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John's 2025 NFL Draft trade ideas and scenarios. Best potential trades for the 2025 NFL draft, featuring expert analysis and breakdowns in Round 1.
One of the most interesting things that can happen in NFL Drafts is a blockbuster trade. Sometimes, teams are willing to give up a lot of draft capital, or even players, to move up and select a rookie they believe strongly in. Other times, they're just desperate enough at a position of need to make a move.
With the 2025 NFL Draft just around the corner, it's interesting to start thinking about what the biggest trades could be and how they'd shake up the NFL landscape. And with most teams willing to at least field offers for their selections, big trades are always plausible.
This season, with so few highly sought-after quarterback options in the draft, the chances of a big trade seem highly likely. In 2024, we saw a lot of teams hang onto their picks for dear life. That might not be the case in 2025, as there are not going to be six quarterbacks taken in the top-12 picks. So, let's break down some big blockbuster trade ideas for the 2025 NFL Draft.
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Raiders Trade Up For Travis Hunter
In a move that would make sense for both teams, the Raiders could aggressively trade up to the second overall pick to secure Colorado WR/CB Travis Hunter, giving up their sixth overall pick and more draft capital. I saw this idea originally from NFL analyst Rhett Lewis, so credit to him, but I wanted to partially expound it a bit more.
In his one and only mock of the 2025 NFL Draft, @RhettNFL forecasts an AFC team aggressively trading up to secure Travis Hunter. Meanwhile, Shedeur Sanders falls right into an NFC team's lap. Check out the complete first-round projection, 1-32.https://t.co/WfxZaZu5ns pic.twitter.com/7AY2j58FGw
— NFL Draft (@NFLDraft) April 8, 2025
The Raiders would immediately have their choice of upgrades at the WR and CB position, though it's likely that Hunter would eventually move to playing mostly at wideout, even though the team already has WR Jakobi Meyers and tight end Brock Bowers in the pass-catching corps. Hunter would likely play a decent number of snaps on both sides of the ball.
Then, the Browns would be free to select a running back like Ashton Jeanty, patch up their poor offensive line with an elite OL prospect, dig into this year's pass-rusher class, or even select a quarterback like Jaxson Dart with the sixth overall pick, while acquiring more draft capital in the process and stocking up picks for later drafts that could have deeper groups of wide receivers.
It makes sense for both teams. The Raiders are lacking in star power other than Bowers (and quarterback Geno Smith, to a degree). Hunter could provide the unique service of being an upgrade on both sides of the ball and buy the team time to shore up its other position groups.
Saints Trade Up To Secure Shedeur Sanders
In many ways, this would be an incredibly on-brand move for the Saints. Their general manager, Mickey Loomis, has made a career out of kicking the can down the road as much as possible. Because of that, and because of his refusal to have a desperately needed rebuild season after the retirement of QB Drew Brees, the Saints remain in cap purgatory.
Shedeur Sanders to the Saints HEAR ME OUT pic.twitter.com/jRkdw88Za1
— Kay Adams (@heykayadams) April 8, 2025
The Saints would secure their quarterback of the future, or something like that. Then, they would proceed to put him behind an offensive line that would get him wrecked and turn Saints fans into Chicago Bears fans with how much they stanned for quarterback Justin Fields because of a few highlight-reel plays that he made, no matter how many terrible plays he put on film.
Shedeur Sanders has a bad tendency to drift backwards in the pocket when he doesn't see things cleanly downfield or when he feels pressure. This puts a lot of strain on his offensive tackles and limits his ability to attack downfield. pic.twitter.com/60ZaMT6u6X
— Nate Tice (@Nate_Tice) March 19, 2025
I can see it happening right now. New Orleans' offensive line will try its hardest to protect a quarterback who is impossible to protect. The beneficiaries would certainly be the team the Saints trade with, as they wouldn't have to deal with Sanders being on their team and would recoup some nice draft capital for it.
Packers Trade Up To Pick Tetairoa McMillan
The perfect storm (or whatever you call it) could be brewing here. The Packers' wide receiver situation is not good. They have a group of receivers who can't distinguish themselves from one another. Christian Watson can't stay healthy. Romeo Doubs is just fine but not great. Jayden Reed doesn't play in 12 personnel because he can't block well and struggled against man coverage. Dontayvion Wicks is Droptayvion Bricks with a name change.
The Packers WRs might be taking Josh Jacobs “we need a WR1” comments poorly… pic.twitter.com/k3gHGzyDrr
— Jacob (@NotionsOfJacob) February 5, 2025
The Packers' current receivers won't be happy to hear this, but the team does need a true WR1. And no one they have is likely to develop into one. The NFL is also much, much lower on McMillan than the obsessively infatuated fantasy community is on him, so his falling outside the top 10 is pretty likely. That's when Green Bay could pounce. I don't know how much it would make a difference for its offense, but whatever.
Watson hasn't even been able to earn a full-time role on the opposite side of Doubs. It's been Doubs who plays the most snaps and runs the most routes of all of GB's receivers, with Reed only playing in three-WR sets and Watson and Wicks splitting snaps on the outside opposite of Doubs. Cool! McMillan would probably take over the outside role from Wicks while Watson recovers from his ACL injury.
Can tight end be a No. 1 receiver in Matt LaFleur’s offense?
“I think anything is possible. I would never want to limit it to just being a wide receiver.”
Sure sounds like #Packers have big plans for Tucker Kraft. LaFleur on emphasizing the tight end: pic.twitter.com/zpZkOPj6eI
— Ryan Wood (@ByRyanWood) April 1, 2025
I'm not sure what head coach Matt LaFleur would think about it. Then again, he said he wanted to "vomit" at the idea of having a true WR1 and thought the team had a "bunch" of them. That didn't work out.
Rams Trade Up Aggressively For Jaxson Dart
What better way to win in the 2025 NFL Draft than by the Los Angeles Rams trading up aggressively to pick up the best quarterback in the class? The Rams could choose to take the Packers route by getting their quarterback of the future while they already have a starter who has more time left on his contract.
Though the team desperately needs help at the cornerback and safety position, it would make sense that one of the best scouting departments in the NFL would realize that Dart is the QB1 in this class. He's not viewed that way by other teams, and he's a young signal-caller who would develop excellently in their system and with their coaching.
Sources: Ole Miss QB Jaxson Dart visited today with the Cleveland Browns, and will next fly to Las Vegas to visit the Raiders, sources tell me and @FieldYates.
Dart also has spent “considerable time” during this interview process with the Giants, Saints and Rams. pic.twitter.com/M6rY1SLGkl
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) April 8, 2025
Los Angeles appears to have done its homework on Dart. He's the best decision-maker in the class and plays the best when under pressure and when things aren't going particularly well. Despite not having his No. 1 receiver, Tre Harris, for long stretches of the season in 2024, Dart's film showed clear improvement over his 2023 season, which was already pretty good.
"I'm a Jaxson Dart guy and I don't think that he makes it out of the top ten..
He sees it well and he can throw it"@danorlovsky7 #PMSLive https://t.co/VrMqdrVMZp pic.twitter.com/DS5yX139Iz
— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) April 3, 2025
In an inverse McMillan situation, the fantasy football community is hilariously low on Dart, while the NFL seems to think much more highly of him. I agree with McAfee -- he likely doesn't make it outside the top 10. So, L.A. would likely have to offer quite a bit of draft capital to secure him. It would be a massive trade, but at the one position you simply can't negotiate much with.
Matthew Stafford is now 37 years old and has a long history of serious injuries. His career won't last much longer. Dart will be 22 before the 2025 NFL season starts. This blockbuster makes a ton of sense for a team that wants to stay relevant after its Super Bowl-winning QB inevitably retires.
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