Analysts hype up Michigan’s Will Johnson as potential dark-horse No. 1 pick

The 2025 NFL Draft is believed to have one of the weaker quarterback classes in recent memory, leaving the door open for plenty of competition to be next year’s No. 1 overall pick.

Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders and Georgia’s Carson Beck may still go near the top of the draft, but if a non-QB goes first overall, solid arguments can be made for players like Tennessee edge-rusher James Pearce Jr., LSU offensive tackle Will Campbell and Colorado cornerback/wide receiver Travis Hunter.

However, one dark-horse player to keep an eye on according to ESPN’s Jordan Reid is Michigan cornerback Will Johnson, who many believe to be the top defensive back in college football.

“We’ve never seen a cornerback being selected at the top of the draft (common draft era, since 1967),” Reid wrote. “So yeah, the odds are extremely stacked against Johnson. But if there were a CB who could challenge for that feat, he’d be a strong contender. In 2022, Derek Stingley Jr. and Sauce Gardner were picked with back-to-back selections at Nos. 3 and 4. Johnson is that caliber of corner prospect.”

If Johnson were to be the top pick, he’d be the first cornerback to do so.

In fact, corners going near the top of the draft is so rare that Stingley Jr., Gardner and Devon Witherspoon are just the 13th, 14th and 15th CBs to be drafted in the top five in the last three decades.