Meet the 6 top NFL Draft prospects with buyer beware tags

Each of these top prospects has a major flaw that increases their bust potential at the NFL level.

We don’t need to name names when it comes to prominent draft busts over time. We all know the guilty parties who flamed out spectacularly when it came time to make the NCAA-to-NFL transition, and this article really isn’t about that, anyway.

Because most of those big-time draft busts had issues above the neck that prevented them from reaching their athletic potential. What we’re doing here with the “buyer beware” traits of six big-time 2025 draft prospects is what NFL teams have to measure with every prospect, because no college player comes into the NFL fully-formed. There are always necessary tweaks to make, and even if those don’t quite work out, these non-fatal flaws might not prevent these guys from succeeding at the next level to greater or lesser degrees.

When it comes to the larger issues that need to be smoothed over, it’s less about beatitude, and more about the positional nuances that tend to separate the good from the great in the NFL.

With that, here are the caveat emptors for six highly prized prospects in the 2025 NFL Draft.

Shedeur Sanders, QB, Colorado

What’s the problem? Drifting in the pocket.

Last season, behind an offensive line that could charitably be characterized as really, really bad, Sanders was the FBS’s most-pressured quarterback. Per Pro Football Focus, Sanders was disrupted in some fashion on 204 of his 563 dropbacks in the 2024 season, and that’s no way to live from an offensive perspective.

It’s not that Sanders was statistically horrible under pressure – far from it. He completed 76 of 138 passes when pressured for 1,117 yards, 12 touchdowns, five interceptions, and a passer rating of 95.6, which was third-best in the FBS among quarterbacks who took at least 50% of their teams’ snaps behind Oregon’s Dillon Gabriel and Tulane’s Darian Mensah.

Sanders is a good thrower outside the pocket, despite the “unathletic” tag some have given him. Per Sports Info Solutions, he completed 56 of 89 passes outside the pocket last season for 715 yards, 369 air yards, seven touchdowns, two interceptions, and a passer rating of 104.8.

So everything would seem to be fine here. But there’s also the fact that Sanders took 23 sacks outside the pocket last season, by far the most in college football – Washington State’s John Mateer ranked second with 16.

It’s not uncommon for quarterbacks who are pressured pretty much all the time to develop counter-intuitive “strategies” to deal with it, and one such mitigation Sanders has developed is a tendency to drift in the pocket. That’s different than moving outside the pocket by design or desperation; drifting in the pocket means that the quarterback is floating away from pressure in ways that decrease his accuracy and velocity from a mechanical angle.

Quarterbacks can be cured of the drifting thing over time with good coaching, so it’s not a career death sentence. But it is something that Sanders’ NFL coaching staff will have to address right off the bat.

Cam Skattebo, RB, Arizona State

What’s the problem? Ball security.

In an uber-loaded running back class, where will Cam Skattebo be selected? If you’re into box-score scouting, Skattebo would seem to be a first-round pick. In 2024, he gained 1,712 yards – second in the FBS behind Ashton Jeanty’s 2,595 – and scored 21 touchdowns on 294 attempts. Skattebo also caught 44 passes on 52 targets for 543 yards and three touchdowns, so he checks the versatility boxes. Nobody will ever forget his epic performance against Texas in the Peach Bowl, when Skattebo did everything possible to win the game, though the Sun Devils lost, 39-21.

Skattebo does not possess top-end speed, but that’s not really a “buyer beware” thing, because everybody’s already aware of it. Despite that, he managed 21 runs of 15 or more yards last season.

The issue we’re dealing with here is Skattebo’s issues with ball security. Last season, he fumbled four times and had two easy dropped passes. In two seasons at Sacramento State and two more at the bigger school, Skattebo totaled 10 fumbles and five dropped passes. The fumbles can be said to be an outgrowth of his powerful, scattershot running style, and while that style is both attractive and productive, you can bet that at the NFL level, when defenders see Skattebo coming, they’ll be looking to “Peanut Punch” him into oblivion.

Tetairoa McMillan, WR, Arizona

What’s the problem? Drops.

At 6’4 and 219 pounds, Tetairoa McMillan is the most interesting contested-catch ball-winner in this draft class. Last season, the Arizona star had 39 contested targets among his 130 overall targets, and generally speaking, he was able to turn those 50/50 balls into 80/20 balls in his favor. 27 of his 39 contested targets were completions, and McMillan averaged 10.8 yards per reception when he did dominate at the catch point.

Despite his physical style and downfield speed that reminds some of Mike Evans, there is a boom-or-bust element to McMillan’s game, and that – oddly enough – comes from a tendency to drop the ball when he’s targeted on easier routes with designed openings. McMillan had nine drops last season, and while a few were the result of mis-timed throws to a point, it could also be argued that if you’re taking a receiver in the top 10 (which is where a lot of mock drafts have McMillan going), you want a receiver with a wider catch radius than you get when he’s standing still.

Focus drops, on the other hand, can be tough things to overcome. Some receivers can be coached out of them over time, but history tells us that generally speaking, once the pattern is there, it’s something that quarterbacks and coaches will have to deal with to a greater or lesser degree. Hopefully, McMillan is able to beat the odds on that at the next level.

Will Campbell, OT, LSU

What’s the problem? Leakage to either side.

Teams desire different attributes in offensive linemen, but no matter where you swing on the scale, and regardless of whether you think he should kick inside or not, you probably have a first-round grade on LSU offensive tackle Will Campbell. A starter from the moment he arrived on campus in 2022, Campbell has allowed just four sacks, 13 quarterback hits, and 32 quarterback pressures in 1,594 pass-blocking snaps in his estimable collegiate career.

One reason some NFL teams might prefer Campbell at guard is the measurables. At 6’5 ⅞ and 319 pounds, Campbell has a 77 ⅜-inch wingspan that is seventh percentile for all offensive linemen since 1999. His 32 ⅝-inch arm length is 21st percentile, and his 9 ½-inch hand size is 18th percentile.

Whether these things show up in the metrics or not as much as you’d expect them to, they do show up on tape. There were quite a few reps from last season, regardless of the caliber of edge rusher Campbell faced, where he allowed either speed pressure from his outside shoulder around the arc, or inside pressure on counters and stunts.

Kudos to Campbell for adapting with hand strength and foot movement, but this particular issue of allowing defenders to creep to the quarterback from either side of his body? Well, as we’re about to detail, most NCAA pass-rushers don’t have the technical awareness you get with edge disruptors in the NFL. And with that in mind, Campbell could find his “buyer beware” traits magnified in a negative sense when it’s time to suit up with the best the world has to offer.

Shemar Stewart, EDGE, Texas A&M

What’s the problem? The lack of a pass-rush plan.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned in almost 20 years of evaluating draft prospects, it’s that you have to project a lot of attributes when it comes to pass-rushers. Because what you see more often than not, and this is true for some of the best QB Killas in any class, is that against collegiate blockers, it can be enough to use demon speed and/or grown-ass man strength to get to the pocket.

Of course, when you’re dealing with 10-year NFL veterans, you had better bring a few more tools in the toolbox. And that’s where Shemar Stewart comes in. Or, it could be more accurately said, that’s where Shemar Stewart does not yet arrive.

There’s been all kinds of talk about Stewart’s athletic freakishness vs. his lack of production, and both things are true. Stewart rushed the passer for the Aggies at 6-foot-5 and about 280 pounds; he slimmed down to 267 for the combine and aced all the drills to a historical degree.

So why did this alien amass just two sacks and 39 total pressures last season, and six sacks with 79 total pressures over three seasons? Stewart’s career numbers would be top-notch for most edge defenders over one season.

When you watch the tape, the answer is clear. With his combination of size and athleticism, Stewart can physically overwhelm a lot of offensive tackles whose future does not align with the NFL. And there are too many reps in which Stewart gets erased by offensive linemen (and tight ends and running backs, it must be said), because he does not yet possess the counter moves required once your initial plan simply doesn’t work.

Can Stewart’s NFL team outfit him with an entire palette of pro-quality pass-rush moves, starting from zero? Anything’s possible, but it’s a big ask, and it won’t happen overnight.

Malaki Starks, Safety, Georgia

What’s the problem? Vapor-locks in coverage.

We live in an era where versatility is prized above all when it comes to defensive backs, and that’s true at both the collegiate and professional levels. The more you can do, the more NFL teams want you.

Of course, the problem with getting caught up in all that hypothetical versatility is when you get your hands on a jack-of-all-trades who struggles to be a master of anything. Not everybody can do all the things required of the position all the time.

Which brings us to Georgia safety Malaki Starks. Last season, Starks had 400 snaps at free safety, 271 in the slot, 215 in the box, and 10 each at both cornerback and on the edge. Starks allowed 34 catches on 51 targets for 453 yards, 190 yards after the catch, two touchdowns, one interception, two pass breakups, and an opponent passer rating of 99.6.

Projecting Starks as a similar do-it-all guy at the NFL level is really tough, because as athletic as he can be on the field, the lapses in coverage are severe and too frequent, and I’m not sure how you correct that. I’d need to watch tape with Starks to get his insight into why these things happen – maybe he’s not being put in the right positions to succeed – but when you have too many examples of a coverage defender in the wrong place and the wrong time, getting beaten by being out of place, and trying to use his recovery speed to atone for those sins… well, how does that get better when he hits the NFL?

Philadelphia Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio said last year of versatile rookie defensive back Cooper DeJean that the idea was to start with the thing DeJean did best, and then mix in all the other stuff. DeJean, who was far more on point from a coverage perspective, had an outstanding season as a result. Starks will need that level of coaching understanding, and probably even more than DeJean got.