wilson, Chris Olave And Jaxson Smith-Njigba By All-Time Ohio State Recruiting Rankings, He(Egbuka) Ranks 19 Overall According to 24/7 Recruiting In OhiO State, Third Highest Wide Receiver But Egbuka Doesn’t “Give” Those Number One Vybes. Emeka Hasn’t Had The Chance To Play Number One Receiver ball But He Emerged As The Program All-Time Leader In Receptions, He’s Got Solid Size At 6’1 20-ish Pounds With Clearly Defined Skill Set, He Can Get Open In The Scheme, Sure Handed(5.8% Drop Rate), Not A lot Of Wiggle Or Juice But He’s Great At The Catch Point 59.1 Contest Catch Rate Last Season and He Just Seems To Always Come Free Available. Ohio States Talent Created A lot Of Plus Opportunities For Him Thats Egbuka Gets The Wrap As
As A Guy With The Skillset That Just ‘Meshes’ Well In A Group Of Receivers. He’s Shown Good Break On Stop Routes, a Good Feel For Gaps In Zone, and Good Separation and Finished With an 83.6% against Zone And 81.3% Success Rate Against Man. Most Of Emeka's Route Diet consists of slants, Digs, Corner and Flats Or Just Crossing Routes Which Allow Egbuka To Take Advantage Of The Gravity Around a Talented Roster but Longer, Ground Chewing, 2nd Gear Strides Which Egbuka Gain More Ground As He Pushed Through His Route Into The
Boundary. Despite Not Carrying The Title Of A “Burner” He Clocked A 4.49 In The Forty Yard Dash Plenty Of Speed For An NFL Route Tree. ESPn’s Tracking Data Registered Emeka Open On 80 Of 106 Of His Targets In College. He Mostly Operated In The Intermediate With An Average Depth Of Target ranging From 7.9-9.1 yards Which Makes Him An Ideal Fit For A West Coast, Shanahan Offense That Has Pervaded The League. He’s Gotten Branded As A “slot-mostly”, Power Slot Type, Justin Jefferson Faced The Same Criticism When He Left LSU, “failed to stand out as an outside target but saw his stock soar with a monster season from the slot”(NFL Draft Profile). Emeka Doesn’t Boost The Same Wiggle Zoe Any Twitchiness Or Suddenness But He’s A Strong 1B, Number Two Option An Already Established But Not A Star To Build Around. I Think He’ll Play More “Z” Receiver On The Next Level.
Pro Comp: Brandon Aiyuk.
Matthew Golden, Texas— Golden Has Seen His Stock Rise Through The End Of The Season And Into The Combine But He Remains Somewhat Of A polarizing Player Whose Play Scouts Have To “Separate” From The Play Of His Quarterback At Texas and The Overall Offensive Play-calling For The Longhorns. Standing At 5’11, Weighting In At 191 Lbs The Texas Native Golden Spent His First Two Seasons Of College Ball At Houston Before Transferring To Texas joining A Talented Texas Offense and Replenishing The Talent At Receiver The Longhorns Lost To The 2024 Draft. After Fitting Into The Role As A complimentary In Texas’s Scheme Golden Emerged As The Teams’ Top Option for the college Football Run. Golden Ran A 4.29 On The Forty At The Combine, which seemed To Shock Most Plaudits And He’s Deceptively Fast On Tape, He Doesn’t Look Like He’ll Blow Past A Deep Quarters Coverage Until He Does. Golden showed Off His Deep Ball Skills Against Some Of The SEC’s Best Including Georgia Picking Up Multiple Explosive Plays Against The Bulldogs Golden racked up 438 Deep Yards On The Season Apart from his 987 Receiving Yards To Lead The Team. Texas didn’t Take Advantage Of The Deep Game With Golden Enough He Only Hauled In 13 Deep Catches On Sparse Opportunities. He’s Average Height And Weight But Golden Can Make Plays Above The Rim, With a 61% Contested Catch Rate. He’s Good At Separating But Also Recognizing Defensive Back Leverage And Cutting His Route Accordingly Which leads to Golden Posting an 82.5% success rate vs. zone coverage(Reception Perception). Texas Used Golden Skill Set With Heavy Usage Of Go Routes, Digs, Corners, Curls, Post, and Slant and Golden Lined All Across The Board But Primarily Outside. His 7.4% drop rate Has Raised Some Eyes Brow But He Didn’t Always Have The Best Passes To Work With, His Hands Look Plenty Good. Plaudits Also Knock His Route Running Which I Disagree I Think He’s A Victim Of Over Scouting, Where Plaudits Just Have To Find Something To Say About A Player’s Game For The Sake Of Making Content Golden Has Plenty of Range On His Route Even If He’s Not Justin Jefferson. Golden Doesn’t Have The Size To Operate On The Outside Consistently and He Doesn’t excel Against Press Man Coverage But He Could Make A Solid Two Whose Shortcomings Could Be Covered By Motion And Free Releases. Maybe Prove He’s The Number One Guy Of This Class.
Pro Comp: Jordan Addison.
Luther Burden, Missouri—burden entered Missouri As A Five Star recruit and Three Years Later He Exits Projected To Hear His Name In The First Round of The NFL And Probably In The Rouse Of Applause From Fans On Sunday. Luther Stands 6’ And Clocked A 4.41 In The Forty Yard Dash While Forty Times And Wide Receiver Have Become Customary For Burden He Just Looks Faster Than His Forty Time, He Looks Faster Than Golden Who Clocked A 4.2. Burden Leaves Embers And Burn Marks Behind Him On His Catches and Runs And This leads to Burden Developing a reputation As The Top After Catch Receiver In The Draft. He’s Got Game Speed Burden Pick Over 1000 Yards In YAC Over Two Season and though His Straight Line Speed May Undersell He’s Extremely Twitchy, He Forced 30 Missed Tackles And Broke 25% Of Tackle Attempts Last Season In 12 Games. In His Final Season At Missouri Burden Underwhelmed Following A Special Sophomore Campaign Burden Put Up Pedestrian Numbers, 61 Catches For 676 Receiving Yards and 6 Touches after 1209 Yards The Previous Season. As One Of The Premier Talents At Missouri, a Top Ten Recruit, and the Crown Jewel Of His Recruiting Cycle For Missouri Observers Wanted Burden To Take The Offense And His Game To Knew Height Instead He Got Flagged For Taking Routes “Off”, and He’s Well Built(He’s An Athlete) But He’s Got Smaller Hands(8 1/2) and Struggled To Hold Catches In Traffic. He Didn’t Play A Ton In Traffic, reception Perception Record Burden Playing “in space” on 70.2% Of His Routes Playing Against A lot Of Zine. He Showed Chops For Adjusting To Balls In Mid-Air But Missouri’s Offense Utilize Burden In The Short and Screen Where His Speed and Agility Could Generate YAC. Burden Picked Up Only 7 Deep Catches Last Season, Missouri Spammed Burden On Slot Fade Routes forcing Burden To Show Case A Limited Diet Of Routes But He Has Some Untapped Potential And Room To Evolve Into A Complete Receiver. I Still Believe Luther Could Emerge As A first-round Pick and Even A Top Option On A Pro Offense. The team That Drafts Luther Shouldn’t Rush To Develop Him into A Complete Nuance Receiver Just Continue To Take Advantage Of His Skill Set.
Pro Comp: Emmanuel Saunders.
Jaylin Noel Iowa State— In A Time When LSU, Ohio State, Alabama Have Dominated The College Wide Receiver Landscape Guy Jaylin Noel Of Iowa State A Big Program a Top 10 Team At One Point But Not A Big Brand Gets Overshadowed But He’s Possibly The Most Complete Receiver In The Draft. At 5’10 a Shade Under 200 Lbs Noel Gets Overshadowed By His Bigger, Rangier More Prototypical Teammate Jayden Higgins But Noel's Tape And Testing Speaks Volumes For The Player He Could Prove On The Next Level. In Terms Of Draft Prospects, I’m Usually Alarmed By Guys With Small Hands And Play Offense, And Noel Falls Into That Category With 8 3/4 Hand size. Gloves Help Btu Sub 9 Inch Hands Usually Result In Guys Struggling To Hang On To Passes Through Contact The Difference is an Electric Athlete. NFL.com Gave 91 Athletic Grade After He Ran a 4.39 Forty, 41.5 Vertical, and An 11’2 Broad Jump Just A Few Of His Numbers. The Speed Shows Up As He Gains Ground and Pulls Away From Deep, Whether From The Slot—Where He Played Most of His Snaps Like Every Other Receiver— Or Off The Line Noel Just Gets Over The Top Of Safeties, Tracks The Ball Excellently In Stride and He’s Good At Using His Frame and Stacking Defensive Backs. He’s Snapping In And Out Of His Breaks, Great At Changing Direction Almost Swerving In And Out Like A car In a High-Speed Chase Seen In A Fast And Furious Movie—, No Change Of Speed Just Change Of Direction. He’s Incredible Dangerous On A Free Release With No Press and He’s Aloud To Build Speed And Push Up Field. Noel Gets Knock For His Lack Of Elusiveness, He Doesn’t Drop His Hips and Makes Defenders, He’s Kind Of Tight As An Athlete. Like Many Of The Other Slot Options In This Class Noel Excelled Against Zone(81.8%) Success Rate But Also Posted A Solid Score(74.1%) Against Man Coverage. While His Stature and His Lack Of Yards after The Catch Production Puts A Cap On His Outside I’m Not Convinced That Noel Can’t Play Beyond His Role As a Receiver In The Pros. Noel amassed Over 600 Deep Yards Which didn’t Him The Opportunity To Forced Miss Tackles and Break Tackles Down the Field.
Pro Comp: shades Of Amon-Ra St. Brown.
Jayden Higgins, Iowa State—I’m Only Ranking a Top Five and I Had Trouble With This Final Profile But I’ll Stick With My Jayden Higgins Here. With The Heavy Influx
Of Big Bodied Receivers That Have to Enter The League
And Every Big Bodied Receiver Presents The Temptation That They Will Succeed On The Next Level And That Doesn’t Always Happen. Big Bodies Can Discard Press Man Coverage With Ease and Win In Jump Ball Situations But The “Wrong” Ones Usually Have No Use. Receivers Need Diversity To Fit Into An Offensive Scheme and Too Many Big Guys Have A One-Dimensional Nature. Higgins Has A Complete, Multi-Dimensional Skill Set For A Receiver His Size, 6’4, 80” Wing Span, 33 Arm Length, With 4.47 Speed while Inconsistent He’s A Fluid Mover In And Out Of Breaks and Shifts His WEIGHT. He Can Wiggle, Stutter Step, And Change Direction Pretty Fluidly, With A Solid Release package. He’s One Of The Few Guys Who Saw A lot Of Man Coverage and Didn’t Get A Ton Of Free Releases That Gifted Him Yards Up Field Instead Higgins Needed To Win With savvy And Agility On The Line Of Scrimmage. He Ran A Heavy Dosage Of Change Of Direction Routes, Stops, Digs, Curls, Outs, and Slants On Top Of His Proficiency With Go Routes And He’s a Pristine Mover. Higgins Won’t Produce A lot Of Yards After Catch But He Enters the League The Pre-Installed Big Down Field Red Zone Ability and The YAC Potential remain open “If he gets an open lane”. The Advance Metric Leave Me A Bit Confused, Perception Reception Knocked Higgins With Poor Score Versus Man Coverage (58.6% success rate vs. man coverage and 50.7% success rate vs. press) Pro Football Focus Blessed Him An 87.8 Vs. Man Coverage Grade And From I Watch I Didn’t See Anything Too Alarming. Higgins Also Has a Relatively Small Hand 9”(31st Percentile, Not Good) But He’s Only dropped Seven Passes In 350 Targets. If Higgins Ended Up On A Team Like The Ravens Or Seahawks He Transforms Those Offenses. Higgins Has High Bust Potential If His Movement Skills Dont Translate against Higher Level Competition and His Ability To Force Contact Doesn’t Result In Defensive Pass Interference Calls On The Next Level.
Pro Comp: Isaiah Likely The Ravens Tight End.
Why No Tet McMillian? The Arizona Product McMillian Has Taken Up Shop At The Top Of The Wide Receiver Boards In Football Behind Travis Hunter But He’s Underwhelming To Me. In Tape He Doesn’t “Pop” He Doesn’t possess a lot Of Nuance Route Running, On Goes He’s Just casually Getting Down Field no Thrust, No Suddenness, No Bend, He’s Just Casual. I’m Also Not A Fan Of How Plaudits Seem To Talk Themselves Into the Idea Of This 6’5 Made In A Lap Receiver, Good Receiver Have Good Ability. T-Mac Has Good Hands But What Good Would They Do Him If He Can't Separate. Size Matters in The NFL But If You Can Only Run One Good Route How Else Will Teams Use Your Skill Set Within An Offense?
Other Guys: Jalen Royals Of Utah State A Relatively Small School In Terms of NFL Impact But Royals Looks Like Solid Prospect. He Ran A 4.4, Runs Clean Routes, And Possess Good Playmaking Instinct.
Tory Horton Of Colorado State A Player With A Solid Frame At 6’3 and A Solid Route Runner.
