Combine Confidential: Who do NFL draft prospects like as No. 1 overall pick?

Greg Auman

NFL Reporter

As part of our NFL Combine Confidential anonymous survey of 40 draft prospects attending this week’s event in Indianapolis, we went all the way to the top of the draft, asking them who the No. 1 overall pick will be in April.

Of course, there is still plenty of debate among the mock draft crowd. Will the Titans keep the top pick or trade it? If they keep it, will they skip one of the top two quarterbacks, even though they need one, and take one of the elite defensive players at the top of the draft?

In the end, our panel of prospects recognized the perennial allure of a potential franchise quarterback. As a result, Miami’s Cam Ward was the top vote-getter, with 19 votes, almost twice as much as any other choice. Penn State edge rusher Abdul Carter was next with 10. (“He’s like a mini-Micah Parsons,” said one player. “He’s ridiculous.”) Travis Hunter, Colorado’s standout cornerback/receiver, was right behind Carter with eight votes. Hunter’s Buffaloes teammate, quarterback Shedeur Sanders, finished fourth with three votes.

Those are our panel’s picks for the No. 1 pick in the 2025 draft. But as C.J. Stroud and Jayden Daniels have taught us in the past two years, the No. 1 pick isn’t always the No. 1 rookie. So as a follow-up, we asked the prospect panel who would be the NFL’s breakout rookie star for the upcoming season.

“Myself” was a common, confident answer, but we reminded the respondents about anonymity and asked them to choose another player. Interestingly, Ward, their pick to go first in the draft, was not the winner here. On the final vote, Hunter edged out Carter 7-6, with Ward receiving five votes. Sanders got three votes and Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty got two.

About the single-vote group to follow: This is a reminder that our 40 prospects aren’t draft analysts, so given an open question where they could name anyone but themselves, a few might have seen an opportunity to shout out a teammate or training partner. Nothing wrong with that, so here’s another list of players to watch this fall:

Jahdae Barron, CB, Texas
Jihaad Campbell, LB, Alabama
Cobee Bryant, CB, Kansas
Donovan Ezeiruaku, edge, Boston College
MIke Green, edge, Marshall
Jayden Higgins, WR, Iowa State
Jarquez Hunter, RB, Auburn
Landon Jackson, edge, Arkansas
Jack Kiser, LB, Notre Dame
Luke Lachey, TE, Iowa
Kyle McCord, QB, Syracuse
Tetairoa McMillan, WR, Arizona
Quincy Riley, CB, Louisville
Cam Skattebo, RB, Arizona State
Brashard Smith, RB, SMU
Savion Williams, WR, TCU

Greg Auman is an NFL Reporter for FOX Sports. He previously spent a decade covering the Buccaneers for the Tampa Bay Times and The Athletic. You can follow him on Twitter at @gregauman.

Want great stories delivered right to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports account, and follow leagues, teams and players to receive a personalized newsletter daily!