Every NFL draft class features players who drip with high-end potential but also drag with low-floor downsides. The promise of greatness, balanced with the trepidation of calamitous inability to make it work in the NFL, makes certain prospects equal parts titillating and terrifying.
Or, to put it more simply, with great risk comes the potential of great reward…or abject failure that talk radio hosts and social media gadflies will never let anyone forget.
Draft Wire colleague Scott DiBenedetto touched on some of these prospects recently in his “prospects who scare me” piece. Scott is right; prospects with high ceilings but low floors should scare teams as much as they tantalize them.
There are a few prospects in 2025 who have All-Pro ceilings but also floors of scrambling to get to the end of their rookie deals with the team that drafts them this week.
Jalon Walker, OLB, Georgia
Walker is a talent in search of a position. He’s a natural pass-rushing EDGE in the body of a MIKE backer; the body type doesn’t match the skills for the next level. At 6-foot-1 and 243 pounds with 32-inch arms, Walker is about the same size as longtime NFL off-ball backer Bobby Wagner. Yet he was far and away at his best at Georgia lining up at EDGE and going after the quarterback.
As an off-ball backer, where he spent considerable time in 2024, Walker sorely lacks instincts and really struggles to get off blocks. His skills there remind me more than a little of former Lions first-round bust Jarrad Davis. Walker proved to be a dynamic EDGE when Georgia played him there, but he’s very small and somewhat linear to have the same kind of success in the NFL he had against Texas (4 sacks and 13 pressures in 2 games). There is some concern he simply had Texas’s number; in 12 other games last fall, Walker managed just three sacks and 21 pressures.
Walker won’t fail from lack of trying or being a poor teammate; everyone raves about his football character. In the right situation, Walker could emerge as a reasonable facsimile of All-Pro Clay Matthews III, though he dramatically lacks the size and play strength Matthews brought to Green Bay. And that’s what makes Walker so risky as a top-20 pick.
Cam Ward, QB, Miami
The presumptive first pick in the draft definitely qualifies here.
Turnover-worthy plays were an issue for Ward throughout his college career, which spanned from Incarnate Word to Washington State and then Miami. The scary part here is that Ward’s rate of turnover-worthy plays and decision-making when under pressure looks the same now as it did when he arrived at Washington State three summers ago. It arguably worsened once Miami hit the heart of the ACC conference schedule.
Ward’s game against Duke is a good microcosm for why he’s simultaneously tantalizing and terrifying as a prospect. The box score numbers are phenomenal: 25-of-41, 400 yards, 5 TDs, 1 INT. Yet he missed three or four wide-open targets because pressure impacted his vision. Duke dropped what should have been a sure INT, too.
Ward is at his best when plays break down, using his strong arm and derring-do to create big plays outside of structure. He’s less successful when tasked with winning from the pocket and having to lead a 10-play, 69-yard drive of taking what the defense gives him. That description fits both Brett Favre and Zach Wilson. Ward could (could!) become either end of that spectrum.
Will Johnson, CB, Michigan
Johnson might be the best playmaking cornerback in the draft. I was in the stands for one of his two pick-sixes in 2024, a glorious example of baiting a QB (USC–now Louisville–Miller Moss) into what looked like an open target that Johnson quickly turned into six points the other way. With his outstanding break and “my ball” attitude, Johnson has struck legitimate fear in opposing offenses, particularly on shorter routes.
Alas, there are issues. Later in that USC game, Johnson left with a shoulder injury suffered while making a tackle. After missing a week, Johnson’s season ended two games later with a toe injury that required surgery. At the combine, Johnson admitted he tore ligaments (plural) in the toe. He still isn’t capable of running a 40-yard dash.
That’s a dangerous status for a cornerback who relies on playmaking more than being a blanket cover guy. He tends to cede a lot of room underneath, allowing completions and deterring them more by the threat of INT than lockdown coverage skills. His deep speed has never been great, though it wasn’t tested often. That profile resembles Trevon Diggs of the Cowboys, an exceptional ballhawk who is also going to get beaten for big plays. Johnson has the mental toughness to be better than the two-time Pro Bowler Diggs has been, but the injuries lower his floor considerably, too.
Luther Burden, WR, Missouri
Burden entered the 2024 college season ensconced as a top-10 fixture in preseason mock drafts. He was a lethal weapon over the middle in Missouri’s offense, a YAC monster dripping with speed and intensity. And while Burden wasn’t bad in 2024–he still earned first-team All-SEC honors–the dynamism just wasn’t there. Missouri’s offense didn’t play as well to his strengths, but the results when Burden got the ball in his hands weren’t as great, either.
As a result, Burden is a tough player to slot in the 2025 NFL Draft. He’s primarily a slot receiver but has shown he can operate outside against more passive coverages. More physical coverage and crowded areas in the middle of the field are challenges Burden must prove he can handle. His competitive enthusiasm appeared to wane when he wasn’t getting the ball as advantageously, and that bears watching for NFL teams interested in a wideout who could be the next Amon-Ra St. Brown or the next Laviska Shenault (in a smaller package).
Nic Scourton, EDGE, Texas A&M
Scourton’s Aggie teammate, Shemar Stewart, is often this class’ poster boy for boom/bust prospects, but the one-time Big Ten sack champ fits in those shoes, too.
Scourton posted 10 sacks in 2023, his final season at Purdue. His physicality and diversity of pass-rush moves while playing in the 260-pound range made Scourton very difficult to block. Scourton transferred to Texas A&M, gained about 20 pounds and became a whole lot easier to block, with little ability to shed off those blocks.
To put it in simple terms, the 2023 Purdue version of Scourton would be worthy of a top-20 pick in this draft. The 2024 Aggie version is a marginal Day 2 talent.
Scourton dropped down to 257 for athletic testing purposes, though he didn’t actually test at the combine or pro day. At 6-2 and with a 33-inch arm length, he’s undersized to be a prototypical hand-in-dirt DE. His run defense at both colleges was nothing more than average. The natural inclination would be to bulk him up, but that saps what makes Scourton special as a pass rusher. He doesn’t turn 21 until August, meaning he’s simultaneously got growth ability for his game (good) or body (bad). Caveat draftor…
This article originally appeared on Draft Wire: 2025 NFL Draft: Biggest boom-bust prospects