NFL Combine Confidential: Draft prospects on No. 1 pick, CFP, NIL and more

This week in Indianapolis, the annual NFL Combine will bring more than 300 draft prospects together, and soon we’ll know their 40 times, weights and heights to the nearest eighth of an inch.

We set out for something different, reaching out to 40 prospects for a Combine Confidential — an anonymous survey of this year’s draft class, with a good cross-section of offensive and defensive players, from major programs and small schools, potential first-round picks and likely undrafted free agents.

We asked each player a series of questions to find out how much they know about the league they’re about to enter and what they think of all the changes in college football. And because they have opinions just like fans do, we also asked the kind of what-do-you-think football questions you might hear at a sports bar, on sports talk shows and in message boards.

Let’s get started.

Need a touchdown? Who’s your quarterback?

We opened the survey with a quarterback superlative, wondering if a year without a Super Bowl win or an MVP might take any of the luster off Patrick Mahomes. We framed the question this way: If you need a touchdown with a minute left in the game, what NFL quarterback do you want leading your team down the field?

Despite the Chiefs‘ Super Bowl debacle, Mahomes still received three times as many votes as any other quarterback: 19, compared to six for the Eagles‘ Jalen Hurts, five for the Ravens‘ Lamar Jackson and four for the Bills‘ Josh Allen.

Also receiving votes: Jayden Daniels and Aaron Rodgers got two each, and the Bengals‘ Joe Burrow and soon-to-be rookie Cam Ward from the University of Miami got one apiece.

Some players asked if they could choose Tom Brady, but we limited their options to current NFL quarterbacks.

Which non-QB would you build an NFL franchise around?

The league is obviously quarterback-driven, so we took QBs off the board for one question. This requires an assessment of positional value, and we got 18 different answers out of 39 players who responded, covering seven different positions.

What’s surprising is the top two vote-getters came from positions that the NFL doesn’t really value highly in terms of how they’re paid or drafted: running back and linebacker. The Eagles’ Saquon Barkley, fresh off a 2,000-yard rushing season and a Super Bowl win, got the most votes with 10.

Surprisingly, 49ers linebacker Fred Warner was next with six votes, just ahead of Browns edge rusher Myles Garrett (five). Next came two receivers: three votes for the Bengals’ Ja’Marr Chase and two for the Vikings‘ Justin Jefferson.

Here’s the eclectic group of 13 players who received a single vote, including one player not even in the league yet:

Joe Alt, OT, Chargers 
Lavonte David, LB, Bucs 
Taliese Fuaga, OT, Saints 
Sauce Gardner, CB, Jets 
Jahmyr Gibbs, RB, Lions 
Creed Humphrey, C, Chiefs 
Ashton Jeanty, RB, Boise State 
Christian McCaffrey, RB, 49ers 
Micah Parsons, edge, Cowboys 
Penei Sewell, OT, Lions 
Derek Stingley, CB, Texans 
Patrick Surtain, CB, Broncos 
Trent Williams, OT, 49ers

Can you name a current NFL general manager?

Yes, just days ahead of the combine, we asked a panel of NFL draft hopefuls if they could name a single NFL GM.

“I need to go do my research,” one admitted.

“They sent me a book,” another said of his representation. “I’ve got to learn those.”

Only 15 out of 40 could name a GM. The Cowboys‘ Jerry Jones, who owns the team but doubles as its GM, led the way with three mentions, and that’s counting “His first name is Jerry, but I don’t remember the last name” as a correct answer. The Eagles‘ Howie Roseman was also named by three players. 

We also accepted “His first name is Joe, but I don’t know how to pronounce the last name” for the Giants‘ Joe Schoen, and “the general manager for the Bears, it’s like Ryan something,” for Chicago’s Ryan Poles, and “Kwesi, I believe his last name is Mensah,” for the Vikings‘ Kwesi Adofo-Mensah.

The 49ers’ John Lynch got two votes, both players knowing his entire name, and there were single full-name answers for the Steelers‘ Omar Khan, the Texans‘ Nick Caserio, the Seahawks‘ John Schneider and the Chiefs’ Brett Veach.

Favorite non-football pro athlete? 

We’ve done a handful of these player surveys over the years, and it’s a constant that if you ask football players for their favorite pro athletes outside their own sport, they lean heavily on the NBA, with LeBron James naturally leading the way.

So 31 out of 40 responses were basketball players, and 20 of those — as much as everyone else combined — were James, who’s been playing elite-level basketball for as long as most of these combine participants have been alive. Warriors guard Steph Curry was a distant second with five votes, and the only others with multiple votes were the Timberwolves‘ Anthony Edwards and golfer Scottie Scheffler, with two each.

Alas, no hockey players, but a nice variety of sports were represented among the non-football athletes receiving one vote each:

Kevin Durant, Suns
Ty France, Twins
Adolis Garcia, Rangers
Lewis Hamilton, Formula 1 driver 
Jonathan India, Royals
Jon Jones, UFC fighter 
Vinícius Junior, Real Madrid
Damian Lillard, Bucks
Ja Morant, Grizzlies
Juan Soto, Mets
Russell Westbrook, Nuggets

How many teams should be in the College Football Playoff?

After only one year in the 12-team format, 23 of our 40 players like the current model. “Twelve is the perfect number,” one said.

A compromise between the old and new was suggested by some — there were seven votes to scale back to an eight-team playoff, presumably with no byes. Going back to just four teams got three votes.

Then there were assorted suggestions for additional expansion. There were two votes for 14 teams, like the NFL with two teams getting first-round byes, and two for 16 teams. Two small-school FCS veterans suggested a 24-team playoff. That’s five rounds of playoff football, with eight teams getting a first-round bye.

One player floated the idea of allowing only the 10 conference champions into the playoff, with no at-large teams at all.

Best player you played against in college?

There’s some interpretation here: It didn’t have to be someone a player lined up directly against, and some named a college teammate they faced in practice every day.

The answers fall neatly into three categories: current NFL players the respondents played against a year or two ago; fellow members of the 2025 NFL Draft class; and a few players who will be back playing college football this fall.

NOW IN NFL
TWO VOTES EACH
Jayden Daniels, QB, LSU (now Commanders)
Aidan Hutchinson, edge, Michigan (now Lions)
George Karlaftis, edge, Purdue (now Chiefs)

ONE VOTE EACH
Jordan Addison, WR, USC (now Vikings)
Jaquan Brisker, safety, Penn State (now Bears)
Zach Charbonnet, RB, UCLA (now Seahawk)
Quentin Johnston, WR, TCU (now Chargers)
Quinyon Mitchell, CB, Toledo (now Eagles)
Evan Neal, OT, Alabama (now Giants)
C.J. Stroud, QB, Ohio State (now Texans)
Jared Verse, edge, FSU (now Rams)

2025 DRAFT CLASS
Ashton Jeanty, RB, Boise State: (3 votes) 
Travis Hunter, CB/WR, Colorado (2) 
Trey Amos, CB, Ole Miss 
Denzel Burke, CB, Ohio State 
Abdul Carter, edge, Penn State 
Aireontae Ersery, T, Minnesota 
Trevor Etienne, RB, Georgia 
Dillon Gabriel, QB, Oregon 
TreVeyon Henderson, RB, Ohio State 
Cooper Mays, C, Tennessee 
Tetairoa McMillan, WR, Arizona 
Shedeur Sanders, QB, Colorado 
Tyler Warren, TE, Penn State 
Deone Walker, DT, Kentucky 
Mykel Williams, edge, Georgia

STILL IN COLLEGE FOOTBALL
Jeremiah Smith, WR, Ohio State (2 votes) 
Demond Claiborne, RB, Wake Forest 
Logan George, DL, Idaho State 
Blake Miller, T, Clemson 
Keylan Rutledge, G, Georgia Tech

Did you receive any NIL money in college, and if so, how much?

Of the 38 players who answered the question, 34 (89%) said they received NIL money, with players from lower-level colleges among those few who did not. In a similar poll three years ago, the number was 66%. 

As a follow-up, we asked the prospects for a ballpark estimate of how much they made, in total, from NIL while in college. Only 22 were comfortable doing so, even anonymously. Those answers ranged from “a couple hundred bucks” to over $400,000. Nine said they made at least $200,000 in NIL income, with four others saying they made between $100,000 and $200,000.

Has the transfer portal made college football better or worse?

Among our 40-player panel, 26 — or about two-thirds — played their entire college careers at one school, compared to 11 who played at two schools and three who played at three.

With the portal increasing the volume of transfers every year, we asked the prospects if that had made college football as a whole better or worse. The overall returns were positive: 19 chose “better” without any mitigation, compared to only three who chose “worse,” with another 17 taking a middle ground that there are positives and negatives depending on the perspective.

“If you transfer for the right reasons, yeah, but with the money and stuff, there need to be regulations on that,” one player said. “Where it is right now, I don’t think it’s in a good place, but it’s a good idea.”

Another: “If you’re hopping from school to school, that can be a red flag, but if you’re doing it for the right reasons, I think it’s a good thing.”

Others said they’d like to see some limitations in place to keep players from unlimited transferring: “I don’t believe players should just jump ship based on one year, or not playing as a freshman. I think it’s a great tool that needs to be monitored a little bit. That’s how it became like the wild, wild West.”

Another: “Worse, for development. Sometimes you have to earn your way. I stayed all four years, and it taught me so much about being a football player. When you cut that part out, you lose that growth. You’re skipping a lot of pages and not reading the whole chapter.”

What NFL coach would you most like to play for?

We thought this one would be close, but we didn’t realize it would be quite this close. Heading into the final two prospects, there was a three-way tie. The Steelers’ Mike Tomlin pulled out the close win, getting nine votes to edge out the Lions’ Dan Campbell and the Chiefs’ Andy Reid with eight each.

Three coaches got two votes each: the Eagles’ Nick Sirianni, the Dolphins’ Mike McDaniel and the Raiders’ Pete Carroll. Four others got a single vote: the Rams’ Sean McVay, the Falcons’ Raheem Morris, the Vikings’ Kevin O’Connell and the Texans’ DeMeco Ryans.

Who will be the first pick in the 2025 NFL Draft?

This is still a decent debate among the mock draft crowd. Will the Titans keep the 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 prospects were like a lot of draft pundits, recognizing the perennial allure of a potential franchise quarterback, so 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. “He’s ridiculous.”) and Colorado’s two-way standout, cornerback/receiver Travis Hunter, was right behind Carter with eight. Hunter’s Buffaloes teammate, quarterback Shedeur Sanders, finished fourth with three votes.

Who will be the NFL’s breakout rookie of 2025?

As C.J. Stroud and Jayden Daniels have taught us in the past two years, the No. 1 pick in the draft isn’t always the No. 1 rookie, so as a follow-up, we asked prospects 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. Ward, their pick to go first in the draft, was not the winner here, perhaps an acknowledgment that he might not have the immediate success that the 2024 rookie class enjoyed.

On the final vote, Colorado’s Travis Hunter edged out Penn State’s Abdul Carter 7-6, with Ward receiving five votes. Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders got three votes and Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty got two votes.

[Related: Can Travis Hunter really play two ways in the NFL? Here’s what it’ll take]

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 can 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.

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