With the NFL Combine quickly approaching, the prospective talents of the 2025 NFL Draft are bracing for the biggest job interview of their lives. The NFL Combine is intended to be a grueling and uncomfortably busy week, partly to stress players and see who can handle the hustle and bustle of media, interviews, workouts, late nights, and more.
However, the NFL Combine is not created equally for all talents. Tests on the field can be more or less important for individual players based on their position and resume. Some tests offer no value at all for some players. Others still will find the most impactful thing they do happen behind closed doors — be it at a medical check-up or in an interview with a team.
Who are some of the players set to attend the 2025 NFL Combine that can help themselves the most with a single test?
Cam Skattebo is a buzzy name after a monster season at Arizona State. He was a mauling back who churned out a ton of hard yardage and illustrated supreme contact balance in the backfield and the secondary alike.
The question is: how much juice does he have? Skattebo finished the season tied for sixth in the country with eight runs of 30 yards or more, but his two touchdowns on such runs were among the worst of the top 30 backs in the country.
Does he have sufficient breakaway speed as an open-field runner? If the answer turns out to be yes, it will bolster his standing in the running back class.
Elic Ayomanor, like Skattebo, has developed a reputation as one of the most physical players at his position in this year’s class. Also, like Skattebo, the perception of Ayomanor’s ceiling may be capped due to the focus on his physicality instead of his explosiveness.
He’s excellent at the catch point and even better as a blocker. If he can convince executives that he can continue to become a better separator thanks to some dynamic tests, he could be on the rise.
Tez Johnson’s already got a bullet point on his resume for his size. He weighed in at 156 pounds at the 2025 Senior Bowl. Can Johnson play at a higher weight?
That’s the big question everyone is going to have — not how fast he is. Does Johnson lean into his speed and choose to run? If so, what weight does he check in at? If he’s still in the 150s, teams will have to reconcile a bottom-tier percentile for his size.
These days, most wide receivers don't participate in the 3-cone drill. It’s a test intended to illustrate body control, fluidity, and change of direction skills. The test is geared towards shorter, more agile players with a low center of gravity, which is the opposite of 6-foot-3, 217-pound Jayden Higgins.
Still, Higgins flashes surprising mobility for a player of his stature and looked quick in Mobile at the Senior Bowl. If he has a surprisingly fast 3-cone time in his bag, it will affirm his lateral quickness and help push him up in a crowded Day 2 crop of pass catchers.
Josh Simmons reportedly tore his patellar tendon in October. Before the injury, he was trending towards being the top-rated offensive tackle in the class. Now, he is typically found clinging on in the final few picks of the first round in mock draft projections.
Simmons' medical checks will be massive and could serve as a major pivot point for one of the most talented linemen in the class. Will teams find the comfort in his current status to drive him back up to where his talent suggests he’s worthy of being drafted? Or will medical concerns drop him out of the first round altogether?
James Pearce is the first name on this list who was a member of the annual Bruce Feldman’s Freaks List. Pearce Jr. is credited with hitting 23 mph on GPS tracking at an alleged 245 pounds.
However, he’s a lean-framed player, which the league can get skittish on because of the need to play with power consistently to win as a pass rusher in the league. There's no doubt that Pearce will run well, assuming he runs. But doing so at 240 vs. 250 pounds is a big deal.
Landon Jackson is another member of Feldman’s Freaks list — for a bunch of linear explosiveness. He’s credited with running fast, having explosive jumps (34-inch vertical) and powerful lifts. But his work at the Senior Bowl underscored his struggles in turning the corner and bending the edge from wide alignments, which is affirmed on his tape. But how limiting of a factor is it in his game?
If Jackson can show he’s physically capable of tighter corners with his agility testing, it could help ease some of the concerns of executives and bolster his profile.
(10-yard split & jumps)
Darius Alexander is yet another member of the Freaks List, and he, unlike Jackson, is red hot coming out of the Senior Bowl. Checking in at over 6-foot-3, 304 pounds with 34-inch arms, Alexander is a prototype build for the interior defensive line. If he lives up to his billing with his explosive athletic profile, he will have successfully stacked multiple successful stops along the pre-draft process as a smaller school player.
That can be a ticket to the first round. It happened with Quinyon Mitchell, Alexander’s teammate, just one year ago. This Rocket could be next to shoot up the boards.
Shavon Revel is an athletic marvel who was credited with a 4.40s 40-yard dash and an 11-foot broad jump at an ECU prospect camp while playing JUCO football. That workout earned Revel a scholarship offer with the Pirates. Now? He’ll be looking to prove he’s just well on track to get back to 100 percent health.
Revel entered the season as a potential top-20 prospect if he could put together a big leap in play this year. We didn’t get to see it due to a September ACL tear. He’s now more than five months removed from the injury. How well is the recovery? How likely is he to be ready for training camp? We won’t know these answers unless we get some reports from the insiders in Indianapolis.
But this is a big bullet point for one of the best corners in the class.
Few players boast the ball production that Xavier Watts does. He’s a former wide receiver with deluxe ball skills and instincts in coverage. However, his range is something of a question as most projections place him around the low 4.5s in the 40.
As a backend player who can play high in the post as a deep safety, a good time in his runs could help bolster the confidence that Watts does have NFL range to play single-high coverage and properly blanket the field.
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The Tennessee Volunteers are heading into the 2025 season with a new starting quarterback. That wasn't the plan after the 2024 season ended with a College Football Playoff loss, but Nico Iamaleava's shocking transfer to UCLA put things in flux, and the Volunteers had to quickly adjust. The Vols haven't named a starting quarterback yet as they look to kick off camp, but there is an overwhelming favorite for the job. That would be former Appalachian State quarterback Joey Aguilar, who ironically transferred to UCLA before Iamaleava ended up in Southern California. Aguilar hit the transfer portal soon after Iamaleava joined the Bruins, and he found himself at Tennessee in what was essentially a quarterback swap. The issue for Tennessee is that Aguilar hasn't even taken an official snap yet for the Vols, so he's going to have to earn the job in camp. He also does have competition in redshirt freshman Jake Merklinger and true freshman George MacIntyre, a former four-star recruit. Technically, anybody could win the starting job in camp. Even though it is up in the air, offensive coordinator Joey Halzle revealed at Tennessee's media day what he's looking for in the Vols' next starter. The big thing is he doesn't want the competition in camp to hinder anyone's play on the field. “First and foremost, you’ve got to play this game in this offense with an aggressive nature. I think a lot of times, the mistake quarterbacks make in a competition is they try not to lose it. They try just not to make a mistake. We want out guy to walk the line between being extremely aggressive but not reckless at all,” Halzle said (h/t On3). “Reckless is just throwing a ball up for grabs. Aggressive is driving a ball into a tight window. So, we want our guy to be aggressive, we want him to be smart, and we want him to operate this offense.” The reason Aguilar is the favorite to win the starting job is because of his experience as well as his dual-threat abilities. Over the last two seasons at Appalachian State, he threw for 6,760 yards and 56 touchdowns. He also rushed for 456 yards and five touchdowns on the ground. He brings a ton to the table for Tennessee, but ultimately Aguilar is going to have to prove to Halzle and head coach Josh Heupel that not only does he have the talent, but he has command of the offense. That's what Halzle and the coaching staff will be looking for in camp. “It’s not just about who throws the ball the furthest or the hardest. It’s about who can operate this offense that when we take the field, he gives us a chance to win,” Halzle said. “Whether that’s them carrying the football, them getting to their check downs and then making big plays down the field. However it presents to that individual’s skill set, it’s them doing that at an extremely high level to where we say that’s the guy that gives us the best chance to be up plus-1 at the end of a ballgame.”
The New York Yankees acquired several talented veterans after superstar outfielder Juan Soto walked in free agency this past offseason, with southpaw pitcher Max Fried (12-4, 2.62 ERA) chief among them. They signed the latter player to an eight-year, $218 million contract, and he's given them their money's worth thus far. Fried leads New York's pitching staff in wins and ERA. The 31-year-old is also tied for third in baseball in wins, is 11th in ERA, and is 11th with a 1.03 WHIP. Still, the Yankees could use pitching help, given that ace Gerrit Cole is out for the year after getting Tommy John surgery, and 2024 AL Rookie of the Year Luis Gil will make his first start of the season on Sunday. Fried was asked after Tuesday's bout with the Tampa Bay Rays if he's anxious to see what New York does ahead of Thursday's Trade Deadline, via SNY. "You've just got to take care of business every day," he said. "That's not something that we can control...We have baseball games to win." The Yankees did just that on Tuesday, beating the Rays 7-5 in a comeback effort. Fried earned his 12th win after allowing four runs (two earned) in 6.2 innings to go with nine strikeouts and two walks. The veteran also tossed a career-high 111 pitches. Over the last few days, the Yankees acquired third baseman Ryan McMahon from the Colorado Rockies and fellow third baseman Amed Rosario from the Washington Nationals. They also traded pitcher Carlos Carrasco to the Atlanta Braves for a player to be named later or cash. New York will face Tampa Bay again on Wednesday and Thursday.
The 2024 offseason expanded the $30M-per-year wide receiver club to six members. D.K. Metcalf, Ja’Marr Chase and Garrett Wilson have taken it to nine this year. Terry McLaurin is undoubtedly pushing to bump that number to 10, after seeing 2019 Day 2 classmates Metcalf and A.J. Brown land among that contingent. McLaurin reported to training camp Sunday and landed on the active/PUP list. As our Rory Parks explained, skepticism exists about how injured the Commanders’ top wide receiver really is. An ankle injury has keyed the PUP stay, but it can be safely assumed McLaurin would be ready to practice if an extension comes to pass. Nevertheless, the Commanders have been surprised by the difficulty of these talks. Using an injury to avoid practicing while negotiating — developments the Jonathan Taylor and Micah Parsons sagas brought — represents a third tactic, joining the holdout and the increasingly utilized hold-in amid extension talks. McLaurin shifted from a holdout to the injury route; no matter how he is accomplishing not practicing, the seventh-year veteran is aiming to land a lucrative third contract. His age provides a complication for Washington. McLaurin is going into an age-30 season, separating him from Brown and Metcalf. Both Ole Miss products were drafted just before McLaurin, a 2019 third-round pick, but they are each two years younger. This strengthened their cases for big-ticket third contracts. McLaurin went first to ignite the second-tier boom on the receiver market in 2022, agreeing to a three-year, $69.6M extension. That shaped the Metcalf and Deebo Samuel extensions, both of which coming in higher than McLaurin’s despite the latter’s consistency with suboptimal quarterback situations. McLaurin’s AAV has dropped to 17th at wide receiver. The Commanders are prepared to extend their top wideout, but Sportskeeda.com’s Tony Pauline indicates the "holdup" is regarding the $30M-AAV number. Some around the league point to the team not wanting to go into that neighborhood for McLaurin, despite his five 1,000-yard seasons. Courtland Sutton and McLaurin are nearly the same age, and the Broncos’ top target signed a four-year, $92M extension. That matches where the Titans went for Calvin Ridley (now 30) in 2024. McLaurin, though, has a better resume than both and should be aiming higher. The Commanders have a Jayden Daniels rookie contract to structure another McLaurin extension around as well. Adam Peters was around for the 49ers’ 2022 Samuel extension but not Brandon Aiyuk‘s $30M-per-year deal. (The Samuel extension also did not work out for the 49ers, who proceeded with a salary dump of sorts by trading him to the Commanders.) The second-year GM taking a hardline stance with McLaurin would be an interesting route given the WR’s importance to a sudden contender. Peters confirmed talks are ongoing, with that comment coming after McLaurin expressed frustration about the negotiations. A potential gap between the pack of 20-somethings (and Tyreek Hill) north of $30M AAV and the Tee Higgins–Jaylen Waddle–D.J. Moore tier could be relevant here, and it will be interesting to see if McLaurin settles for something just south of that $30MM benchmark. Guarantees and contract structure, of course, will be important to determining the value as well. A short-term extension should be reached soon, per Pauline, but if the Commanders hold the line at or around $30M, the McLaurin matter could drag on for a while longer.
The 2025 season will be a crucial one for the Pittsburgh Steelers and all of the decision-makers that completely revamped the roster during the offseason. The depth chart looks much different than it did back in 2024, so there will be several adjustments that need to be made. One positional group that looks relatively similar, but has been affected by some reshuffling, is the offensive line. Troy Fautanu is back after an injury-plagued rookie campaign, and Broderick Jones will finally get to play left tackle on a consistent basis for the first time in his professional career. Jones is, without a doubt, one of the most important players in the entire projected starting lineup. Keeping Aaron Rodgers upright will be crucial, and the third-year lineman has not necessarily proven that he can be trusted. He suffered an injury to begin training camp, but is reportedly going to be just fine and return to the field sooner rather than later. No one knows how important it is to have a strong offensive line more than future Hall of Fame quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger. The Steelers' legendary signal-caller never got to play with Jones, but he keeps tabs on the team and shares his thoughts often on his podcast, Footbahlin with Ben Roethlisberger. On the most recent episode, he highlighted how critical it is so have a good group up front blocking, and he mentioned Jones by name. "I would probably start, as I do a lot of times, about the importance of the offensive line," Roethlisberger began. "I'd say that's the biggest question, and it should be because to me, the line is always the MVP. The way the line plays, run game, pass game, everything revolves around that. More specifically, Broderick Jones, moving now back to left tackle." Training camp hasn't gotten off to a great start for Jones with the injury, but some may be happy that he lost some weight during the 2025 offseason. Roethlisberger said he understands why, but is still concerned. "I've heard he's thinned down, which is good to a certain extent, right," Roethlisberger said. "They want to work on getting tackles out and running the outside zones and stretch plays. So, you got to be a little, you know, more agile, but you know, you also don't want to be too small when you're supposed to be a tackle. So, that's always going to be a concern of mine, is him and the line in general staying healthy." There are some massive edge rushers in the NFL, and Roethlisberger is right in saying that being too small as a tackle can be problematic. Jones will have to go up against Myles Garrett twice in 2025, and the offseason weight loss won't look like a good thing if he is manhandled throughout those matchups. The Steelers' offensive line might be the unit that makes or breaks the team's season. Staying healthy will be the number one priority, but it is almost imperative that the group actually is successful. If edge rushers are constantly bulldozing through Jones, it could be serious cause for concern. It seems as if that it what Roethlisberger has some reservations about. If Jones doesn't perform at a high level in 2025, the 2023 NFL Draft day trade-up in the first round will be looked at as a failure. The organization has to make a decision on Jones' fifth-year option during the 2026 offseason, so the left tackle better hope that some of the weight he had shed ends up helping him significantly, instead of the other way around. Steelers Will Need Entire Offensive Line To Be Elite In 2025 While Jones is going to be the number one scapegoat if things go south, the big men up front will be a huge part of Pittsburgh's offensive failures or successes as the season progresses. Roethlisberger's comments regarding the starting left tackle's offseason will certainly cause a little bit of worry, but the unit as a whole has to prove consistency when the games matter.