Anonymous coaches and prospect evaluators from across the league spoke to The Athletic about the 2025 draft class, and time and again, Jeanty’s pass protection was raised as a major issue for an otherwise stellar running back prospect. A running backs coach told The Athletic that Jeanty’s “contact balance, elusiveness, acceleration, competitiveness all jump out at you off the tape,” but that “his pass protection is bad. That bothers me right there.” An offensive coordinator said, “I think he’s a little liability in pass protection, and I don’t know how flat-out fast he is.” Pro Football Focus in 2024 graded Jeanty 112th out of 148 qualifying running backs in pass protection. Jeanty, who rushed for nearly 4,000 yards and 33 touchdowns over his final two seasons at Boise State, also earned PFF’s top overall grade among backs last year. He’s fully expected to go in the first five or six picks of the draft.

Pickens, who was traded from the Steelers to the Cowboys last week in exchange for draft pick compensation, won’t function as the primary wideout in Dallas. Pickens’ ability to challenge secondaries deep is something the Cowboys have “sorely missed” in recent seasons, Nguyen said. “In Pittsburgh, opposing defenses often doubled Pickens or shaded a safety to his side,” he said. “With the Cowboys, if defenses choose to put a safety over the top of Pickens, Lamb will have more space to work with in the middle of the field. You would expect teams to continue doubling Lamb, which means Pickens could see a huge uptick in one-on-one coverage.” Pickens, according to Nguyen, will only improve the Dallas passing attack if he gives consistent effort. The moody Pickens became widely known for taking plays off — and sometimes giving little effort for an entire game — during his three years with the Steelers. More single coverage, however, could mean more explosive plays for the new Cowboys WR2. In the Steelers’ run-first scheme last season, Pickens was third in targets of more than 20 yards downfield and second in receiving yards on downfield receptions. Pickens had just one drop on 30 downfield looks in 2024.

With just a 1.8 percent chance of success, Dallas leaped up in the lottery to nab the top pick in the 2025 draft. A little over three months after GM Nico Harrison traded away Luka Doncic, the Mavs will have a new young superstar to build around. Cooper Flagg is the expected top pick, and he will flawlessly fit Harrison’s mantra “defensive wins championships” that he has echoed tirelessly in every interview since trading Doncic. Assuming nothing changes, Flagg will join a loaded Dallas team that should be a contending team in the stacked Western Conference next season. San Antonio, Philadelphia and Charlotte round out the top four picks in a talented draft class.

Ramos was one of the few hitters who had any offensive success against Merrill Kelly in a game where the GIants were held to just one run by Kelly and the D-Backs’ bullpen. The three knocks ups his average to .290, and he’s been on fire in the month of May with a .400/.472/,800 slash over his 30 at-bats in that timeframe.