The first round of the 2025 NFL Draft is in the books, and it was mostly what we expected. The players chosen with the top three picks were predictable: Cam Ward, Travis Hunter and Abdul Carter. There also were a lot of teams that focused on improving in the trenches, both on the offensive and defensive side. And the player likeliest to dominate the discussion most of the night -- Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders -- did exactly that.
Yes, the Jaguars shocked some folks by trading up to the No. 2 overall pick to select Hunter, and the most entertaining moment of the night had to be Green Bay selecting a wide receiver in the first round for the first time in 23 years. However, from a narrative standpoint, nothing really compares to the question of where Sanders is going to land after watching several quarterback-needy teams pass on him on Day 1. The drama rose to an entirely different level when the New York Giants traded into the back of the first round to take Mississippi quarterback Jaxson Dart with the 25th overall pick.
But let's not get ahead of ourselves. This edition of The First Read is about the winners and the losers in the first round of the draft. Here are the folks worth noting ...
WINNERS
1) Caleb Williams, QB, Chicago Bears: Williams must be loving the way this offseason has played out. His franchise has been doing everything possible to ensure his success after an underwhelming rookie season, from hiring Ben Johnson as head coach to rebuilding the offensive line -- and now comes Michigan tight end Colston Loveland as the 10th overall pick in this year's draft. Loveland is a long, athletic natural pass catcher who can immediately slide into the offense and make an impact. Add him to a receiving group that already includes wideouts DJ Moore and Rome Odunze and fellow tight end Cole Kmet, and it feels like the Bears are much closer to living up to all the hype that followed Williams into the NFL last season. It's becoming really hard to see this offense disappointing this fall.
2) Bryce Young, QB, Carolina Panthers: Like Williams, Young had to be thrilled to learn the identity of his team's first-round pick. The Panthers desperately needed help at receiver, especially after 34-year-old Adam Thielen led the team with 615 receiving yards in 2024. Young proved at the end of last season that there's ample reason to be optimistic about his future, bouncing back after being benched earlier in the year. At 6-foot-4, Arizona wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan is exactly the type of big-bodied target that can make life easier for him. McMillan isn't the fastest guy in the world, but that doesn't matter. The eighth overall pick is exceptional at contested catches, and Young will relish throwing to a player with an impressive catch radius.
3) Cleveland Browns: There might be some haters who question why Browns general manager Andrew Berry passed on the chance to draft Travis Hunter or Abdul Carter, but Cleveland fans should be happy with his Day 1 moves. Berry traded the second overall pick to Jacksonville -- along with fourth- and sixth-round picks -- for second- and fourth-round picks this year, plus Jacksonville's first-round selection in 2026. Sure, Hunter and Carter could become stars. It's also fair to think Berry can use that additional draft capital to improve a team that isn't simply one player away from being a serious contender. That first-round pick next year has the chance to be especially valuable, while the additional second-round selection could easily bring a quarterback to Cleveland on Friday. Oh yeah; the Browns also landed Michigan defensive tackle Mason Graham with the fifth pick, which is a nice deal, as well.
4) Kayvon Thibodeaux, Edge, New York Giants: There was plenty of speculation about Thibodeaux's future with the Giants as the talk of Penn State edge rusher Abdul Carter coming to New York gained steam. Shortly after the Giants drafted Carter third overall, GM Joe Schoen definitively put such speculation to rest; in addition to celebrating Carter's arrival, Schoen told reporters that the team is picking up Thibodeaux's fifth-year option for the 2026 season. That statement clarified any concerns about how Thibodeaux fits into a defense that also includes a third edge-rusher, veteran Brian Burns, who received a five-year, $141 million extension after the team traded for him in 2024. Of course, there's no way of knowing what the situation will look like for Thibodeaux -- the fifth overall selection in the 2022 NFL Draft -- in a couple of years, particularly with regard to any potential extension. However, the Giants clearly are going all-in on defense for the near future, and Thibodeaux figures to be a huge part of that vision.
5) Vance Joseph, defensive coordinator, Denver Broncos: Joseph already had one of the top units in football last season. The addition of Texas cornerback Jahdae Barron with the 20th overall choice might just make that group the best in the league. Barron joins a defense that is strong on the interior (with end Zach Allen), on the edges (with pass rushers Nik Bonitto and Jonathan Cooper), in the secondary (with cornerbacks Riley Moss and Patrick Surtain II, the reigning Defensive Player of the Year) and just swung big in free agency (bringing on linebacker Dre Greenlaw and safety Talanoa Hufanga). Barron makes life easier for Joseph because he's another player with top man coverage skills, and he provides insurance if injuries occur (and the Broncos did take a step back when Moss was banged up with a knee injury late last season). This defense is going to give opponents fits this fall.
6) Atlanta Falcons defense: Atlanta caught some criticism for not taking a pass rusher in the first round of last year's draft, when they chose quarterback Michael Penix Jr. instead. They clearly weren't going to ignore defense on Day 1 this time around. The Falcons selected an edge rusher with the 15th overall pick (Georgia's Jalon Walker), then worked out a trade to get the 26th overall pick from the Rams, using that to land Tennessee's James Pearce Jr. Atlanta ranked 31st in the league with 31 sacks last season. They should be much better in that category after the way their first round played out Thursday.
LOSERS
1) Shedeur Sanders, QB, Colorado: Sanders is the story of the draft today because it's still not clear where he's going or when he will be selected. The Browns and Giants needed quarterbacks, and both passed on Sanders in the first round (and the Giants had two shots at him after acquiring the 25th overall selection through a trade with Houston, a pick they used on Mississippi QB Jaxson Dart instead). The Saints would have made sense with the ninth overall pick, but they declined, choosing Texas offensive tackle Kelvin Banks Jr. Then came the Pittsburgh Steelers -- who are still waiting to see if Aaron Rodgers wants to play with them this fall -- with the 21st overall pick, which they used on Oregon defensive tackle Derrick Harmon. Look, there's a great chance Sanders is one of the first names called when the second round begins on Friday. It's also worth nothing that he was smart to spend his draft experience far away from the Green Bay green room.
2) Will Johnson, CB, Michigan: If the draft was held last August, Johnson probably would've had a strong shot at being the first cornerback taken. Instead, he spent a long night in Green Bay waiting to hear his name called. It's not that Johnson doesn't have talent. He successfully shadowed some of the best receivers in college football during his three years at Michigan, including current NFL players Marvin Harrison Jr. and Rome Odunze -- but there appeared to be growing concerns about him throughout the pre-draft process. Johnson only played in six games last season because of a foot injury, didn't participate in the NFL Scouting Combine or Michigan's pro day, suffered a hamstring injury in February and reportedly did not run a 40-yard dash at a subsequent private workout. There were already questions about his speed even before he failed to log a pre-draft 40, and then NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported on draft day that "a knee situation" for Johnson had been "red-flagged." Like Sanders, Johnson probably won't have to wait long after the second round begins to learn where he'll be playing next season. But it was a tough night for him, and now there are more questions surrounding him than ever before.
3) Anybody who thought the Packers would continue avoiding receivers in the first round: You have to give the Packers credit for breaking with a tendency -- and doing it with panache. By taking Texas wide receiver Matthew Golden with the 23rd overall pick, they both landed a speedster and thrilled their fans. Green Bay hadn't drafted a receiver in the first round since 2002, when Javon Walker came to town -- Golden wasn't even alive then. Now, though, he has a great shot to make an instant impact on this franchise. The Packers lost their fastest wideout, Christian Watson, to a torn ACL in the final game of the season. There's also been a lot of chatter around Green Bay about the need to improve the receiving corps, with running back Josh Jacobs openly saying the team could use a true No. 1 pass catcher. It would've been easy to think the Packers would stick to their old ways. Instead, they made a move that should help quarterback Jordan Love and make this offense more explosive.
4) All those edge rushers who were victims of bad timing: This draft class was especially strong at edge rusher, which meant somebody was going to end up disappointed when the first round ended. It was conceivable that as many as seven pass rushers could've gone on Day 1. Instead, that number wound up being five: Abdul Carter (Giants at No. 3), Mykel Williams (49ers at No. 11), Jalon Walker (Falcons at No. 15), Shemar Stewart (Bengals at No. 17) and James Pearce Jr. (Falcons at No. 26). Marshall's Mike Green and Boston College's Donovan Ezeiruaku were two players who easily could've made it into the first round in a different year. There's also a handful of other prospects at that position who could make it into the second round. That's often the problem when classes are deep at certain spots. Sometimes teams don't feel as urgent about taking prospects at those positions early, because they can find suitable talent later.
5) Wide receivers: You knew this wasn't a strong class at wide receiver coming in, and that was proven in the first round. Only four players at that position went on Day 1: Travis Hunter, Tetairoa McMillan, Matthew Golden and Emeka Egbuka (to Tampa Bay at No. 19). That's tied for the lowest number of receivers taken in the first round since the 2019 NFL Draft, when Marquise Brown and N'Keal Harry were the only wideouts chosen on Day 1.
