2025 NFL draft tiers for every College Football Playoff team

The first 12-team College Football Playoff kicks off Friday when Indiana plays at Notre Dame, the first of four first-round on-campus games in the expanded field. And as one would expect, the top 12 teams of the 2024 CFB season have plenty of prospects for the 2025 NFL draft.

Below, we identify each player in the playoff who could be selected in the 2025 draft and which round they’d all slot into right now, giving brief breakdowns on players graded in the first three rounds. These players’ draft stocks are far from final; they can all rise or fall during playoff action and the pre-draft process. But this is where things stand right now and a good picture of which teams could be sending a bunch of top talents to the early rounds of the draft.

Let’s get started with the No. 1-seeded team in the CFP and the only undefeated squad left in the FBS. Prospects are ordered within each round by overall ranking, injured players are included and underclassmen are marked with an asterisk. National title chances are via ESPN’s Football Power Index.

Jump to a team:
Oregon | Georgia | Boise State | Arizona State
Texas | Penn State | Notre Dame | Ohio State
Tennessee | Indiana | SMU | Clemson

First-round matchup: Bye (will play Ohio State-Tennessee winner in Rose Bowl)
FPI chances to win national title: 9.8%

Round 1: DT Derrick Harmon*, OT Josh Conerly Jr.*

Oregon is undefeated thanks to its strength in the trenches, with Harmon and Conerly leading the way. Harmon, a transfer from Michigan State, has blossomed at Oregon as a gap-shooting defensive tackle and has five sacks this season. Playing left tackle, Conerly has kept Oregon quarterback Dillon Gabriel clean all season, allowing only one sack with a pressure percentage of 1.4%. Both players are clear first-round talents with top-20 upside.

Round 2: WR Evan Stewart*

Stewart transferred from Texas A&M and has lived up to his five-star recruit expectations, catching 48 passes for 613 yards and five touchdowns. He stepped up in big games, with 112 yards against Boise State on Sept. 7 and 149 against Ohio State on Oct. 12. The 6-foot, 175-pound Stewart is fast and has legitimate vertical-stretch ability but also the concentration and toughness to be reliable in traffic. Stewart could return to college in 2025 but has a top-60 grade on my board.

Round 3: DE Jordan Burch, TE Terrance Ferguson, WR Tez Johnson

Burch is a menace off the edge, with 8.5 sacks this season. He’s a reminder of the DeForest Buckner/Arik Armstead-type prospects of Oregon’s recent past. Ferguson and Johnson have been key to the passing game, with Johnson emerging as one of my favorite slot receivers in the 2025 class thanks to his spatial awareness and game-changing speed. Ferguson is one of the nation’s top tight ends this season, with 38 receptions and three touchdowns. Scouts have identified him as a breakout candidate in the pre-draft cycle.

Round 4: RB Jordan James; LB Jeffrey Bassa, OT Ajani Cornelius

Round 5: None

Round 6: QB Dillon Gabriel, CB Jabbar Muhammad

Round 7: LB Bryce Boettcher, RB Noah Whittington*

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First-round matchup: Bye (will play Notre Dame-Indiana winner in Sugar Bowl)
FPI chances to win national title: 15.8%

Round 1: S Malaki Starks*, LB Jalon Walker*, Edge Mykel Williams*

Defense is the backbone of the SEC champs, so it’s fitting that Starks, Walker and Williams are in this category. Starks is a versatile safety prospect who reminds me of Antoine Winfield Jr. because of his football sense, short-area quickness and great field vision. He’ll line up in the slot or as a deep safety in the pros.

Perhaps the biggest surprise this season is Walker, who has emerged as hybrid linebacker/pass rusher. He has posted 6.5 sacks and was the difference-maker in the first matchup with Texas, when he had three sacks. Williams, meanwhile, had high potential entering the season and has developed into a big-time playmaker. The 6-5, 265-pound junior has five sacks this season, with four coming in the two games against Texas — he produced top-10-caliber tape against Georgia’s toughest opponent to date.

Round 2: QB Carson Beck*, C Jared Wilson*, G Dylan Fairchild*, TE Oscar Delp*

Beck entered the season in the No. 1 pick conversation but has thrown 12 interceptions in a down season before sustaining a UCL injury in his right elbow in the SEC championship game, leaving his status in question. The severity of the injury and the pre-draft process will determine where Beck ultimately will be ranked.

Wilson and Fairchild rank as my top players at their respective positions despite dealing with injuries this season. Delp had only 19 catches this season but four went for scores. He’s a player who scouts think will blow up when he enters the draft because of his pass-catching ability and open-field running skills.

Round 3: G Tate Ratledge

Limited to eight games this season because of injury, Ratledge gave up one sack all season and boosted the Georgia run game once he returned in Week 10. Scouts have told me that Ratledge is a plug-and-play starter at right guard.

Round 4: CB Daylen Everette*, RB Trevor Etienne*

Round 5: DT Nazir Stackhouse

Round 6: LB Smael Mondon Jr.

Round 7: G Xavier Truss, WR Arian Smith, DT Warren Brinson, WR Dillon Bell*, WR Dominic Lovett, TE Ben Yurosek

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First-round matchup: Bye (will play Penn State-SMU winner in Fiesta Bowl)
FPI chances to win national title: 1.8%

Round 1: RB Ashton Jeanty*

With an FBS-leading 2,497 rushing yards, Jeanty has 800 more yards than the second-best rusher on only 63 more carries. Even if you included only his 1,652 yards picked up after contact, Jeanty would be second in the FBS overall. He has also scored 29 rushing touchdowns, which tied for the most in the FBS. He hasn’t been used in the pass game as much this season (20 receptions in 2024 compared to 43 in 2023), but he is a top-10 player in this class thanks to his contact balance, burst, vision and ability to carry a heavy workload. Jeanty reminds me of Saints running back Alvin Kamara.

Round 2: None

Round 3: None

Round 4: None

Round 5: None

Round 6: DE Ahmed Hassanein

Round 7: OT Kage Casey*

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First-round matchup: Bye (will play the Texas-Clemson winner in the Peach Bowl)
FPI chances to win national title: 1.8%

Round 1: None

Round 2: None

Round 3: None

Round 4: RB Cam Skattebo

Skattebo has been great for the Sun Devils, with 1,568 rushing yards and 19 touchdowns this season plus 37 receptions and three receiving scores. He has played his best against Arizona State’s top opponents, rushing for three touchdowns against BYU on Nov. 23 and getting three scores in the Big 12 title game against Iowa State. The 5-11, 215-pound Skattebo doesn’t have great speed but is second in the nation with 61 broken tackles. If he can show more runaway speed in the CFP to go with his power, perhaps he can rise into the Day 2 conversation.

Round 5: None

Round 6: S Shamari Simmons

Round 7: None

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First-round matchup: vs. Clemson (4 p.m. ET, Saturday, TNT/Max)
FPI chances to win national title: 24.0%

Round 1: OT Kelvin Banks Jr.*, CB Jahdae Barron, OT Cameron Williams*, WR Isaiah Bond*

Banks and Williams are both in the mix to be the first offensive tackle off the board. Banks won the Outland Trophy for best offensive lineman in the FBS, giving up one sack this season at left tackle with a pressure percentage of 0.3%. Williams is raw but loaded with potential at 6-6, 335 pounds. The right tackle reminds me a lot of Amarius Mims, whom the Bengals took with the No. 20 pick in 2024.

Barron was also an award winner, taking home the Jim Thorpe Trophy as the nation’s best defensive back. He started the season as a Day 3 prospect but improved his stock after proving he could play outside corner. Bond was held back by injuries in his quest to become Xavier Worthy‘s big-play replacement at Texas but has the start-stop speed and vertical-stretch ability of a Round 1 pick. He has 33 receptions for 532 yards and five touchdowns.

Round 2: DT Alfred Collins, QB Quinn Ewers*

Ewers was in the QB1 conversation before the season but has been plagued by injuries (oblique, ankle) and poor play, with indecisive pocket presence and a loss of velocity on passes. But Ewers flashes elite talent and has shown enough in three seasons at Texas that a team will value him a starting-caliber player with coachable upside. Collins admirably replaced 2024 second-round pick T’Vondre Sweat at defensive tackle; he has one sack but has been an anchor against the run, and his pocket-collapsing skills set up the rest of the defensive line.

Round 3: DE Trey Moore*, S Andrew Mukuba, TE Gunnar Helm

Moore, a UTSA transfer, was asked to be a run defender this season and has only 3.5 sacks, but scouts have told me that his pass-rush potential and 2023 production (14 sacks) make him a top-100 pick. Mukuba, who arrived from Clemson, has played himself from Day 3 to Round 3 after picking off four passes this season. And Helm leads the Longhorns with 49 receptions and elevated himself into the top 100 with improved agility and after-the-catch ability.

Round 4: DT Vernon Broughton, WR Matthew Golden*, C Jake Majors, S Michael Taaffe*

Round 5: DE Barryn Sorrell

Round 6: LB David Gbenda

Round 7: G Hayden Conner

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First-round matchup: vs. SMU (noon ET, Saturday, TNT/Max)
FPI chances to win national title: 8.7%

Round 1: DE Abdul Carter*, TE Tyler Warren

Carter broke out this season after moving from inside linebacker to full-time edge rusher and is now the No. 2 player on my board. He has been compared to Micah Parsons for good reason, as Carter has 10 sacks and showed weekly improvement on the edge. Warren is starting to get Brock Bowers comparisons after a dominant season in which he led Penn State with 88 receptions for 1,062 yards and six touchdowns (and also rushed for four scores). One more note: Quarterback Drew Allar would have been in this range, but he announced Monday he would return for his senior season.

Round 2: S Kevin Winston Jr.*

Winston hasn’t played since tearing his ACL in Week 2 against Bowling Green and is not available for the playoff. He was off to a hot start, posting 12 tackles and forcing a fumble in a Week 1 victory over West Virginia. He was flirting with Round 1 buzz entering the season after recording 60 tackles, five pass breakups and an interception in 2023. Winston has top-50 talent, but his medical evaluation at the combine will be key.

Round 3: None

Round 4: RB Nicholas Singleton*, S Jaylen Reed, LB Kobe King*, DE Dani Dennis-Sutton*

Round 5: DT Zane Durant*

Round 6: None

Round 7: G Sal Wormley

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First-round matchup: vs. Indiana (8 p.m. ET, Friday, ABC/ESPN)
FPI chances to win national title: 15.9%

Round 1: CB Benjamin Morrison*

Morrison was the No. 2 cornerback on my board before going down because of a torn hip labrum on Oct. 12, which ended his season. At 6-foot, 190 pounds with excellent ball skills, Morrison has nine interceptions in two-plus seasons. His injury will be vetted thoroughly by doctors given the potential impact to his short-area quickness, but Morrison has first-round tape.

Round 2: None

Round 3: S Xavier Watts

Watts is a difference-maker at safety, posting five interceptions this season — one of which he took 100 yards for a touchdown — along with 50 tackles and eight passes defensed. Watts won the Bronko Nagurski Trophy as the nation’s best defensive player in 2023 after intercepting seven passes.

Round 4: TE Mitchell Evans

Round 5: QB Riley Leonard, LB Jack Kiser

Round 6: DT Howard Cross III, WR Beaux Collins, S Jordan Clark

Round 7: DT Rylie Mills

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First-round matchup: vs. Tennessee (8 p.m. ET, Saturday, ABC/ESPN)
FPI chances to win national title: 11.8%

Round 1: DE Jack Sawyer, WR Emeka Egbuka, DT Tyleik Williams, OT Josh Simmons

Egbuka is the latest in a long line of first-round Buckeyes receivers, as he bounced back from an injury-filled 2023 season to lead the team with 60 receptions and has scored nine touchdowns. He’s an ideal NFL WR2 who runs a nasty slant route and can make an impact as a punt returner. Simmons would have been in the mix for OT1 if he had stayed healthy, but he tore the PCL in his left knee on Oct. 12 against Oregon and will be sidelined for the playoff. He should be in the first-round mix if his knee recovers as expected.

Sawyer and Williams anchor an impressive defensive line, and each possess a special combination of speed and power that make life difficult for opposing offensive linemen. Sawyer has 4.5 sacks and a goal-line interception against Michigan, and Williams overcame an early injury to pick up 2.5 sacks. He capped his regular season with a dominant effort against the Wolverines as well. Both D-linemen are upside prospects who scouts feel have the individual ability to make it into Round 1.

Round 2: DE JT Tuimoloau, CB Davison Igbinosun*, RB Quinshon Judkins*, G Donovan Jackson

Tuimoloau has had his most complete season, leading the Buckeyes with six sacks. Scouts still want to see more consistency, but he has the tools and upside to possibly sneak into the first round. Igbinosun is a long, rangy cornerback (6-2, 193 pounds) who is tied for the team lead with two interceptions. Judkins leads Ohio State with 805 rushing yards and eight touchdowns. And Jackson is a mauler who projects at guard but showed versatility this season by playing some left tackle when injuries hit the OSU front.

Round 3: CB Denzel Burke, RB TreVeyon Henderson

Burke came into the season with first-round buzz but has struggled a bit, giving up completions on 77.4% of the targets in his coverage. He does have inside-outside versatility in coverage that appeals to scouts, though. Henderson projects as an NFL starter, as he has 751 yards and six touchdowns rushing while catching another 19 passes despite sharing time with Judkins.

Round 4: S Lathan Ransom, LB Cody Simon

Round 5: DT Ty Hamilton

Round 6: CB Jordan Hancock

Round 7: LB Sonny Styles*, QB Will Howard, OT Josh Fryar

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First-round matchup: at Ohio State (8 p.m. ET, Saturday, ABC/ESPN)
FPI chances to win national title: 3.6%

Round 1: DE James Pearce Jr.*

No one has been better than Pearce in creating pressure off the edge this season, as the junior affected quarterbacks on 19.8% of his snaps en route to 7.5 sacks. Most scouts I’ve talked to say that Pearce would have been the first lineman drafted this year, had he been eligible. He is a light edge player at 243 pounds, eliciting comparisons to the Giants’ Brian Burns. I have Pearce at No. 10 on my board, though opinions vary on whether he’s a top-15 player in this class.

Round 2: None

Round 3: RB Dylan Sampson*, DT Omarr Norman-Lott

Sampson has been one of the best running backs in the FBS this season, rushing for 1,485 yards and 22 touchdowns (and adding 19 receptions). He has averaged 5.8 yards per carry over the past two seasons and projects as a future NFL starter. Norman-Lott is the pacesetter for a deep Volunteers defensive line, registering four sacks and 18 pressures this season along with an interior pressure percentage of 14.5%

Round 4: WR Bru McCoy

Round 5: DT Omari Thomas

Round 6: WR Dont’e Thornton Jr., G Andrej Karic

Round 7: None

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First-round matchup: at Notre Dame (8 p.m. ET, Friday, ABC/ESPN)
FPI chances to win national title: 2.9%

Round 1: None

Round 2: None

Round 3: DE Mikail Kamara*

Kamara has a chance to become a household name in the playoff, as he flew under the radar despite posting 10 sacks, 53 pressures and three fumble recoveries. At 6-1, 265 pounds, Kamara has awesome natural leverage and lower-body power along with a quick first step. He will be a test for Notre Dame’s offensive line in Round 1.

Round 4: QB Kurtis Rourke

Round 5: None

Round 6: DT CJ West

Round 7: LB Jailin Walker, OT Trey Wedig

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First-round matchup: at Penn State (noon ET, Saturday, TNT/Max)
FPI chances to win national title: 2.5%

Round 1: None

Round 2: None

Round 3: None

Round 4: S Isaiah Nwokobia*

Nwokobia’s stock is rising, as he’s now in the early Day 3 range after giving up only 11 completions for 92 yards in coverage this season. He also had three interceptions and five pass breakups. The 6-1, 193-pound junior has been SMU’s best defensive player and could still rise into Day 2 consideration with a great showing in the playoff.

Round 5: RB Brashard Smith

Round 6: None

Round 7: DE Elijah Roberts, DT Jared Harrison-Hunte, G Logan Parr

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First-round matchup: at Texas (4 p.m. ET, Saturday, TNT/Max)
FPI chances to win national title: 1.5%

Round 1: None

Round 2: LB Barrett Carter

Carter has been talked about in scouting circles for three seasons, as many expected him to enter the 2024 draft. But he returned and now leads the Tigers with 76 tackles. He also has 3.5 sacks, showing off the versatility that has him in the top 50 on my board. He has 12.5 sacks over the past three seasons and displays the ideal build and movement ability to be an NFL weakside linebacker.

Round 3: OT Blake Miller*

Miller has started 40 games in three seasons and is having his best campaign, as he has given up only three sacks and been called for one penalty. The 6-6, 315-pound junior is versatile, starting two games at left tackle when needed, but he projects as a starting-caliber right tackle in the NFL. Miller will be tested by a tough Texas defensive line and could see his stock rise with a good showing.

Round 4: None

Round 5: None

Round 6: TE Jake Briningstool, DT DeMonte Capehart

Round 7: G Walker Parks, G Marcus Tate, RB Phil Mafah, CB R.J. Mickens