2025 NFL Draft: Harold Fannin Jr., Mason Taylor, Terrance Ferguson

This past weekend, the Underwear Olympics (aka the NFL Scouting Combine) took place in Indianapolis, allowing some of the top college prospects from around the country to shine in front of NFL brass.

Casual fans may be dismissive of the event, thinking it doesn’t fully capture what the players have put on tape, but NFL executives use this time to conduct interviews and make subtle changes in their draft board, allowing movement from key performances (or duds).

Though some of the top talent passed on performing individual drills in favor of their collegiate Pro Days instead, several players took this opportunity to shine and perhaps bumped their stock up from a Day 3 selection to Day 2, or vice versa.

2025 NFL Combine Winners & Losers

The 2025 draft class is highlighted by outstanding depth along the defensive line and running back, but each position revealed a few gems (or lumps of coal) this past weekend. Here are my thoughts on some of the players that made the most of their spotlight, and others that failed to seize the moment.

Derek Brown and Andrew Erickson were live on location for the combine and shared their biggest draft risers and fallers at quarterback, running back wide receiver and tight end.

NFL Combine Winners: Tight Ends

Terrance Ferguson (TE – Oregon)

Terrance Ferguson’s 4.63 40-yard dash time surpassed my expectations, along with his 39-inch vertical jump and 10’2″ broad jump. Used primarily as a short-to-intermediate yards pass-catcher at Oregon, Ferguson excelled during the gauntlet drill, catching multiple passes without breaking stride or losing any speed in his transition upfield.

I still believe he has plenty of areas of improvement before he makes a fantasy impact, most notably his poor blocking in the running game and mediocre contested catch rate. Those aspects aside, a team might be willing to take a chance on him as a backup option with upside in a pass-heavy offense.

Mason Taylor (TE – LSU)

Even though Mason Taylor didn’t participate during the metric events, he took the field during passing drills and beat up on “Fred the Sled.” His athleticism is noticeable at first glance. For a 6-foot-5, 250-pound athlete, Taylor moves with exceptionally quick feet and grace. I’d be remiss to note he is the son of Hall of Fame defensive end Jason Taylor and nephew of linebacker Zach Thomas, so his football genetics are certainly favorable.

Taylor’s concentration and soft hands were fantastic during the gauntlet drill, where he ran straight as an arrow. I’m excited to see what sort of numbers he puts up during his Pro Day, which is right around the corner.

NFL Combine Losers: Tight Ends

NFL Fans

Call me slightly bitter about this one, but I wanted to see Tyler Warren (Penn State), Colston Loveland (Michigan) and Elijah Arroyo (Miami) participating in drills. Just as top prospects have begun to skip their bowl games in anticipation of the NFL Draft, there appears to be a growing trend of first-round talent foregoing the combine in favor of waiting several weeks for their Pro Days instead.

While I understand the underlying factors of allowing your body additional time to rest and recover, it detracts from the attention the Combine desperately needs. The 2025 tight end draft class is deep. I enjoyed watching Mitchell Evans (Notre Dame) and Harold Fannin Jr. (Bowling Green), but the absence of the top players was noticeably felt.