The 2025 NFL draft class's lack of depth has not gone unnoticed. Sure, there are some studs—Penn State linebacker Abdul Carter and cornerback and Colorado wide receiver Travis Hunter chief among them—but the group as a whole lacks the verve of past classes.
That means the class's top two quarterbacks—the Buffaloes' Shedeur Sanders and Miami's Cam Ward—are likely to go higher than they would in other years. It means teams may have to get creative with trades. And, more crucially for our purposes, it allows coaches to make inscrutable metaphors as Thursday draws near.
"There aren’t a lot of Robert De Niros at the top of this draft," one head coach told Dianna Russini of The Athletic in a piece published Wednesday morning.
From @TheAthletic: One NFL coach offered a blunt assessment of the 2025 draft class: “There aren’t a lot of Robert De Niros at the top of this draft.”
— The New York Times (@nytimes) April 23, 2025
This is what our insider is hearing with the main event just one day away.https://t.co/YsOw1o3m5d
On an obvious level, the meaning of the reported declaration is clear: any team looking for an insta-all-encompassing star in the vein of Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels will be disappointed.
However, it also speaks to the aphorisms stir-crazy NFL personnel can dole out this time of year. When semantic satiation from hours around the draft board has set in, there's nothing left to do but compare LSU offensive lineman Will Campbell with the star of Cape Fear.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as NFL Coach Uses Weird Hollywood Metaphor to Describe Shallowness of 2025 Draft Class.
