Open thread: Who is your early 2025 NFL Draft crush?

With the NFL Combine just days away, it’s time to discuss our early 2025 NFL Draft crushes.

While free agency comes well before the NFL Draft , the hype around the draft far exceeds that of free agency. Beyond that, there are several events surrounding the NFL Draft that help build hype. One of the biggest draft events happens next week with the NFL Combine in Indianapolis.

Some of the best NFL Draft prospects will descend upon Lucas Oil Stadium to meet with teams, speak to the media, and show off their athletic talents in a very controlled environment. For many in the public, this is the first introduction to the 2025 NFL Draft class. For teams, it’s a critical portion of their draft research.

I’ll be down in Indy next week, and I’ve been grinding as much tape as possible this week to try and get to know some of the bigger names in this year’s class. I’ll admit I’m still very much in the early stages of my draft research—after all, the event is still two months away and we’ve only been in offseason mode for one month—but already there are some players who are popping off the tape.

So today’s Question of the Day is:

Who is your favorite early 2025 NFL Draft crush?

My answer: The most fun tape I’ve watched thus far is of North Dakota State offensive lineman Grey Zabel. It’s unclear where Zabel is going in the draft, but after a reportedly stellar Senior Bowl performance, many believe he’s now a top-40 prospect, despite coming from a small school.

Obviously, you have to be careful with small-school game film. The low quality of opponent can make any mediocre prospect look like Penei Sewell. But even against a respectable opponent like Colorado, Zabel was absolutely dominant.

While he has almost exclusively played tackle in his past two seasons, Zabel has the strength, size, and surprising athleticism to play guard, as well. And his short arm length will almost certainly have him playing guard at the NFL level. At the Senior Bowl he played all five positions, even playing some center—which he didn’t in college.

Zabel is a surprisingly polished as a pass protector, but his run game tape is the most fun. He’ll collapse an entire side of the defensive line with explosive power, good technique, and relentless effort. And you can tell everything that North Dakota State felt about Zabel from this single rep.

They were down two scores with dwindling time left against Colorado. It’s fourth-and-short. They fail to convert this and the game is over. So what do they do?

They move Zabel (#74) to the jumbo tight end position, and run the ball right behind him (right side). He creates a cavern of a hole for an easy conversion.

The 28th overall pick may be on the higher end of Zabel’s projections, but I would be perfectly fine picking him there. If Detroit can re-sign Zeitler, he doesn’t even have to start right away, and then you’d have potentially both of your guards for the future in Zabel and Mahogany at cost-controlled rookie contracts for the next few years—which will help offset the contracts for Sewell and Frank Ragnow.

Who is your favorite NFL Draft crush thus far? Scroll down to the comment section and let us know!