NFL draft 2025 live updates: Cam Ward predicted to go to Titans at No 1

Key events 18m ago About two-way players ...

1h ago Preamble Show key events only Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature

3m ago 20.08 EDT Oh, goody. We get more pre-draft festivities, as Goodell introduces the Green Bay players on stage with him. And Lil Wayne. And now they get to hear speeches, starting with Clay Matthews reading an alleged message from Donald Trump. Some cheers at first, then some boos. Finally, at 8:08 p.m. ET, the Tennessee Titans are on the clock. They have 10 minutes to submit their pick, or a hole rips in the space-time continuum. Share

7m ago 20.05 EDT NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has opted to ride a bicycle to the stage, accompanied by some legendary Green Bay Packers players and fans. That is a Green Bay tradition of which I was not aware. Booing the commissioner is also traditional, and that’s continuing this year. Share

10m ago 20.02 EDT ESPN shows us an empty couch somewhere in Texas that is apparently where they expect to see Shedeur Sanders. It’s a nice couch, at least. Share

11m ago 20.01 EDT The first person to write in tonight is (we’ll presume) a long-suffering Raiders fan, Dan Aitch … Sitting here hoping the Raiders find a way to get Shedeur Sanders, to develop under Geno Smith. About time the franchise made some serious strides forward. Not sure it will, though. He writes again to add … ... but I’ll happily take Ashton Jeanty. I’m a little iffy on Jeanty because he didn’t face great competition until the playoffs, and he didn’t do well then. Share

14m ago 19.57 EDT The Titans are apparently not trading the No. 1 pick. They need a quarterback. Cam Ward is looking more and more likely to be the first player to make the walk on stage. Share

18m ago 19.54 EDT About two-way players ... Deion Sanders, who coached two-way hopeful Travis Hunter at Colorado, didn’t believe in specialization. His play as a shutdown corner in the NFL is what got him into the Hall of Fame, but he was also a dangerous kick returner and occasionally a wide receiver — especially in 1996, when he caught 36 passes (on an inefficient 67 targets) for 475 yards and was still an All-Pro cornerback. Perhaps not coincidentally, that was the first year he wasn’t also playing baseball. Most two-way collegiate players end up focusing heavily on one side of the ball. Think Hall of Fame defensive backs Champ Bailey and Charles Woodson, who put up eye-popping numbers in college (Bailey’s last year at Georgia: 744 yards and five touchdowns receiving, 52 tackles and three interceptions on defense) but had few enough offensive plays to count on one hand. Adoree’ Jackson is the most recent skill player to do both, but he also has only a handful of offensive plays. Patrick Peterson and Eric Weddle also got a few chances to show their stuff on offense. No player picked his spots better than linebacker Mike Vrabel — 10 regular-season receptions on 14 targets, all for touchdowns, in addition to two touchdown receptions in two different Super Bowls. Vrabel flashed his versatility in New England, as did two offensive players who dabbled on defense — Randy Moss and Troy Brown, both of whom played college football at Marshall. Brown finished his college career by intercepting a desperation pass on the last play of the FCS championship game. A little less successful in New England was Rob Gronkowski, the stalwart tight end who defended one pass in his career but wound up on the blooper reels as he fell down while flailing at Kenyan Drake at the end of the “Miami Miracle” that saw the Dolphins pull off a series of laterals for an improbable last-second win. Decades after William “Refrigerator” Perry scored a handful of touchdowns, including one in the Super Bowl, a few big defensive players get the occasional goal-line opportunity on offense. Dontari Poe has three career touches — all for touchdowns. That’s two 1-yard run and one 1-yard pass. There is one current role player who sees time on offense and defense — the Chargers’ Scott Matlock, who had 362 offensive snaps at fullback and 137 defensive snaps at defensive line in 2024. He’s primarily a blocker on offense, though he did have four receptions for 28 yards last season.

Share

23m ago 19.48 EDT Now being introduced … players who are attending the draft because they have a decent chance of being drafted tonight in the first round. It’ll be pretty awkward if they’re not. Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty is the most traditionally dressed. Will Johnson looks like he plans to unleash an R&B ballad. Georgia’s Malaki Starks is in neon pink. View image in fullscreen Texas wide receiver Matthew Golden poses on the red carpet in Green Bay. Photograph: Matt Ludtke/AP The national anthem is being performed on classical guitar – oops, no, he’s singing now. Hey, Chris Stapleton isn’t a bad role model for anthem performances. Share Updated at 19.49 EDT

41m ago 19.31 EDT An update from Green Bay, site of the draft … Travis Hunter has jumped onstage to dance with the band. He avoided injury. Share

51m ago 19.20 EDT To QB or not QB … No position in modern sports has as much impact on a team’s chances as the quarterback. Barring the odd gadget play, the QB touches the ball on every offensive play. And the position’s importance has only increased over time as passing has increased. Teams averaged 25-ish to 28-ish passes a game in the 1970s. Last year, it was 32.7 attempts per game, and that’s down from more than 35 a few times in the 2010s. And QBs are expected to be accurate. The overall completion percentage in the NFL broke 60% less than 20 years ago and is now getting close to a healthy two-thirds. That’s not all. The “dual-threat” quarterback is no longer an anomaly. QBs need to be mobile. If no one’s open, take off and run. Teams can make it to the Super Bowl without an elite running back. Or a shutdown cornerback. They usually can’t make it without an elite QB any more. The days of Brad Johnson vs. Rich Gannon are gone. Now it’s Jalen Hurts vs. Patrick Mahomes. Matthew Stafford vs. Joe Burrow. The panelists mentioned below (well, two of them) believe the first pick will be Travis Hunter, who is bidding to be the first legitimate two-way player in the NFL since … um … his college coach, Deion Sanders? (We’ll get to that.) But this is the NFL, which stands for “No Fun League.” Hunter will likely be converted into a cornerback like every other two-way collegian (including Sanders, for the most part). That said … does this draft have an elite QB? Is Cam Ward in the same class as Jayden Daniels or Caleb Williams? Or Drake Maye or Michael Penix Jr. or Bo Nix, for that matter?

Probably not. So the next best thing is take someone who can take the other QB down as soon as possible. I’ll agree with Graham. Abdul Carter will go first. Share

1h ago 19.03 EDT Preamble In about an hour and change, we’ll hear, “With the first pick in the NFL Draft, the Tennessee Titans select … Cooper Flagg, from Duke.” What? Wrong draft? Oh. Right – this is the grandfather of all drafts, the peculiar US tradition that aims to instill a sense of parity among teams so that the worst team in a given year gets the first chance to improve by gazing upon the talented players leaving college and selecting a Joe Burrow or a JaMarcus Russell first. The NWSL has started what could become a movement by doing away with its college draft. That seems many years away from happening in the NFL. In other words, this is the biggest night for pro football between the Super Bowl and the first 2025 regular-season game. Enjoy. (And wouldn’t Flagg be a better pick than some? He could probably throw pretty well.) Share

Click here to read article