Tradin’ on down … or tryin’ … With just a week to go until the picks start coming off the board for real at the 2025 draft, all 32 teams still have their first round picks. And that’s for the first time in the history of the modern draft which dates back in to the late 1960s. There also isn’t a whole of buzz these days about possible trades. However, we do know that there are several teams that are thought to be keen on trading down in next week’s opening round to stockpile more picks. New England, for example, would be more than happy to stay put with the 4th pick overall if one or both of Travis Hunter and/or Abdul Carter were still on the board. The odds of that, though, are probably less than 50-50 and in a scenario where neither were available at #4, the Patriots are expected to switch their attention to OT, most likely one of Will Campbell or Armand Membou. Neither, though, are thought to be graded quite that high, such that it would make sense for New England to move down several spots where taking one of the tackles would make mores sense. At the same time, Carolina has made no secret of their desire to move down for the 8th pick; indeed, Panthers’ GM Dan Morgan suggested, perhaps somewhat in jest, that any team that wanted to jump New Orleans, which has the next selection, to grab Shedeur sanders should give him a call. Dallas has also hinted at some interest in moving off the 12th pick. Same for Atlanta, which has only 5 picks in total in this year’s draft, including just 3 before the 7th round, and haven’t been shy about a desire to add some picks. And it would appear to be the same story for Minnesota, which picks 24th, but has only 3 other picks all told. Of course, nobody can trade down unless someone is willing to trade up in return so we’ll see but the possibility of some late first-round moves would certainly appear to be very possible.
