About USA TODAY Sports' 30 Days to the NFL draft series, which started March 25: Every five days, we will focus on a unique aspect of the 2025 draft, which is April 24-26.
We hear about the quarterbacks in the 2025 NFL draft. Then again, we always hear about the quarterbacks: Cam Ward,Shedeur Sanders,Jaxson Dart, among others. Everything revolves around them. Like planets orbiting a giant star. Or something like that.
But there's one thing you should pay attention to with this draft. The quarterbacks will be the show but Penn State's Abdul Carter is a player to watch closely. Really, really closely.
Many mock drafts have Carter going second overall to the Cleveland Browns. That's the most logical scenario.
However, I'm hearing from people I trust in the league who are seeing a potentially different picture emerging. There's a view we could see some type of gold rush moment where several teams (or maybe more than several) try to trade with the Browns into that second spot to get Carter.
This isn't totally shocking and also not some type of hardcore insider reporting. The point some are making is that teams have been far more impressed with Carter than maybe the rest of us understand, and while we've focused on the quarterbacks, several teams are focusing on Carter.
Stuff I'm hearing about Carter: Best athlete in the draft... Titans, with the first pick, seriously considering taking him... Ten years from now, when everyone looks back to evaluate this draft, he will be viewed as its best player... Teams are considering offering a bevy of picks to move up and get him... Teams like his personality... Coaches that have met him, love him. On and on it goes.
You never fully understand what's true and not when it comes to the draft. Some things are solid. Some are lies. Some are neatly engineered pieces of misinformation designed to throw teams off various trails.
Eventually, however, small pieces of ...
