Lou Pickney's Latest Insight
March 31, 2025
If you have any questions/comments, feel free to contact Lou Pickney via X, Bluesky, or email (lou@loupickney.com).
There was a big update on Sunday with my latest 2025 NFL Mock Draft. With most of the pro days in the books, we've now reached the stretch run of this process.
It will be interesting to see what the Carolina Panthers end up doing with the #8 pick. This is a strong year for EDGE prospects, which is a major need for Carolina.
My current mock has the Panthers selecting Georgia EDGE/LB Jalon Walker, with other perceived viable possibilities including Georgia EDGE Mykel Williams, Texas A&M EDGE Shemar Stewart, and Tennessee EDGE James Pearce Jr.
It struck me as odd that Pearce performed well in the drills at the NFL Combine, yet several key indicators dropped for Pearce amid whispers of maturity concerns.
But there has been a push-back as of late on what, at one point, had been a fade strong enough to take Pearce out of round one. Right now I have him going to the Baltimore Ravens at #27, though I anticipate projecting Pearce higher when I post my next draft update later this week.
It's been intriguing to see AI attempts at predicting the draft. Aggregating the mocks of people with successful track records should work to some degree, but it's been slightly disturbing to find AI-powered results citing me as writing things that I never actually wrote.
It feels too easy to tilt the table... until you realize you aren't the one doing the tilting.
One thing likely helping current AI is the comparative difficulty of aggregating podcast transcripts and television talking head segments. While entertaining, they're often packed with nonsense/filler and opinions entirely removed from the actual evaluation process.
But I wonder to what degree AI can discern between a sharp mock (whatever that might mean) and gimmick mocks done for entertainment value. Parsing clickbait from legit scoops, etc.
And I wonder where we'll be 5-10 years from now on that.
Mock drafts are like sand castles. Never get too attached.
AFC East: Buffalo Bills | New England Patriots |
New York Jets | Miami Dolphins
AFC North:
Baltimore Ravens | Cincinnati Bengals | Cleveland Browns | Pittsburgh Steelers
AFC South:
Houston Texans | Indianapolis Colts |
Jacksonville Jaguars |
Tennessee Titans
AFC West:
Denver Broncos |
Kansas City Chiefs | Las Vegas Raiders | Los Angeles Chargers
NFC East:
Dallas Cowboys |
New York Giants |
Philadelphia Eagles |
Washington Commanders
NFC North:
Chicago Bears |
Detroit Lions |
Green Bay Packers |
Minnesota Vikings
NFC South:
Atlanta Falcons |
Carolina Panthers |
New Orleans Saints |
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
NFC West:
Arizona Cardinals |
Los Angeles Rams |
San Francisco 49ers |
Seattle Seahawks
