Draft Stock Report: Risers and Fallers After the Combine – 2025 NFL Draft
The 2025 NFL Scouting Combine has concluded, leaving a significant impact on the draft prospects of numerous athletes. Held at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, the combine provided a crucial platform for players to showcase their skills, athleticism, and potential to NFL teams. While some players solidified their positions and even boosted their draft stock, others faced setbacks that could affect their draft prospects. Let’s delve into the risers and fallers following the combine.
Quarterbacks
Tyler Shough (Louisville): Shough had a strong pre-draft process, posting an impressive 9.53 RAS (Relative Athletic Score) at 6-foot-5 and 219 pounds, including a superb 4.63 forty. Shough followed that up with a strong throwing session. A former top recruit, Shough is coming off a strong final season—88.5 PFF grade—at Louisville. The biggest questions on his evaluation are his advanced age—Shough will turn 26 in September—and his seventh-year breakout in college, along with durability concerns following three injury-ravaged seasons at Texas Tech.
Brady Cook (Missouri): Cook entered the combine as a potential undrafted prospect but turned heads with both his throwing performance and athletic testing. Cook posted elite marks in the 40-yard dash (4.59 seconds), vertical jump (37 inches) and broad jump (10-foot-8), likely securing a draft selection.
Will Howard (Ohio State): Howard was inconsistent on his intermediate-to-deep balls and never got comfortable during his portion of throwing drills. Howard may not have completed a single downfield throw in stride, and was way off the mark on the majority of his deep tosses. His 3.3% turnover worthy play rate is nearly tied with the quarterback he replaced at OSU, Kyle McCord, for the highest rate in the 2025 QB class, so he needed to show more consistency than he displayed at the Combine in order to quell some of the concerns scouts have about his ability to lead a NFL offense.
Running Backs
Bhayshul Tuten (Virginia Tech): Tuten was banged up for a good portion of the 2024 season but has solidified his NFL caliber traits by crushing the RB group with a 4.32s 40-time (99th%), with Jaydon Blue finishing a distant 2nd with a 4.38s 40. He also paced the rushers with a 1.49s 10-yard split, while being the only running back to clear 40” in the Vert with an impressive 40.5” jump. Toss in a rock solid 98th percentile 10’10” broad jump and there was a lot to like from Tuten’s Combine testing.
RJ Harvey (UCF): Harvey was one of my favorite under-the-radar running backs of the last two years in regard to his NFL Draft potential. His 91.1 PFF run grade in 2023 and 89.5 run grade last year put him in elite company with Omarion Hampton, TreVeyon Henderson and Ashton Jeanty as 2025 draftees who have eclipsed the 89th% in both campaigns. He ran a 4.40s 40-yard dash (97th%), with a 10’7” Vert (95th%) and 38” Broad Jump (91st%) to pump some air into Harvey’s draft stock. He also threw up 16 reps of 225 pounds in order to back up the 143 tackles he broke over the last two years and 3.9 YAC from 2024.
DJ Giddens (Kansas State): Giddens opened eyes with a 4.43 forty, which finished tied for No. 2 amongst RBs—behind Tuten—with a 1.51 10-yard split. Judkins’ 38.5-inch vertical finished top five amongst RBs at the event. Judkins’ 11-foot broad jump was tops at the position, edging Tuten, North Carolina’s Omarion Hampton, and Kansas State’s DJ Giddens (who tied for second at 10-foot-10). Judkins’ floor now appears to be mid-Round 2.
Devin Neal (Kansas): As with Bond, Devin Neal mostly lands on this list for failing to live up to high expectations.
Kaleb Johnson (Iowa): Johnson ran slower than expected. Were these numbers rough? Yeah, it wasn’t great, but for a back his size, I’m not crushing Johnson. He still hit 22.2 MPH and had the sixth-best max acceleration, per NFL Next Gen Stats. For a big back, these numbers aren’t a coffin nail, but they could make the difference between Johnson hearing his name called in round one of the NFL Draft or Day 2.
Wide Receivers
Matthew Golden (Texas): Golden turned heads at the Combine, running a 4.29-second 40-yard dash to lead all receivers and placing second among all prospects in this year’s class. The last three months have been incredibly kind to the Houston transfer, as he’s gone from a consensus fourth-round prospect in January to a projected top-20 pick now. Golden’s 96th percentile receiving grade (75.6) in 2024 underscores someone who probably should have been ranked higher all along.
Jayden Higgins (Iowa State): Higgins also posted some of the most impressive height/weight adjusted numbers from the WR group. At 6’041” and 214 pounds, the Cyclones’ deep threat ran a blistering 4.47s 40-yard dash (83rd%) to go with a 39” vertical and 10’08” broad jump, which rank in the 93rd percentile.
Dont’e Thornton Jr. (Tennessee): Thornton had a statement performance in Indianapolis. He became the first receiver taller than 6-foot-4 since 2003 to run a 4.35 or faster at the NFL Combine, according to Locked On Cowboys’ Marcus Mosher. The 6-foot-5, 205-pounder leaves Indianapolis with a sublime 9.83 RAS. Thornton profiles as a Marquez Valdes-Scantling.
Isaiah Bond (Texas): Bond’s draft stock took an early hit at the combine, where he ran a 4.39-second 40-yard dash after telling reporters he planned to break Xavier Worthy’s 4.21 record.
Tez Johnson (Oregon): At just 154 pounds, he became the lightest player measured at the combine since 1999. Unfortunately, his 4.51-second 40-yard dash — which ranks in the 51st percentile among wide receivers — did little to ease concerns about his size-speed combination.
Tight Ends
Terrance Ferguson (Oregon): The 6-foot-5, 247-pound Ferguson stole the show on Friday night during tight end testing. Ferguson’s 4.63 forty, 1.55 split, and 39-inch vertical were all tops amongst the TE group. His 10’02” broad finished No. 3. Ferguson split his time between inline and slot the past few seasons at Oregon.
Gunnar Helm (Texas): The second Texas player to make this list, Gunnar Helm unfortunately had a rough showing when tight ends took the field on Friday. Helm’s testing didn’t grade out as well as some hoped it would, but there was a reason for that. The Texas tight end twisted his ankle on a false start during the 40-yard dash, according to NFL Media. Helm ran the third-slowest 40 among tight ends (4.84) and he had the worst
Offensive Linemen
Armand Membou (Missouri): Membou was considered a fringe first-rounder at the end of January. Membou’s 6-foot-4 frame is slightly undersized compared to consensus top tackle Will Campbell, but his athleticism has vaulted him up draft boards. At the NFL Combine, Membou led all offensive tackles with a 4.91-second 40-yard dash, a 9-foot-7 broad jump, and 31 bench press reps. This combination of solid size, elite movement skills, and strong in-game film has pushed Membou into top-10 consideration come Thursday.
Tyler Booker (Alabama): Booker entered the combine looking to solidify a first-round spot but fell short of that goal. His 7-foot-10 broad jump ranked in just the 14th percentile among guards, and his numbers in other key drills were also underwhelming. His 5.38-second 40-yard dash, 7.96-second three-cone, 4.84-second short shuttle, and 27-inch vertical all placed below the 45th percentile. Perhaps the biggest red flag was his unofficial 1.96-second 10-yard split—a mark that, if confirmed, would tie for the third-slowest by a guard in combine history.
Will Campbell (LSU): Campbell’s lack of length is one of the main talking points from this combine. And it should be. His film is pretty darn clean (but not flawless). He has guard length. That’s all there is to it. As a tester, Campbell is an elite-level athlete. He was one of the five offensive linemen to eclipse the 5.00 mark in the 40-yard dash, and his 9-foot, 5-inch broad jump lands in the 91st percentile at the tackle position.
Defensive Linemen/Edge Rushers
Shemar Stewart (Texas A&M): Stewart displayed elite explosiveness for an edge defender, posting a 98th-percentile broad jump (10-foot-11) and a 96th-percentile vertical jump (40 inches). He also ran an impressive 4.59-second 40-yard dash — a strong time for someone measuring 6-foot-5, 267 pounds with elite 34 ⅛-inch arm length. While his production at Texas A&M wasn’t dominant (67.2 pass-rush grade in 2024), Stewart now looks like he could hear his name called in the top 10.
James Pearce Jr. (Tennessee): The only part of Pearce’s combine that perplexes me … his 31-inch vertical. Everything else he did exuded explosiveness. At over 6-5 and 245 pounds, he ran 4.47 (what?!) that featured a scintillating 1.56 10-yard split. The latter ranks in the 93rd percentile among edge rushers. Lastly, his arms were over 32 inches.
Defensive Backs
Maxwell Hairston (Kentucky): Hairston stole the show by clocking the event’s fastest 40-yard dash at a blistering 4.28 seconds, coupled with a 39.5-inch vertical jump and 10-foot-9 broad jump – elite marks that have evaluators rethinking his draft positioning. Hairston’s remarkable speed crowned him as the fastest performer at this year’s combine, surpassing even the highly touted wide receivers.
Nick Emmanwori (South Carolina): Emmanwori may have solidified himself as a first-round pick with his performance in Indianapolis. He’s built like a linebacker at 6-foot-3 and 220 pounds, but he moves like a cornerback. He ran an impressive 4.38-second 40-yard dash, ranking in the 96th percentile among safeties. His explosiveness was on full display as well, with a 43-inch vertical and an 11-foot-6 broad jump — both in the 98th percentile.
Darien Porter (Iowa State): He blazed a 4.30-second 40-yard dash, ranking in the 98th percentile among cornerbacks. His explosiveness was just as impressive, with a 10-foot-11 broad jump (91st percentile) and a 1.49-second 10-yard split (90th percentile). Porter also excelled in agility drills. His 6.71-second three-cone time landed in the 88th percentile, while his 4.04-second short shuttle placed him in the 80th percentile. With his combination of size and elite athletic traits, Porter profiles as one of the top press corners in this class and likely locked up a Day 2 selection in the draft.
Malaki Starks (Georgia): Another reason Emmanwori could overtake Starks as the top safety in the draft is that Starks delivered just an average performance at the combine. He checked in at only 197 pounds, placing him in the 15th percentile for the position. He then struggled in agility drills, posting a 4.45-second short shuttle (sixth percentile) and a 7.26-second three-cone (ninth percentile). His 33-inch vertical jump also ranked low, landing in the 19th percentile among safeties.
The NFL Combine serves as a crucial evaluation event, providing teams with valuable data and insights into the potential of draft prospects. While on-field performance remains paramount, the combine offers a platform for players to showcase their athleticism, character, and readiness for the next level. As the 2025 NFL Draft approaches, these risers and fallers will undoubtedly be closely monitored as teams make their final decisions.