The Blueprint for a Top NFL Draft Pick
The 2025 NFL draft is now complete! Over seven rounds, college football draft prospects had their hopes met, exceeded or sometimes dashed. As the 1st round unfolded, I found myself asking some key questions; what sets apart a top NFL Draft Pick from the rest? What factors could help some players rise up or tumble-down Teams’ draft boards? What is the Blueprint for a Top NFL Draft pick and how much of that success is within a player’s control?
Cam Ward’s Ascent
I watched as Cam Ward walked to the stage to receive his Tennessee Titans jersey and the honour of being the 1st pick in the draft. Cam has had an amazing journey through college football after coming out of high school unranked. He built a college football career from Incarnate Word in the FCS, through Washington State and Miami in the ACC. He truly had to graft his way through the college ranks.
I saw the below post contrasting Cam Ward (unranked in high school) and DJ Uiagalelei (5* ranked). DJ’s career has not hit the heights he or many would have hoped for. He was not picked up in the draft and signed as an undrafted free agent with the Los Angeles Chargers.
This led me to wonder what factors supercharged Cam Ward’s success, given his weaker starting point? How much did coaching and environment have to do with it? The inverse question could be applied to DJ Uiagalelei.
As an aside, I know some of my readers are very new to college football. To help with the basics, I have provided a breakdown at the foot of this article.
A Blueprint – key attributes for a Top NFL Draft Pick
In 2025, 257 college prospects were selected across seven rounds, representing the best of college football. But what separates a first-round pick from someone picked later, or not at all?
Given that the statistically weaker teams get to draft first, the early picks will largely be influenced by two factors: 1) filling a positional need with the best player available at that position or 2) strategically using their high draft pick to select the best player available at that time.
In terms of the best player at any one time, teams focus on specific factors that can indicate future NFL success. The below are a list of the most influential factors that form the blueprint for a top NFL draft pick:
- Elite Physical Traits: Size/speed/strength/explosiveness (tested through things like the 40-yard dash, vertical leap, bench press etc).
- Robust Health and Durability: Injury history and any medical red flags
- Strong Football IQ: Understanding schemes and play recognition etc.
- Exemplary Character: Clean off-field conduct, strong work ethic, and leadership qualities
- Track Record of High-Level College Production: Consistent delivery in games for a top team, especially in a Power Four conference.
- Strong Upside/Potential: Is a player considered to have a high ceiling with the ability to be elite.
- Positional Value and Team Needs: Dependant on the positions that teams might value at any particular moment in time. i.e. a franchise Quarterback, skill position or depth player.
Teams will make assessments against these factors through team visits (players visit team headquarters), pro days (teams visits schools), the NFL combine. Visits will consist of interviews and live drills/exercises and this allows teams to test many of these factors.
The Blueprint in practice
The above list is not exhaustive but it does highlight common factors that often feature in the drafting process.
Also, certain elements will be more important than others depending on the position and role. For example, when drafting a starting quarterback in round 1, you are likely to value his ability to lead a room and be the centre of things. However, if you are drafting a backup in the later rounds, someone who can fit into his surroundings and support others would be more suitable. This might explain why players such as Cam Newton do not make great backups as it doesn’t fit their personalities. It could also explain some of Shadeur Sanders’ slide in this year’s draft.
The role of Environment and Conference Strength
An interesting question is how influential is the school or conference on a player’s prospects for the draft? When you look at the conferences represented in the draft we get the following breakdown:
Cam Ward played for Miami in the ACC in his final season. The ACC may not be the powerhouse that the SEC or Big Ten are, but Miami does have a prestigious reputation as a football programme. It is a well-structured and high-profile place to play football which attracts eyeballs. The move to Miami certainly elevated his draft value.
Clearly the Big Ten and SEC dominate the list which is reflective on their dominance in College Football. This highlights the importance of playing on a strong team in a strong conference for your draft prospects. This should not be a surprise as the dominant conferences play the most competitive football, leading to the best production and normally supported by the best coaches.
All is not lost however, if you can set yourself apart from your peers in another conference. Ashton Jeanty shining at Boise St in the Mountain West conference is a great example of this.
Controlling the Controllables
For any individual player, what factors are actually under their control? Clearly you can’t grow a couple of inches or materially change your athleticism. But a player can maximise the tools available to them in their physical attributes, study the game to improve football IQ and perform on the field to produce good tape for scouts. This skill-development is something that starts in high school.
The Importance of Health
Keeping out of the injury room is also vital for your draft prospects. Injury concerns can reduce your draft prospects materially. Will Johnson was a good example of this as there were concerns about historic injuries leading up to the draft. A hamstring issue impacted his appearance at the Michigan pro day and he ended up sliding from the 1st to the 2nd round.
Applying the Blueprint: Cam Ward
In the case of Cam Ward, his story arc seems to peak perfectly. Overcoming the adversity of being unranked at an FCS school to rise through Washington St and Miami (outperforming at each stop), helped him demonstrate all of character traits teams are looking for. He is also of a sufficient size and build to prosper in the role of Quarterback in the NFL. He utilised his character strengths and worked hard to bring together his physical attributes which culminated in playing in for a high-profile team which helped bring the best out of him.
Final Thoughts
Outside of the early round rush for starters, teams are looking to fill backup slots or invest in talent for the future. Therefore, a mixture of the factors in the blueprint will be considered. Not every college draft prospect is a Cam Ward, and players must maximise their attributes as best they can.
In the era of the transfer portal, it is easier to move to a better conference and we see more players moving from school to school. They can benefit from better coaching, better facilities and playing with better players – all of which will develop their draft stock. Cam seems to have greatly benefited from the transfer portal.
There are two sides to this argument however as the disruption of the transfer can hamper development and lead to questions around ability to gel with teammates, but for some it is worth the risk.
The path to being a top NFL Draft pick is a rocky one. Following the blueprint is one thing but luck also plays its part.
*Basics of the NFL Draft for new fans
For those of you that are new to the sport, the NFL draft is the mechanism by which college players primarily enter the professional level of American Football – the NFL. A college athlete, once he is eligible, can register himself to enter the draft process.
After a number of events to allow teams to scout players has taken place, we get to NFL Draft Weekend where each team takes it in turn to select players. The team with the worst record from the previous year gets to draft first and then all teams in sequence of previous year record.
As the draft will influence a team’s squad and future success, the draft is obviously a very big deal. Many hours are dedicated by teams to scouting and preparing a strategy for who to pick. The industry prepares draft rankings on various players so heading up to the day we have an idea of who the strongest players are who are likely to be picked first.
In theory, every team picks once in the first round and in subsequent rounds up to round 7. However, teams can trade picks to move up or down the order.
