Happy Draft Day! Who are you angling for your favorite teams to take? The Lions have just paid a slightly steep price for Kerby Joseph, so I'm hoping that whoever they pick turns out to be good!
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NFL Thread: 2025-26 Season
- Thread starter adjectivenoun
- Start date
I won’t lie to you guys- I have absolutely no idea who my Seattle Seahawks should take. Our offense underperformed last year in large part because of the O-Line, and we also lost DK and Lockett in free agency. Conventional wisdom says we should try and address one of our offensive needs early, but at Pick #18, I think we’re in a tough spot where it doesn’t make sense to go for a positional need as the best distributions of talent are either right above or just below that Top 20 range. I wouldn’t be opposed to us trading back, given the lack of high-end talent that’s going to be available around that time, but we also have four Day 2 picks so is attempting to trade up the move? There’s a lot of holes here for a team that went 10-7, and I don’t quite know enough about guys like Grey Zabel that some mock drafts have us picking up. Trading up or picking a high-end receiver early both seem like risky calls, and we’re not really known for trading up anyways. Would it be smart to try and take someone like Jared Wilson way before his projections, given the lack of center depth in this class? Do we just say screw it and go defense in Round 1 for some reason? What even is this team!? I have so many questions.
You probably know a lot more about your Lions than I do, but purely based off of what I’m looking at I feel like the Lions getting younger in the trenches should be a high priority, though maybe not towards the end of Round 1. You’re currently holding Pick #28, so this is really going to come down to how confident your front office is with the remaining players in those “trench positions”. How are you guys on playmakers? You could try and look at the board and maybe consider taking a receiver early in Day 2 if you’re going run or pass support in Round 1.
What you guys need- I’m going to assume you’re a Patriots fan- is support for Drake Maye; whether that be in the form of playmakers, O-Line help, or something else entirely I’m not sure. In the off chance you guys want to go edge rusher but can’t land Abdul Carter, you could consider trading back a couple spots, see what you can get for Pick #4, and take a shot on someone like Mykel Williams. From what I’m gathering, Will Campbell will most likely be the pick at #4, even if I’m actually slightly higher on Armand Membou myself. What I really want to see the Patriots do is go O-Line (specifically tackle) at Pick #4, but then you trade back into the late parts of Round 1 to take a snipe at a running back or a wide receiver. Both positions should have a couple quality guys available within that Top 25-30 range, or slightly earlier depending on the strength of the trade package.
The offensive core (Goff, Sewell, St. Brown) is locked up, and we have one more year before Jameson Williams and Gibbs need to get paid, so I'm not worried about playmakers. Our offensive line is getting older, but they still performed admirably, and the best offensive linemen are probably going to be off the board by the time we can pick. This team's not one to reach for need, so it wouldn't be my first guess. My first guess would be the line on the other side of the ball: I anticipate that they'll go for a D-lineman in the hopes of getting a wrecking ball who can stand opposite Hutchinson. That said, they've also hosted some wide receivers and running backs, so maybe we will get another offensive playmaker. It's BPA, after all. Only time will tell.
Well, it's nice to be right every so often. For me, there are two big stories from this first round:
- The Jags traded the whole house to the Browns so they could take Travis Hunter. I get that he's a great prospect, but are the Jags really one piece away from being a great team? If this move is any indication, they think so, but they had better be right about what this kid can be for them. It's mockery and damnation if they aren't.
- Either something is seriously wrong with Shedeur Sanders, or the media has been overhyping him like crazy because of his connection to Deion, and he was never actually a serious consideration for teams. I mean, the Steelers are currently looking at a QB room of Mason Rudolph and maybe Aaron Rodgers, and they passed up on him. The Giants traded back into the first round to secure youth for their QB room, and they took fucking Jaxson Dart. Something's not right with this kid. I'll be very curious to see when he goes and who he goes to. By the way, fuck Mel Kiper for using Jaxson's draft announcement to hype up Shedeur and downplay him. Egomaniacal piece of shit.
Go birds
Tbh I didn’t know anything about Jihaad Campbell other than “Alabama linebacker” (which is good vibes) but apparently we got a steal that late in the first round. Pretty happy overall.
I am surprised that Shadeur dropped this far though, those interviews must have REALLY been something. I mean obviously he’s going to get taken by someone and I imagine this experience will put a chip on his shoulder so maybe whatever “attitude issues” he has will be fixed. That’s me looking on the bright side anyway. I have nothing against him and think he gets a lot more hate than he deserves.
Tbh I didn’t know anything about Jihaad Campbell other than “Alabama linebacker” (which is good vibes) but apparently we got a steal that late in the first round. Pretty happy overall.
I am surprised that Shadeur dropped this far though, those interviews must have REALLY been something. I mean obviously he’s going to get taken by someone and I imagine this experience will put a chip on his shoulder so maybe whatever “attitude issues” he has will be fixed. That’s me looking on the bright side anyway. I have nothing against him and think he gets a lot more hate than he deserves.
I think a big part of it is that NFL teams all evaluated him as a backup level player. That doesn't mesh well with the public's perception of him, and it would surely cause huge media issues every week, especially if he goes to a team without a really "established" starter.
I doubt Joe Flacco is a week 1 starter (and believe me I am Joe Flacco fan #1) he’s really a relief arm at this point. I’d imagine Kenny starts week 1 unless Gabriel or Sanders pull a rookie Russell Wilson and just have the best camp ever. Anything is possible in football but I’d say it’s unlikely.
I guess I just don't think of Kenny as a serious consideration. He's a meme legend, sure, but if you want the two rookies sitting behind a veteran arm for a season, Flacco has more experience and more pedigree, drained as his magic may be. It's not like they're going far with either of them.
With regards to Shedeur Sanders, this is going to be better for his career. Instead of being a first round draft pick and probable day one starter, now he's got something to prove to all the teams that let him drop to the 5th round, and hopefully he'll improve by necessity. People think that his father is irrelevant to the player he is, which is true, but also it shouldnt be ignored that its another force that could help drive his NFL carrer.
Shedeur obviously expected to go high, but hes going to reveal who he really is based on how he responds to his draft position and the QB situation in Cleveland
Shedeur obviously expected to go high, but hes going to reveal who he really is based on how he responds to his draft position and the QB situation in Cleveland
This year I decided to wait until a while after the draft was over to post anything about what I thought of each team’s performance. Since it’s late and I’m already procrastinating going to bed by checking up on several miscellaneous threads in different places, I’m going to wait a bit longer to post a full teams ranking and for now I’m just going to summarize how I think my Seahawks did. Thankfully for my sleep schedule, my thoughts can pretty accurately be summed up with one quote courtesy of yours truly from the parking lot at one of my two jobs after Day 2 was underway.
“Oh my God, we got Emmanwori.”
That about sums up what I thought of our class. I’m actually still deciding what I think of the Jalen Milroe pick, and I think a few of our other less surprising picks like Grey Zabel and the late-round playmakers were decent like a nice, always reliable serving of vanilla ice cream. (Hey, vanilla is a classic for a reason.) But after the NFL community was introduced to a certain Nick Emmanwori after a historically strong NFL Combine showing, I took a look at this guy’s stats and overall prospect profile to see what all the hype was about. I had him as my top safety on the board and at one point I was glazing this guy so hard I started thinking he was the best defensive player outright in terms of value. Seeing as the defensive line was by far the strongest position(s) in this year’s draft class, I viewed strong secondary prospects as more valuable per individual pick in terms of how many players were at each position.
Now that the dust has had some time to settle and I’ve collected my thoughts, I’m not quite as high on his profile as I was during the initial “shock period” when I found out we got him, but this remains one of my favorite picks of the entire draft by any team heading into next season, and one of only three “S Tier” grades I’m giving to any prospect on the board after roughly two weeks since the beginning of Draft Day. My only other S Tier picks go to the Patriots picking up Will Campbell at Pick #4 and the Colts picking up Tyler Warren at Pick #13. Not once had I even considered us picking up a new starter in the secondary especially knowing Seattle’s reputation to not trade up very often, but the fact that we still got Grey Zabel in the first round and then sniped my favorite secondary prospect after he fell out of the first round by actually trading up for once is absolutely incredible. I have heard some people say the Ravens’ Malaki Starks was the better safety prospect between those two, which is a very fair argument and an equally solid pick who also fell from his projection, but ultimately I think Emmanwori has the higher ceiling because of his raw physical attributes and strong defensive minds in Seattle that should help his development. Either way, an absolute master class of a pick by both us and the Ravens, and a fantastic class overall from my guys all the way up in Seattle. Gah, I wish I lived closer by so I could see us play.
“Oh my God, we got Emmanwori.”
That about sums up what I thought of our class. I’m actually still deciding what I think of the Jalen Milroe pick, and I think a few of our other less surprising picks like Grey Zabel and the late-round playmakers were decent like a nice, always reliable serving of vanilla ice cream. (Hey, vanilla is a classic for a reason.) But after the NFL community was introduced to a certain Nick Emmanwori after a historically strong NFL Combine showing, I took a look at this guy’s stats and overall prospect profile to see what all the hype was about. I had him as my top safety on the board and at one point I was glazing this guy so hard I started thinking he was the best defensive player outright in terms of value. Seeing as the defensive line was by far the strongest position(s) in this year’s draft class, I viewed strong secondary prospects as more valuable per individual pick in terms of how many players were at each position.
Now that the dust has had some time to settle and I’ve collected my thoughts, I’m not quite as high on his profile as I was during the initial “shock period” when I found out we got him, but this remains one of my favorite picks of the entire draft by any team heading into next season, and one of only three “S Tier” grades I’m giving to any prospect on the board after roughly two weeks since the beginning of Draft Day. My only other S Tier picks go to the Patriots picking up Will Campbell at Pick #4 and the Colts picking up Tyler Warren at Pick #13. Not once had I even considered us picking up a new starter in the secondary especially knowing Seattle’s reputation to not trade up very often, but the fact that we still got Grey Zabel in the first round and then sniped my favorite secondary prospect after he fell out of the first round by actually trading up for once is absolutely incredible. I have heard some people say the Ravens’ Malaki Starks was the better safety prospect between those two, which is a very fair argument and an equally solid pick who also fell from his projection, but ultimately I think Emmanwori has the higher ceiling because of his raw physical attributes and strong defensive minds in Seattle that should help his development. Either way, an absolute master class of a pick by both us and the Ravens, and a fantastic class overall from my guys all the way up in Seattle. Gah, I wish I lived closer by so I could see us play.
“Babe wake up, new NFL Schedules just dropped”
Last night was NFL Schedule Release Day, and while a handful of games had already been leaked or revealed by the NFL themselves, it’s always fun to see the regular season slate in its entirety every spring before falling back into depression upon the realization that we still have to go multiple months without football (save for the smaller leagues that play in the spring, I suppose). I took this screenshot from my Seahawks’ schedule reveal video on YouTube which I highly recommend you watch by the way, it’s very entertaining, and I was wondering what you all thought of your team’s scheduled and how they opted to announce them.
Across the league, Week 1 looks incredibly solid, one of the best Week 1 slates I’ve seen in quite some time, and while I haven’t looked into the other weeks just yet, statistically speaking the NFC East and the NFC North have the hardest schedule outlooks, at least if you’re one of the people that like to go off of last year’s win-loss records for the following season. In my opinion the hardest overall schedule would probably be that of the Giants, and the easiest overall I would say is the 49ers unfortunately. 2024’s NFL schedule was jam-packed with late season NFC North matchups though, so I’ll need to check and see if there’s anything similar to that this year. As for my guys in Seattle, I can see a 5.5 win total floor and an 11.0 win total ceiling at this time, as the offensive line still has some question marks in a season where the defensive line matchups look very strong and it remains to be seen if the question-mark filled offense can make life easier on our newer defensive pieces.
Once I have some time this weekend to really sit down and analyze all of the schedules and where every team is currently standing in the middle of May, I’ll be back with my first unofficial tier list ranking of how I think all 32 teams will perform and finish, something new I wanted to try this year that I’ve seen a lot of other people do. So far I can say that my bottom five teams are looking something like this, but I won’t reveal the order:
- Titans
- Giants
- Jaguars
- Saints
- Bears
Three Thursday games in five weeks for the Lions. I fucking hate the NFL sometimes, man.
Frank Ragnow has retired. A brutal shame, but not a huge surprise. He put his body on the line for the Lions all the time in his seven seasons, and he finally couldn't go any further. It's a major blow to the ever-crucial offensive line, but I guess this is what all the young guys were drafted for. I assume that the team knew about this a while before we did and have been making preparations for somebody to step up. It does worry me, though.
I do love offseason conjecture!
Teams I think will be noticeably better in 2025
Broncos: Bo Nix really impressed me last season, and I think he came along really well towards the end of the year. The Broncos have the potential to field a top 5 defense in the NFL, as that side of the ball has become truly loaded, with guys like Hufanga, Bonitto, Greenlaw, and Surtain all having potential to be top 10 at their positions. Meanwhile, I think the offense is going to improve or at least be good enough to get some wins with that defense.
Commanders: Teams with elite QBs on rookie contracts really have it all. The commanders absolutely loaded up on both sides of the ball, they are in complete win-now mode for the next two years until Jayden Daniels gets paid like 70 million a year. The only real soft spot on the team is the running game, and Jayden Daniels does so much for that by himself I barely consider it a weakness. The Commanders are my early favorite to take the NFC crown.
Bears: If there's one thing a team can do to go from bottomfeeder to top tier, it is improve the offensive line, and that is exactly what the Bears did. I don't really buy into Caleb Williams causing a ton of drama in Chicago, it seems to me like he's there to play, especially with Ben Johnson at the helm. I’m genuinely more worried about the Chicago defense, but young, offensive-minded coaches often find success in this league (see: Kyle Shanahan, Sean McVay).
Teams I think will be worse in 2025
Lions: The fastest way to fall from relevancy in the NFL is to reduce the quality of your offensive line. Unfortunately for the Lions, that’s exactly what happened. While saying a team that went 15-2 will be worse the next year isn’t exactly ground-breaking, I would not be surprised if the Lions are fighting for a Wild Card spot come December due to their suddenly shoddy front 5.
Seahawks: The signing of Sam Darnold reminded me quite a lot of a past, infamous free agent QB signing: Brock Osweiler. Now, I don’t think Darnold is as bad as the Lobster himself, but the similarities in situations are striking. Both came from a loaded offense (RIP Demaryius Thomas) to replace an aging franchise darling (is Geno Smith the Seattle Matt Schaub?) and I don’t think it’s going to end well for Darnold or the Seahawks.
Chiefs: Like the Lions, the Chiefs saw a mass exodus on their offensive line, and I don’t think Mahomes will be able toref talent himself out of it. The offense is very blegh and I don’t have confidence in KC’s now aged defense. Add onto the fact that the rest of the AFC West improved (well, the important teams improved) and I think this may finally be the year KC loses that divisional crown they’ve held onto for so long.
Teams I think will be noticeably better in 2025
Broncos: Bo Nix really impressed me last season, and I think he came along really well towards the end of the year. The Broncos have the potential to field a top 5 defense in the NFL, as that side of the ball has become truly loaded, with guys like Hufanga, Bonitto, Greenlaw, and Surtain all having potential to be top 10 at their positions. Meanwhile, I think the offense is going to improve or at least be good enough to get some wins with that defense.
Commanders: Teams with elite QBs on rookie contracts really have it all. The commanders absolutely loaded up on both sides of the ball, they are in complete win-now mode for the next two years until Jayden Daniels gets paid like 70 million a year. The only real soft spot on the team is the running game, and Jayden Daniels does so much for that by himself I barely consider it a weakness. The Commanders are my early favorite to take the NFC crown.
Bears: If there's one thing a team can do to go from bottomfeeder to top tier, it is improve the offensive line, and that is exactly what the Bears did. I don't really buy into Caleb Williams causing a ton of drama in Chicago, it seems to me like he's there to play, especially with Ben Johnson at the helm. I’m genuinely more worried about the Chicago defense, but young, offensive-minded coaches often find success in this league (see: Kyle Shanahan, Sean McVay).
Teams I think will be worse in 2025
Lions: The fastest way to fall from relevancy in the NFL is to reduce the quality of your offensive line. Unfortunately for the Lions, that’s exactly what happened. While saying a team that went 15-2 will be worse the next year isn’t exactly ground-breaking, I would not be surprised if the Lions are fighting for a Wild Card spot come December due to their suddenly shoddy front 5.
Seahawks: The signing of Sam Darnold reminded me quite a lot of a past, infamous free agent QB signing: Brock Osweiler. Now, I don’t think Darnold is as bad as the Lobster himself, but the similarities in situations are striking. Both came from a loaded offense (RIP Demaryius Thomas) to replace an aging franchise darling (is Geno Smith the Seattle Matt Schaub?) and I don’t think it’s going to end well for Darnold or the Seahawks.
Chiefs: Like the Lions, the Chiefs saw a mass exodus on their offensive line, and I don’t think Mahomes will be able to
What’s really going to screw over Darnold’s development in Klint Kubiak’s offensive scheme is that we don’t have a clear plan at wide receiver outside of JSN. Scantling and especially Kupp were both decent signings, and from what I’ve heard Kupp’s been quite the morale booster since arriving in Seattle. That being said, Darnold had guys like J-Jettas and Jordan Addison to throw to alongside an underrated TJ Hockenson signing from 2023-24 for good measure. JSN should step in and thrive at WR1 but I have absolutely no idea if the rest of our receiver core will thrive or struggle in the new scheme. We’re going to need a lot of time of possessions to overcome what I think is going to be a rough season playing against deep man and 4-5 DB zone looks 90 percent of the time.