Every year in the NFL Draft, teams often can’t pick the exact prospect they covet in Round 1.
That means plenty of analysis of marquee prospects falls on deaf ears for many fans. You know Ashton Jeanty is a blast on film, right? But unless you’re a fan of a team picking the top six to maybe Top 12, Jeanty won’t be wearing your team’s colors in the fall. So are there any running backs like Jeanty who’ll be available on Day 2 or Day 3?
You’ve come to the right place. This article pinpoints “Plan B” and “Plan C” options for some of the most highly coveted prospects in the 2025 draft class.
This is my seventh year identifying my favorite “Plan B prospects.” Hits in 2024 were Tyrone Tracy, Jalyx Hunt and Renardo Green. In 2023, De’Von Achane, Sam LaPorta, Marvin Mims, Pop Douglas, Jalen Redmond and Dorian Williams. The year before that was my best to date, with hits on Khalil Shakir, Chig Okonkwo, Rasheed Walker, Braxton Jones, Zach Tom, Malcolm Rodriguez and Markquese Bell.
In 2021, hits included Quinton Morris, Alaric Jackson and Andre Cisco.
I didn’t write this piece in 2020 or 2019, and the lone clear-cut hit in the inaugural piece in his series, from 2018, was Justin Reid.
Now, onto the 2025 selections.
Quarterback
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Plan A |
Cam Ward, Miami |
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Plan B |
Will Howard, Ohio State |
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Plan C |
Brady Cook, Missouri |
Howard was a big-ticket add in the transfer portal for Ohio State after he threw 39 touchdowns to just 14 interceptions on two quality Kansas State teams in 2022 and 2023. While he didn’t demonstrate his running prowess in the Big 10 as frequently as he did in the Big 12, the 6-foot-4, 235-pound quarterback tested like a high-caliber athlete in Indianapolis and played rock-solid football down the stretch en route to the Buckeyes national title. He’s not stylistically the same as Ward but provides the highest floor among the next tier of quarterback prospects.
Cook is comparably experienced to Howard, with nearly the same amount of collegiate attempts on his draft resume. They both threw more than 1,100 passes. Cook is another quality athlete at the position with some ad-libbing experience. He simply doesn’t have requisite arm talent nor accuracy of an early-round selection.
Running back
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Plan A |
Ashton Jeanty, Boise State |
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Plan B |
Bhayshul Tuten, Virginia Tech |
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Plan C |
Jarquez Hunter, Auburn |
Tuten is one of my favorite prospects in the entire draft. Film? Check. Analytics? Check. Combine workout? Check. All were fantastic at Virginia Tech. He’s the explosive feature back type — who’s similarly sized to the short and stocky Jeanty. In two seasons at Virginia Tech, Tuten averaged 5.7 yards per carry on 356 totes.
Relative to his lack of hype, Hunter has a strong case as the most underrated running back prospect in this stacked class at the position. No nonsense from him. No transferring. And he runs in a no-nonsense manner too. Just four seasons of high-caliber production in the SEC at Auburn. Hunter’s lowest yards-per-carry average came in 2023, at 5.7 yards per. He was over 6.0 in his other three years with the Tigers. He’s shifty and powerful, often scoffing at weak arm-tackle attempts. Draft him on Day 3. Prosper.
Wide receiver
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Plan A |
Matthew Golden, Texas |
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Plan B |
Tai Felton, Maryland |
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Plan C |
Jaylin Lane, Virginia Tech |
There’s momentum building for Golden to be the first receiver off the board … after Travis Hunter. And he could be picked inside the Top 20. For the teams who won’t be able to pick the slender, speedy wideout from Texas, Felton from Maryland is one of the fine contingency plan players with a stylistically similar game.
He’s taller than Golden at just over 6-foot-1. At 183 pounds, you can probably guess he flies. Felton was a high-volume producer — 96 catches in 2024 for the Terrapins — and he forced a whopping 26 missed tackles on those snags. With Golden, the perceived specialty is speed. Golden ran 4.37 with a 39.5-inch vertical.
Later, Lane from Virginia Tech is another blazer with flexibility to get open at all three levels of the field. He’s about an inch shorter than Golden but the exact same weight (191 pounds). The Virginia Tech star ran 4.34 with a 40-inch vertical and a three-cone under the magic 7.00-second threshold (6.75). He separates and rocks after the catch.
Tight end
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Plan A |
Tyler Warren, Penn State |
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Plan B |
Terrance Ferguson, Oregon |
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Plan C |
Joshua Simon, South Carolina |
Warren will be the first tight end off the board. He could go as high as potentially 7th overall to the Jets. He’s an overwhelming physical specimen with unique experience as a true focal point of an offense in college. Penn State utilized him everywhere. Think Kyle Juszczyk in Dallas Goedert’s body.
Ferguson wasn’t a wildcat running back at Oregon and wasn’t routinely hurdling defenders like Warren. He’s a sneaky-good athletic specimen in a deep tight end class. His full workout in Indianapolis was the best at the position, and for as much as Warren is viewed as a tremendous offensive because of capabilities after the catch, Ferguson’s missed-tackle forced rate in college was significantly better than the Penn State star’s (22.3% vs. 16.8%).
I could’ve gone with Jalin Conyers from Texas Tech, another compact fun post-catch weapon at tight end. Instead, I’ll feature Simon from South Carolina, who also fits that description. He was another big tester with a vertical and broad jump in the 91st and 93rd percentile and a 10-yard split and 40-yard dash in the 83rd and 74th percentile at the position. While he’s already 24, he plays like a seasoned veteran with the football in his hands. His MTF rate was 23.3% on 154 catches in college.
Offensive tackle
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Plan A |
Armand Membou, Missouri |
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Plan B |
Aireontae Ersery, Minnesota |
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Plan C |
Myles Hinton, Michigan |
Ersery should be garnering more first-round buzz. He’s built like a oversized guard, and plays with admirable calmness and confidence at left tackle, rarely lunging or looking stretched beyond his athletic limit. And, post-combine, we know it’ll be a challenge for Ersery’s athleticism to be tested in the NFL, as he had a workout comparable to Membou and a similar height and weight.
With Hinton, think Rasheed Walker, a seventh-round pick turned pass-pro gem for the Packers. He needs to refine his kick slide in classic pass protection and stay patient, yet it’s not easy uncovering nearly 6-7, 323-pound blockers with arms over 34-inches who glide on the field as fluidly as this Michigan (and former Stanford) product.
Interior offensive line
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Plan A |
Donovan Jackson, Ohio State |
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Plan B |
Miles Frazier, LSU |
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Plan C |
Caleb Rogers, Texas Tech |
Jackson is as ready-to-go as they come at the guard position, and he proved his positional versatility and athletic gifts when moonlighting at left tackle after Josh Simmons’ early-season injury at Ohio State in 2024. Jackson was over 6-3 and 318 pounds with a wingspan in the 83rd percentile at guard at the combine.
The theme here is thick, long, and comfortably mobile. That’s precisely what a team will be getting with both Frazier and Rogers. Frazier is north of 6-5 and 318 pounds with a wingspan over 81 inches. Rogers is nearly 6-5 and 312 pounds but a little shorter-armed with a 79-inch wingspan. Like Jackson, the Plan B and Plan C here are electric in space, climbing to the second level in an instant and routinely destroying linebackers on run plays. They both move effortlessly side-to-side in pass pro too. They both have high floors and high ceilings, just like Jackson.
Edge rusher
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Plan A |
Abdul Carter, Penn State |
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Plan B |
Bradyn Swinson, LSU |
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Plan C |
Elijah Ponder, Cal Poly |
Swinson has Carter-like bend around the corner as a pass rusher. Seriously. He’s not as well-rounded of a defender overall — like against the run. But let’s be real, pass-rush capability is the main reason Carter will be a Top 5 pick in two weeks. In 2024, Swinson registered just 60 pressures on 313 opportunities to get after the quarterback.
Ponder is one of my favorite super-deep sleepers in the entire class. He’s aiming to be the first Cal-Poly player drafted since Asa Jackson in 2012 and has the game to not just get picked but thrive in the NFL. Ponder excels bending the edge, which is a skill you either have or you don’t before getting to the NFL. At nearly 6-3 and 251 pounds at his pro day, Ponder hit 6.99 in the three-cone drill, and the flattening skill to the quarterback showed on film in his final two seasons, when he pressured the opposing quarterback 89 times on 581 pass-rush reps. He’s Gumby around the corner.
Defensive tackle
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Plan A |
Mason Graham, Michigan |
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Plan B |
T.J. Sanders, South Carolina |
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Plan C |
Jared Harrison-Hunte, SMU |
Sanders has become criminally underrated in this draft class, simply because there are a ridiculous number of defensive tackles to get enamored over in this class, and he’s not a hulking 310-plus pounder.
Let’s not forget — Graham weighed-in under 300 pounds at the combine, although his playing weight looked much heavier than that on film. With Sanders, a team will be getting a crafty pass-rush move master in a sleek-ish frame with high-level first-step quicks to dent the pocket routinely.
Harrison-Hunte is that type of rusher on Day 3. And he’s mostly considered a Day 3 type because he’s a sixth-year player. For as much as teams will say they don’t care about age anymore, because everyone’s older, that still factors into upside at the next level. He was a steady performer generating pressure at the University of Miami then became a truly disruptive force in his lone season at SMU, with a career-high 44 pressures on only 375 pass-rushing snaps. Any pressure rate over 10% is tremendous for an interior rusher.
Linebacker
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Plan A |
Jihaad Campbell, Texas |
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Plan B |
Carson Schwesinger, UCLA |
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Plan C |
Teddye Buchanan, California |
Starting with a tap-in on Schwesinger, he’s essentially the same player as Campbell who’ll likely be picked at least one round later. Sleek, explosive, reliable tackler, plus blitzer, and playmaker in coverage. Built for the modern game.
Buchanan is another one of my favorite overall prospects in the class. I think he’s getting dinged by the masses because of just one season at the FBS level, yet he dominated for three seasons at UC-Davis before that with eight interceptions and 13 pass breakups to go along with 14 tackles for loss and four sacks. He ran 4.60 and had a 40-inch vertical at the combine, rarely misses a tackle, and is a deft coverage defender. He’s my pick for the steal of the linebacker position in this class.
Cornerback
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Plan A |
Jahdae Barron, Texas |
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Plan B |
Jordan Hancock, Ohio State |
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Plan C |
Caleb Ransaw, Tulane |
Hancock can provide everything Barron does, and he may not get picked until two or three rounds after him. Value galore. From start of season to national title victory, Hancock was the steadiest Ohio State defender in my estimation. At the Buckeyes’ Pro Day, at nearly the exact same size and length as Barron, Hancock ran 4.42 with a 41.5-inch vertical. He’s a smart, do-everything defensive back you want on your team.
Ransaw doesn’t have the collegiate ball production to garner an early pick. Everything he does as downhill run-defender / blitzer suggests he’ll outplay his draft position on early downs in the NFL. He missed a mere seven tackles on almost 1,500 career snaps at Troy and Tulane and is a rocket on the field in coverage and when ranging to spear a running back on an outside run. Ransaw clocked a 4.33 with a 40-inch vertical at the combine. And he’s not some super-small overachiever either. At over 5-11 and 197 pounds, he’s built like a modern-day safety/cornerback hybrid.
Safety
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Plan A |
Malaki Starks, Georgia |
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Plan B |
R.J. Mickens, Clemson |
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Plan C |
Maxen Hook, Toledo |
Mickens’ dad, Ray, was a fun, pesky player for the Jets who finished his career with 30 career interceptions, and his ball-hawking DNA was passed down to his son, who starred at Clemson over the past four seasons after a freshman-year redshirt.
He had seven interceptions and 13 pass breakups during his career with the Tigers and was clearly taught fundamentally sound tackling technique from his dad. Mickens’ tackle total started at 30 in 2021 and finished with 75 in his senior season in 2024.
Hook was asked to assume a variety of responsibilities at Toledo in his storied career with the Rockets. He averaged 87 tackles per season, snagged seven picks, and knocked away 13 other passes in his time in the MAC while missing just 34 tackles on more than 2,600 career snaps. Hook has seen it all from opposing offenses, and can typically be found near the football.