After the dust has settled from a busy free agency period, teams turn their attention to shoring up their rosters via the NFL draft. The 2025 edition will take place April 24-26 at Lambeau Field in Green Bay. The first pick of the draft is made Thursday night at 8 p.m. ET on NBC Sports.
As always, the big storyline of the draft is who will go first overall. The Titans will hold the top pick and could opt to select either Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders or Miami’s Cam Ward. Both players are considered to be potential generational talents in their position as Sanders has the speed and power to evade blocks while Ward can run, pass and play defense.
The remainder of the draft order is set based on how far a team advanced in the previous season’s playoffs. The team with the worst regular season record gets the first pick, followed by teams eliminated in the wild card round, divisional round and conference championship rounds. The Super Bowl loser picks 31st, and the Super Bowl winner 32nd.
Teams are allowed to trade picks during the draft, and those transactions often make for the most dramatic moments of the evening. But a team cannot move up in the draft without giving up one of its existing picks. Those rules are designed to promote fairness in the process and ensure that all teams have a chance to add talent to their rosters.