2025 NFL Draft winners and losers from Round 1: Shedeur Sanders keeps dropping, Jaguars make shocking trade

The 2025 NFL Draft got off to a shocking start on Thursday night when the Cleveland Browns decided to trade away the second overall pick to the Jacksonville Jaguars. 

It was a surprising move because the Jags became the first team since 1997 to trade into the top two and NOT take a quarterback. That set the tone for a first-round that saw some surprising picks and a few more surprising trades. 

When it comes to the NFL Draft, every fan likes to think that their favorite team came out a winner, but I have some bad news, that’s not the case. There were winners AND losers from the first-round of the draft and we’re going to cover them here. 

Winners

Jaguars general manager James Gladstone. In his first draft ever as an NFL general manager, the 34-year-old pulled off the most stunning move of the night when he made a deal with the Browns that gave Jacksonville the second overall pick. 

The Jaguars then turned around and used that pick on Travis Hunter. The Jags had to pay a hefty price to make the deal happen, but Hunter is a generational player and when you have the chance to land a generational player, you have to do it. Also, two of Jacksonville’s biggest needs going into the draft were at receiver and corner and they filled both needs with one player. It was a classic, two birds, one stone move that makes Gladstone a winner in my book. 

The Giants. The Giants are rarely listed on anyone’s winner’s list, but we have them here because they arguably had the best first-round of any team in the draft. First, they started things off by landing the best pass-rusher by taking Abdul Carter at third overall. The Giants then made a trade with the Texans so that New York could move back into the first round and take Jaxson Dart with the 25th overall pick. The Giants haven’t given their fans much to cheer about over the past few years, but their fans should be thrilled with what the team did on Thursday night. 

Jordan Love. The Packers went 23 years without using a first-round pick on a wide receiver, but that drought finally ended when Green Bay selected Matthew Golden with the 23rd overall pick. To give you an idea of how long it’s been since the Packers last took a receiver in the first round, Golden wasn’t EVEN BORN the last time it happened. Also, the Packers did not use a first-round pick on a receiver a SINGLE time during Aaron Rodgers‘ 18 years with the team, but they decided to do it this year and Love should be the biggest benefactor of that. 

Aaron Rodgers. The Steelers didn’t take a quarterback in the first round, which means they still clearly have all their eggs in the Aaron Rodgers basket. That’s not necessarily a basket where you want to have all your eggs in, but it’s pretty clear that the Steelers are leaving the door wide open for Rodgers to sign on and play quarterback for them in 2025. 

Titans fans. Fans in Tennessee have been waiting patiently for the team to find its next franchise quarterback and the Titans might finally have one after taking Cam Ward with the first overall pick. Titans fans haven’t gotten to enjoy a true franchise QB since Steve McNair was with the team, which was 20 years ago. Since McNair’s final season, the Titans have started a total of 16 quarterbacks.

Howie Roseman. When it comes to the draft, it seems like Roseman and the Eagles are perpetual winners. Seriously, they never lose. The Eagles always seem to find a defensive player in the draft who perfectly fits their system and they appeared to have done that on Thursday. With the 31st overall pick, they selected Alabama linebacker Jihaad Campbell, who only fell to the bottom of the first round because of a shoulder injury he suffered a few months ago. Over the past three years, the Eagles have landed three full-time defensive starters in the first round (Jordan Davis, Jalen Carter and Quinyon Mitchell) and they might have just found another one. 

2025 NFL Draft grades for Round 1: Jags earn A+ for Travis Hunter move, Giants get C- for Jaxson Dart pick

Pete Prisco

Losers

Shedeur Sanders. As recently as two weeks ago, Sanders was projected to be a top-10 pick, but as it turns out, he didn’t even get taken in the first round. If you look at the draft board heading into the second round, there are only two teams with a clear need at quarterback and that’s Cleveland and New Orleans. If the Browns don’t want Sanders and the Saints also pass, this could go down as one of the most painful falls in NFL draft history. The Browns, Giants, Saints and Steelers all had a crack at Sanders in the first round, but they all decided to take someone else. 

Falcons front office. The Jaguars made the most shocking trade of the day in a good way. On the other end of the spectrum, the Falcons made the most shocking trade of the day in a bad way. After taking Jalon Walker at 15th overall, the Falcons wanted to trade back into the first round, so they made a deal with the Rams that involved sending a 2026 FIRST ROUND PICK to Los Angeles. That’s right, they gave up a first-round pick to trade into the BACK of the first round. 

To be fair, this is exactly what you would expect from a team that drafted a QB in the first round last year after paying another QB $100 million just one month earlier. The Falcons ended up using their first-round pick from the Rams on James Pearce and he’s going to have a lot of pressure on him to be successful. 

Saints QB situation. The Saints had a chance to take a quarterback at ninth overall, but instead, they decided to spend the pick on offensive tackle Kelvin Banks Jr. Taking Banks wasn’t a bad pick, but the Saints still have a QB problem. The Saints do have the eighth pick in the second round, so they could still get a quarterback there, but if they don’t, it’s going to start to feel like their 2025 season is over five months before it even starts. 

Browns fans. This might be the most tortured fan base in the NFL. Everyone in Cleveland spent the past few months thinking that the Browns would be getting a generational player in Travis Hunter, but then the Browns decided they didn’t want him. The Browns ended up getting Mason Graham at fifth overall and the trade might end up working out for Cleveland, but the entire draft season was a total tease for the fan base. The tweet below pretty much summarizes how Browns fans feel right now. 

Maybe the Browns can call Jacksonville back and see if the Jags will undo the trade, but I’m guessing they won’t agree to that.  

Fans in Green Bay. There were so many fans at the draft on Thursday night that the NFL actually had to stop letting people in. 

The draft theater hit its maximum capacity before the draft even started, so fans got turned away for the first 40 minutes of the event. There were thousands of fans who were stuck outside and a lot of them weren’t too happy with the situation. However, this situation shouldn’t have come as a shock to anyone, because that’s what happens when you put an event with 125,000 attendees in a city that only has a population of 105,000. 

Cowboys decision-making and players on the team not name Tyler. Not only did the Cowboys have one of the biggest reaches of the first round when they selected Tyler Booker at 12th overall, but life is now also going to be impossible for offensive line coach Mike Solari. With the addition of Booker, the Cowboys now have THREE players on their offensive line named Tyler: Tyler Smith, Tyler Guyton and Tyler Booker. The Cowboys are now just four solid years away from having an entire roster of players named Tyler.