Welcome to NFL Combine week!

Below, I’m going to give you the prospect from each position group that has the most to gain and lose in Indianapolis.

But first, some housekeeping: Colorado QB Shedeur Sanders and Miami QB Cam Ward both announced they won’t throw nor test at the NFL Combine. Boise State RB Ashton Jeanty said he will only undergo medical evaluations and do team interviews. And Penn State EDGE Abdul Carter said he is opting out of testing and drills to focus on his recovery from a shoulder injury.

Expect more of these announcements in the coming days. But with 329 prospects having confirmed their intentions to attend the event, we’re going to have plenty of testers, and we’re going to get a firehose of news and storylines throughout the week.

Without further adieu, here are some prospects with the most on the line this week.

Players To Watch At The 2025 NFL Combine

Quarterback

Jalen Milroe (Alabama)

This is Milroe’s shot to salvage his draft stock.

Currently QB4 in my rankings, Milroe is the most physically talented quarterback in this class. But Milroe is coming off a disappointing final three months of his senior season, which he followed up with a poor showing at the Senior Bowl.

Milroe’s hero is Jalen Hurts. Many saw Hurts as an early-Day 3 prospect heading into the 2020 NFL Combine. After a strong week in Indianapolis, Hurts was able to reverse the course on that narrative. He was taken by the Eagles with the 53rd overall pick.

Not so long ago, Milroe looked like a lock top-10 overall pick. At the end of September, Milroe lit up Georgia for 491 total yards and four TDs while going 27-of-33 passing. Alabama was 4-0. Milroe owned a sparkling 10/1 TD/INT rate. But over the last nine games, Milroe posted a 6/10 TD/INT rate and Alabama limped to a 5-4 finish.

Milroe’s poor Senior Bowl week began with a hand measurement of 8 ¾ inches. No current starting NFL quarterback has sub-9-inch hands. The median quarterback hand size is around 9 ¾ inches. Over 27 career starts, Milroe fumbled 24 times.

Milroe has a huge arm. This is reminiscent of Michael Vick, who possessed legendary arm strength despite 8 ½ inch hands. Milroe has the same kind of twitchy, elastic arm strength that Vick did. Milroe’s rainbow deep balls are a thing of beauty, and they arrive with touch.

Milroe needs to wow during the throwing session in Indianapolis. He, Jaxson Dart, Riley Leonard, and Quinn Ewers are the four quarterbacks who have confirmed their intentions to throw at the time we published. 

Milroe also needs to go ballistic in athletic testing. He is expected to do just that—Milroe is expected to run in the 4.3s with explosive jumps at 220 pounds.

Running Back

Kaleb Johnson (Iowa)

Johnson’s speed is being criminally underrated. I think he’s going to shock the football world in Indianapolis. 

I’ve seen speculation that Johnson will run in the 4.6s—no chance. He’s a 4.4s player. Johnson finished 90th percentile in breakaway rate in 2024 while hitting 22 mph on Iowa’s GPS tracking system.

Johnson is coming off a national-coming-out-party season, posting 1,715 total yards and 23 TDs to earn consensus first-team All-American honors. He had the fourth-most touches of any FBS RB who did not fumble in 2024.

The 6-foot, 225-pounder doesn’t go down on first contact, and he has very good feet. Johnson is a perfect fit for a zone-running offense. In 2024, Iowa’s run game, schematically, was very similar to what is run by the 49ers, Rams, and Packers in the NFL.

Johnson is bouncy and light in tight quarters on inside-zone concepts. Mid-zone concepts allow Johnson to take his hard-charging fight to the defense. On outside-zone runs, Johnson displays admirable patience picking down the line and hard-charging urgency once he’s made his choice.

Johnson is currently RB4 on the media’s consensus board. He is RB2 on my board. I expect the herd to start seeing things my way after Johnson tests on Saturday.

Wide Receiver

Savion Williams (TCU)

Williams is an elite athlete. Listed by TCU at 6-foot-5, 225 pounds—my information has him at a shade under 6-foot-4—Williams has clocked 22.5 mph on the GPS. The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman reported that Williams has also recorded a 10-6 broad jump and a 40-inch vertical.

When Williams has the ball in his hands, he’s a problem. He has the versatility the NFL is looking for, augmenting a 60-611-6 receiving line in 2024 with 332 rushing yards and six TDs. The former high school quarterback also completed all three passes he attempted on trick plays.

So why did I name Williams as the most overrated receiver prospect on the media’s consensus board on a recent episode of the Fantasy Life Show?

Williams is an extremely raw route-runner—potential road-to-nowhere territory—and his ball skills are iffy. His current WR8 ranking on the media consensus board is a bit aggressive.

In Williams’ first two seasons as a starter—2022 and 2023—he was used as a more traditional boundary receiver, with aDOTs of 11.6 and 12.2 yards. But in those seasons, per PFF, Williams was 51st and 35th percentile in separation percentage against single coverage.

In 2024, TCU radically changed Williams’ usage—and he responded with a breakout season. His aDOT plummeted to 6.6 as TCU looked to manufacture him touches. Of Williams’ 60 catches in 2024, only nine came 10+ yards downfield.

Williams had eight drops, five of them within nine yards of the line of scrimmage. He has a career drop rate of 10.4% despite considerable efforts having been taken to shuttle him the ball close. And while Williams technically went 8-for-9 on the season in contested situations, five of those contested catches were within nine yards of the LOS.

For all these reasons, my comp for Savion Williams is the lovechild of Cordarrelle Patterson and Laviska Shenault—he profiles as a manufactured-touch utility guy. But in a down receiver class, Williams will almost assuredly hear his name called on Day 2 if he tests as well as we think he will.

Tight End

Harold Fannin (Bowling Green)

Fannin’s production speaks for itself. Last season, he set single-season FBS records for a tight end in both receptions (117) and receiving yards (1,550). He also set three different PFF-Era records: yards after contact (868), missed tackles forced (32), and receiving grade (96.5).

Fannin’s career 2.99 YPRR number is more than a half-yard higher than any other tight end in this class, and his career 2.2% drop rate is stellar. Fannin posted an outrageous 4.4 YPRR against zone last year.

In college, Fannin lined up everywhere, shifting into the backfield, lining up out wide, and taking inline snaps. At 6-foot-3, 238 pounds, Fannin’s inline days are over.

Pure receiving tight ends of Fannin’s size need to test reasonably well. There has been much debate about Fannin’s athleticism. The most recent data we have suggests Fannin is about to test better than expected.

The Senior Bowl’s GPS data clocked Fannin with the fourth-highest max speed of any Senior Bowl TE going back to 2018. AtoZ’s Travis May On-Field Athleticism Score system—which factors in all the GPS data, including deceleration and acceleration—scored Fannin a perfect 10. In other words, the tight end with the best on-field athleticism at the Senior Bowl since 2018.

When I interviewed Fannin at the Senior Bowl, he compared himself to Isaiah Likely. Fannin is going to provide a 12-personnel offense with a skilled receiving weapon. He’s headed for Day 2 unless he falls on his face in testing.

Offensive Line

Armand Membou (Mizzou)

Membou was a sawed-off 6-foot-3, 314-pound right tackle in the SEC. He was dominant in 2024, posting a 90.4 PFF grade. He’s still only 20 years old, with upside left to untap.

The big question with Membou is whether he can hang at tackle in the NFL. Membou made a strong initial argument at the Senior Bowl, with a wingspan measuring in at 81", above average for tackle prospects.

Membou moves well on the field. Now he just has to prove it with his athletic testing. A strong showing punches Membou’s ticket into the first round.

Defensive Line

Shemar Stewart (Texas A&M)

The former five-star recruit is a freak of an athlete. Stewart measured into the Senior Bowl at 6-foot-5, 281 pounds, with a wingspan of nearly seven feet. He is expected to run in the 4.5s.

Stewart had an odd three-year collegiate career, only managing 4.5 sacks over 37 games despite strong pressure numbers. Last year, Stewart finished tied for No. 15 in the FBS with 33 hurries. He also finished No. 6 amongst graded EDGE defenders in PFF run defense grade.

Stewart profiles as an active, two-way 3-4 defensive end. His stock rose in Mobile, and it's going to rise again in Indianapolis this week. 

Linebacker

Jihaad Campbell (Alabama)

As a senior at IMG Academy, Campbell played wide receiver and defensive end. He signed with Alabama as a five-star recruit edge-rushing OLB. 

However, over the past two seasons, Campbell started as a traditional off-ball linebacker, taking 1,093 snaps at that post. But Alabama also made use of his versatility, lining Campbell up on the edge for 155 snaps.

If my intel is correct, Campbell would like to rush the passer even more at the next level. I can report that Campbell has predominantly been training as an edge-rusher during the pre-draft process. 

Over the past two seasons combined, Campbell posted 25 total pressures on 160 pass-rush reps. In 2024, he had five sacks and eight additional hurries over 100 pass-rush snaps. Overall, the 6-foot-3, 245-pounder led the Tide with 11.5 TFL.

Campbell has proven over the past two years that he’s a reliable tackler, and strong in coverage. At the NFL Combine, Campbell is expected to put on a show, including a 4.4s forty. Doing so might stamp his ticket into the top 20 in April.

Cornerback

Maxwell Hairston (Kentucky)

It goes without saying that the medical evaluation process is crucial for ECU’s Shavon Revel and Notre Dame’s Benjamin Morrison.

So I would like to instead focus on Kentucky’s Maxwell Hairston, who is being slept on at the moment. I think he’s going to be the big post-Combine riser that nobody is expecting on the defensive side of the ball.

Hairston measures 5-foot-11, 179 pounds, but he has the length and coverage chops to stick outside. He certainly has the wheels. I have heard that Hairston has been running in the 4.2s in pre-draft training.

Safety

Nick Emmanwori (South Carolina)

A vaunted athlete, Emmanwori is expected to run in the 4.3s at 6-foot-3, 220 pounds.

The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman reported that Emmanwori broad-jumped 11-4 with a 42-inch vertical last offseason. A first-team All-American in 2024, Emmanwori will punch a Round 1 ticket if his numbers match Feldman’s reporting.