CBS Sports' latest projection features major changes near the top of the board.
The Tennessee Titans are on the clock, but in the latest CBS Sports 2025 NFL Mock Draft, the New York Giants traded up for the No. 1 overall selection. From there, do the Giants go with Miami quarterback Cam Ward, but still have the intention of signing former New York Jets signal caller Aaron Rodgers?
The front office in New York faces a decision before the start of the draft. Ward remains this cycle's top prospect at quarterback with Colorado's Shedeur Sanders slotted as the next best, considerably ahead of former Ole Miss signal caller Jaxson Dart, Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers and others.
Following various reports of multiple teams being "turned off" during the interview process with Sanders, his stock has tumbled in recent weeks and he could be an option for the Pittsburgh Steelers late in the first round.
RELATED: Winners and losers from the 2025 NFL Combine
Here is the latest 2025 NFL Draft first-round projection from CBS Sports:
1. Cam Ward, QB, Miami (New York Giants mock trade with Titans)
(Photo: Getty)
Even if the Giants sign Rodgers, New York will go with the future of the franchise in this position if it is able to trade for the top pick. Tennessee is willing to part ways with its selection and several teams have interest in the rights to take Miami's Cam Ward. Ward might have been a first-round pick in the 2024 NFL Draft had he come out following his final season at Washington State. Ward was the ACC's Player of the Year last season and nearly took the Hurricanes to the playoff.
2. Abdul Carter, Edge, Penn State (Cleveland Browns)
(Photo: Getty)
There is talk of Abdul Carter going No. 1 overall If Tennessee keeps its selection and fails to find a trade partner. With a stress reaction in his foot issue, Carter could slide, but that's not what CBS Sports projects in this latest mock. He is similar in talent to Micah Parsons and projects to go No. 1 in other mocks as well. Carter is a player numerous teams covet despite his injury, so it would not be surprising if there are others moving into the top five to get him if he's available after the first few picks. The Browns would make a smart move by going with this cycle's top defenders at No. 2.
3. Travis Hunter, ATH, Colorado (Titans mock trade with Giants)
Travis Hunter
(Photo: CU Athletics)
If the Giants keep the No. 3 overall pick, then New York likely goes best player available here and that would be Travis Hunter. In this mock, Tennessee slides to No. 3 and still takes the former Colorado star and could perhaps tinker with Hunter a few snaps offensively every week as another target offensively. It'll be interesting to see how Hunter performs in the pre-draft circuit at his Pro Day since he only handled interviews in Indianapolis and did not participate in on-field workouts.
4. Tetairoa McMillan, WR, Arizona (New England Patriots)
(Photo: Arizona Athletics)
This cycle lacks front-end talent at wide receiver in the biggest way, but former Arizona star Tetairoa McMillan will not slip outside of the top 10 as the top prospect on the outside. He's an every-down threat at the next level and would be this franchise's immediate top threat on the outside, an immediate aid for Drake Maye. Drops were never an issue at the college level as McMillan was one of the most productive pass-catchers of all-time with the Wildcats.
5. Mason Graham, DL, Michigan (Jacksonville Jaguars)
(Photo: Brice Marich, 247Sports)
Expect the Jaguars to go defense with their fifth overall selection, but this is the first time Michigan's Mason Graham has been penned in this slot. There is some risk. Graham and fellow ex-Wolverines defensive lineman Kenneth Grant are interior defensive line mavens expected to go on Day 1. It's going to be difficult for Sherrone Moore and Michigan in 2025 to replace two absolute stalwarts in the middle. And Michigan's loss to Jacksonville's gain.
6. Ashton Jeanty, RB, Boise State (Las Vegas Raiders)
(Photo: Brian B. Bautista, 247Sports)
This is as high as the former Boise State star and Heisman finalist went in the first round as the only running back on Day 1. The Dallas Cowboys have been long-projected to take Jeanty, but it's hard to say if he is still available when their pick comes around. Jeanty remains the top prospect in the backfield after the combine, but several others ball carriers impressed including UNC's Omarion Hampton.
7. Tyler Warren, TE, Penn State (New York Jets)
(Photo: Grace Brennan-Lions247)
As a fifth-year senior, the 6-foot-6, 260-pound tight end set a Penn State record with 104 receptions for 1,244 yards and eight touchdowns. Via Lions247, aside from producing one of the finest pass-catching seasons ever for a tight end, Tyler Warren added 218 yards and four scores as a runner. He finished seventh in Heisman Trophy voting and is widely-considered the top prospect at the position this cycle, drawing comparisons to Raiders rookie Brock Bowers.
8. Jalon Walker, Edge, Georgia (Carolina Panthers)
(Photo: Chris Collins, 247Sports)
Jalon Walker is back in the top 10 in this mock after a brief slide coming out of the combine. His measurables were a bit on the undersized side in Indianapolis, which pushed him outside of the top 10, at least temporarily. The Falcons and Cardinals are expected to with a pass rusher in the middle of the first round, but Walker may not be on the board for either of those franchises if he goes to the Panthers at No. 8.
9. Will Johnson, CB, Michigan (New Orleans Saints)
(Photo: Matt Krohn, USA TODAY Sports)
Will Johnson recorded 14 tackles, a tackle for loss and two interceptions this season — both of which were returned for touchdowns. He missed the final six games of the season, however, with a reported toe injury. Still, Johnson leaves Michigan as one of its more decorated players to only play three seasons at the school. He played in 32 games, including 22 starts, recording 68 tackles, 10 pass breakups, four tackles for loss and nine interceptions. He set a school record with three interceptions returned for touchdowns. According to Pro Football Focus, he allowed just two touchdowns in coverage in his career, both coming his freshman season, and held opponents to a 104.5 collegiate passer rating (49.8 NFL rating) over three seasons with Michigan.
10. Armand Membou, OT, Missouri (Chicago Bears)
(Photo: Parker Thune)
Armand Membou doesn't possess the size most offensive tackles do, but recent intel suggests he stood out to Kansas City during the evaluation process. In CBS Sports' latest mock, the Bears stay put at No. 10 and go with the first offensive tackle selected. At Missouri, Membou's tape was some of the best in the SEC, part of the reason why he projects to go high. In this spot, Membou is being graded by Chicago as the best option ahead of Will Campbell from LSU and Texas offensive tackle Kelvin Banks Jr.
11. Mike Green, Edge, Marshall (San Francisco 49ers)
12. Matthew Golden, WR, Texas (Dallas Cowboys)
13. Shemar Stewart, Edge, Texas A&M (Miami Dolphins)
14. Will Campbell, OT, LSU (Indianapolis Colts)
Green's performance on-field and during interviews at the combine as improved his draft stock a bit. He also answered questions about two off-the-field instances during his career, pleading his innocence for each. Green is a first-round talent who teams are going to do their homework on and make sure he's not a liability as a top 15-type selection.
Stewart came, saw and conquered the NFL Combine with jaw-dropping individual numbers. It was the kind of performance that screams "first-round lock" following his first full season as a starter for the Aggies. The former five-star recruit finished with 31 tackles (5.5 for loss) and produced over 30 pressures, helping the Texas A&M defense as one of its leaders — especially on third down. NFL types would like to see more consistency on a down to down basis, but his ceiling is high.
(Photo: David Rosenblum, Getty)
15. Mykel Williams, DL, Georgia (Atlanta Falcons)
16. Kelvin Banks Jr., OT, Texas (Arizona Cardinals)
17. Malaki Starks, S, Georgia (Cincinnati Bengals)
18. Tyler Booker, IOL, Alabama (Seattle Seahawks)
19. Jihaad Campbell, LB, Alabama (Tampa Bay Buccaneers)
20. Emeka Egbuka, WR, Ohio State (Denver Broncos)
Banks' draft stock has been all over the place over the last few months as his final season at Texas was not quite as dominant as expected. LSU's Will Campbell appeared to lock up OT1 billing several weeks ago, but has also slipped outside of the top 10 according to this latest mock. The Cardinals have a variety of needs and haven't shown their hand yet, but getting a player of top 10 talent in the middle of the first round would be great value in this spot with Banks.
In three years at Georgia, Williams recorded 67 tackles, 21.5 tackles for loss, 14 sacks, three forced fumbles and a fumble recovery. He was named a first-team Freshman All-American by the Athletic in 2022. The 6-foot-5, 265-pound defender battled injuries during his career and was never the dominant, every-down force he showed during flashes in his career, but his athletic ability stands out on tape, nonetheless.
(Photo: USA TODAY Sports)
21. Shedeur Sanders, QB, Colorado (Pittsburgh Steelers)
22. Colston Loveland, TE, Michigan (Los Angeles Chargers)
23. Derrick Harmon, DL, Oregon (Green Bay Packers)
24. Nick Emmanwori, S, South Carolina (Minnesota Vikings)
25. Josh Simmons, OT, Ohio State (Houston Texans)
Sanders' stock reportedly took a hit after combine interviews and certainly after Las Vegas traded for Geno Smith. The Raiders were supposed to be the safety net for Sanders inside the top 7, but they now have their quarterback for the 2025 season after landing the veteran.
After Harold Fannin Jr. failed to impress at the combine, Loveland moved to No. 2 tight end billing behind Penn State's Warren. Loveland logged 56 receptions— a single-season record for Michigan tight ends — with 582 yards and five touchdowns in 2024. All three figures led Michigan's pass-catchers by a wide margin. Loveland alone accounted for 31.2% of Michigan's receptions and 36.3% of the Wolverines' receiving yards during the regular season.
(Photo: Jordan Scruggs, 247Sports)
26. Jahdae Barron, S, Texas (Los Angeles Rams)
27. Donovan Ezeiruaku, Edge, Boston College (Baltimore Ravens)
28. Kenneth Grant, DL, Michigan (Detroit Lions)
Barron is a player whose intelligence, film and production numbers with the Longhorns will overshadow his likely mid-tier testing numbers as a "tweener" of sorts — at least that's what most NFL evaluators believe. He was terrific down the stretch at Texas, dominating his side of the field in the secondary. The primary question is where he plays at the next level. He played a variety of defensive back positions throughout his time in Austin.
(Photo: Ole Miss Athletics )
29. James Pearce Jr., Edge, Tennessee (Washington Commanders)
30. Maxwell Hairston, CB, Kentucky (Buffalo Bills)
31. Walter Nolen, DL, Ole Miss (Kansas City Chiefs)
32. Greg Zabel, IOL, North Dakota State (Philadelphia Eagles)
Nolen's presence last season as the Rebels' most consistent defensive lineman helped Ole Miss win double-digit games again under Lane Kiffin. He's a former five-star recruit and was a prized possession in the transfer portal for 2024's top-rated class. As a late-first rounder, Nolen would give Kansas City an instant starter talent and is a utility piece of sorts up front.
This article originates on 247Sports.
Dusty May recaps Big Ten Tournament title run: 'This team will have a bond for eternity'
After the game, May met with reporters to discuss the win, what it means in program history, the upcoming NCAA Tournament. and more. See what he had to say below.
[Zach Shaw](https://247sports.com/user/Zach Shaw/)6 hrs
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — Sunday evening, Dusty May captured his first championship with the Michigan men's basketball team, as the first-year head coach led the Wolverines to a 59-53 win over Wisconsin to win the Big Ten Tournament title. The victory was Michigan's third top-20 win in as many days, and gave the Wolverines their first tournament title since 2018 just a year removed from a 3-17 league record.
After the game, May met with reporters to discuss the win, what it means in program history, the upcoming NCAA Tournament. and more. See what he had to say below.
Opening statement
DUSTY MAY: First of all, we appreciate you guys hanging around, waiting on us to do what we needed to do.
I want to praise our guys' resiliency and their togetherness. For a majority of the game, it wasn't how we scripted it. It wasn't how we thought it would look like, but it was two heavyweights going at it back and forth tooth and nail.
Like I said, I'll give our guys credit for staying the course. Different guys stepped up, got us ignited. Then these guys took it over late and made plays.
Q. Coach, what kind of a lift, how big of a lift was it when guys like LJ and Will hit those shots? Didn't look great for you, and those guys came up and made some big plays in big times.
DUSTY MAY: It really did. I don't remember what the details we talked about at halftime were, but I do remember us rallying around the fact we don't know what it's going to look like, how it's going to go, but we're going to dig deep and find a way, and it's going to be possession by possession.
We're not going to be living in the past. We're not going to be thinking about the errors we made. I think our guys did hold each other accountable. When we make mistakes, Wisconsin makes you pay for those mistakes. I thought we limited those types of plays, and even the ones we made, those guys made adjustments on the fly.
Just a hard fought performance. When you look at Wisconsin's team and you see how potent they are offensively -- and granted, we earned a break by not playing four in four days, and they had one extra game. We were optimistic that their legs might not hold up as well as ours just because of the number of games. Even in the first half, when that thing was ugly and whatnot, we wanted to keep running because we thought it might have a cumulative effect.
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Credit our guys, they pushed through fatigue, they pushed through injuries. When you have a freshman step up and ignite it, and you have Will Tschetter bringing the passion he brings and knocking down shots and improving the spacing on the floor. Like I said, we have a lot of different ways to get the job done, and our guys believe it.
Q. Can you talk about LJ's stretch in the second half, I know you just referenced it, but those two big 3s and his aggressiveness all day.
DUSTY MAY: If you know LJ Cason, he's never going to be unaggressive. He's going to put the pedal to the metal. We know him, and that's the beautiful thing about him choosing to join us at Michigan. We know what his DNA is. We know his background. We know who he is to the core.
So we never lost faith. It's tough to be a freshman, especially at this level with the glut of older players. The one thing with LJ, he hit that freshman wall, and it looked gloomy. I'm not going to lie. He busted through that thing and found a new energy.
If he didn't have that substance, we're not sitting here. Another team is on this podium now.
Q. Got two questions for you. Such a physical basketball game, and it really wasn't reaching, it really wasn't odd ball fouls, it was everybody moving their feet, everybody into the game. Second question is what do you think everybody down in Eastern Greene and Salisbury is thinking right now about Dusty May?
DUSTY MAY: I hope they know -- I'll start with the second one first. I hope they know how proud I am to be from there and have the relationships and connections and work ethic that the people poured into me. So very, very grateful.
Back to the physicality, that's how we were raised at Eastern Greene. My old coach Mark Barnhizer, he created a culture of extremely high standards and toughness and team-first mentality, a lot like the former great coaches at our university.
Couldn't be more grateful for all of the people that made us work harder than we wanted to and felt like it and just pushed us and challenged us to be the best we could be.
Q. Can you talk about what your defense did to John Tonje? I think he was 1 for 14 to finish. He didn't score for the first 25 minutes of the game.
DUSTY MAY: First of all, he's an extremely tough cover. A lot of people had him as Player of the Year in the league, and in our league there are a lot of really great players. So he was at the top of the list.
I thought our discipline, I thought our -- he's so good at getting downhill and getting you off balance and getting you in the air and drawing fouls. He got to the line eight times, and I thought that was incredibly important to keep him single digits.
I thought overall we contested all of his shots. I thought, even when we were behind the plays, we made an effort to challenge and contest everything, and I thought we made him work on both sides of the ball. That's what you have to do against great players like these guys -- Tonje and Blackwell, and obviously Winter and Crowell and those guys, and Klesmit's won a lot of ball games.
Those guys, if you don't challenge every spot, every movement, then they're going to make you play.
Q. Dusty, can you talk a little bit about the three big lineup you went to after it got tight in the second half. Probably had the most success you've had all season with it today.
DUSTY MAY: Yeah, I'll give the staff a lot of credit. It's something we've talked about using, and we've never had to at times. In this game, Roddy Gayle had a hamstring situation, and we felt like we just needed some spacing. So they made the suggestion as a group, and it didn't take long to agree to that because it's what we needed. We have faith that Danny Wolf and Vlad and Will all can sit down and guard 1 through 5s. We trust them to do that.
So I thought that was the difference in the game. Once LJ got us going, that big lineup with great shooting, size. Other than one defensive error, I thought they played almost perfect basketball where they generated good offense, they worked well together, and defensively they were physical and locked into the scouting report.
Q. Wisconsin was your first Big Ten game, and now it's your final Big Ten game going into the NCAA Tournament. Can you talk a little bit about how the team has grown from that first game, first Big Ten game to now, areas of improvement, areas where you still see you need growth.
DUSTY MAY: If we didn't improve drastically, we wouldn't have been able to win this game. Wisconsin is much, much better than they were, I think it was December 6. I'm going to take a shot at the Big Ten. As soon as I saw the schedule released, I looked at it and said our staff's first Big Ten coaching game, we go to Madison, Wisconsin. Jokes aside.
So that one gave us confidence, though, that we can go on the road and beat the best teams. That's the type of respect and admiration we have for their coaches, their players, their program, their discipline, their culture. I could go on and on. So that was the first one where once we found a way to get that one done, we thought, okay, we can really do this.
We believed it, but sometimes you need a little bit of evidence that can happen, and I thought that game gave us that evidence.
Q. Talk a little bit about what we just all found out. You're a 5. You got any thoughts on where you're coming in for the NCAA Tournament?
DUSTY MAY: Denver is one of my favorite cities on the planet. We're going to go out there and hopefully run up and down like the Nuggets. We'll get used to the altitude and be excited for the challenge. It's obviously different for all of us.
Just grateful to be a part of this event. It's the greatest spectacle. I remember being a young kid and the school bus drops you off. Where you're from and where I'm from, they don't drop you off at your door. Sprinting home and turning on the TV and watching that first game you could.
So just to be a part of it and do it with this group of guys that have sacrificed and fought and just stayed together when it wasn't easy, just an honor and a privilege to go keep playing with this group.
Q. You talked a lot about this season that winning championships brings teams together forever. Now that you guys have won this tournament, what do you think it means to you and to the team as a whole?
DUSTY MAY: In all honesty, it's great for these guys. They're going to bring their grandkids and their children and they're going to point up at that picture. You see those banners in Crisler. Crisler is clean and crisp, and when you're part of one of those, it's really, really cool.
For me, it confirms that we're going to be able to bring this group back in 5 years, in 10 years, in 20 years, because I care a lot more about that than I do the actual banner. The banner and the number, the year is just a symbol of this group coming together and doing something special. More importantly, I know that these guys are going to come back in 10 years and tell stories about this tournament, and tell stories about the time we got knocked on our tails the last three games of the regular season and how we responded.
Ultimately, we're very proud. When you have a history and a legacy like Michigan, you're very proud to be a part of it, but it's great that I know this team will have a bond for eternity.
Q. There's a lot of talent out there in the portal. You went out and brought in two bigs and a point guard. But more importantly, it was their personalities that blended with what you already had. How did you make that selection?
DUSTY MAY: I'll be honest, I don't think -- I don't want to use a bad word. Guys that aren't about the team, guys that don't put others first, they don't like us. We have a staff of driven, hungry, intelligent, self-aware guys, and they model the behavior every single day, completely together.
Then for whatever reason, the guys we go after, they share the same character traits and values. So it really just happens organically. There's signs that pop up and red flags, and we usually try to go the other way, or we just try to dig a little bit deeper and analyze whether we can help them or do they really fit us.
We have a lot of trust, and we're not just chasing the banner. We want to be around guys who have the same, I guess, ambition that we have and have the same care for others and people. So it just kind of happens. We go watch them and how they interact with each other and what programs they come from.
The guys, they came from great coaches before -- other than Vlad, his was average -- but the rest of the guys we brought from the portal came from great programs and great coaches, so we're thankful for that (laughter).