Former Navy Football Superstar Among Top 300 Prospects for NFL Draft

There are 257 selections in the 2025 NFL draft and this former Navy Midshipmen standout has a chance to hear his named called.

Former safety Rayuan Lane III was listed among ESPN.com’s Top 300 draft prospects on Friday, a nod to how well his pre-draft process has gone since the Midshipmen wrapped up their season with an Armed Forces Bowl victory over the Oklahoma Sooners.

He is right on the edge of the rankings at No. 296. But he is the only service academy player ranked among the Top 300. In addition, Lane is ranked as the No. 38 safety in the draft.

Whether that means he will be selected is unclear. The last Navy player to be selected was running back Malcolm Perry in 2020. He was selected in the seventh round and played three seasons before serving his commission in the Navy.  

Lane and the rest of the draft class are in the final stages of the process, which includes Top 30 visits. NFL teams are inviting players they’re interested in talking with to their facilities for a full day of discussions. Some players take multiple visits and some players take none.

With or without an invite, there has been interest in Lane throughout the scouting process.

This week Lane and other Navy prospects participate in their pro day, during which multiple scouts came to campus and evaluated all of them for potential selection in the draft or undrafted free agent signings, which come after the draft.

Lane is the only one in the ground that has participated in the entire pre-draft process, which goes back to late January.

That process started at the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala., where he was just the fifth Navy player to earn an invitation to the annual all-star game. Lane likely met with scouts or general managers from most of the NFL teams, as those meetings tend to be informal.

Lane was also among those invited to the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis in February. At the combine he worked out for scouts, participated in interview and had private meetings with team officials throughout the week.

Lane is one of the most experienced defensive backs in this class. He finished his career with 43 straight games at safety, which was the longest FBS streak for a safety among active players. Pro Football Focus rated Lane as college football’s fourth-best safety.

Lane collected a number of awards in 2024, including national special teams player of the year, first-team all-American on special teams and honorable mention all-American on defense by College Football Network, and first-team all-American Athletic Conference on defense by the head coaches in the AAC.

He finished his career with 244 tackles, eight tackles for a loss, 1.5 sacks, seven interceptions (returning two for a touchdown), broke up 21 passes, recovered three fumbles and forced eight fumbles.