NFL Draft 2025: Ray Didinger’s 5 sleeper picks for the Eagles

Hall of Fame sportswriter Ray Didinger may be retired, but it does not mean he is retiring from poring over college film and talking to his numerous NFL sources to find out who can be sleepers in this coming NFL Draft.

Last year, the prestigious Francis “Reds” Bagnell Award winner had on his yearly list 6’2,’’ 248-pound Utah edge rusher Jonah Elliss, who went in the third round to Denver and had five sacks, the third most of any rookie in the league. In Denver’s Wild Card loss against the Buffalo Bills, he suffered a fractured scapula; 5’8½,” 191-pound Virginia wide receiver Malik Washington, who was selected in the sixth round by Miami and played in 14 games, and had 26 catches for 223 yards and averaged 8.6 yards a catch; 6’4,’’ 309-pounds South Dakota State guard Mason McCormick, who went to Pittsburgh in the fourth round and following injuries to former Eagle Isaac Seumalo and Troy Fautanu, made his first pro start in Week 4’s 27–24 loss to the Indianapolis Colts; 6’4,’’ 250-pound Kanas State tight end Ben Sinnott, who was selected by Washington in the second round and played in 17 games, making five catches for 28 yards; 6-foot, 197-pound cornerback Qwan’tez Stiggers, from the CFL/Toronto Argonauts, who the New York Jets choose in the fifth round to become the first player drafted directly from the CFL since Jermaine Haley in 1999. Stiggers played in 14 games for the Jets.

Didinger likes 6-foot-3, 235-pound Marshall edge rusher Mike Green for the Eagles at No. 32, but he also notes there have been some rising concerns off the field after Green spoke out publicly in February at the NFL Combine that he transferred from Virginia to Marshall because of two sexual assault allegations that he was never charged with and insisted he did nothing wrong. Green was the Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year after he had 17 sacks last season, the most in major college football, and a total of 21.5 sacks in two seasons with the Thundering Herd.

Didinger’s meticulous research outlasts everyone, and he was once again gracious enough recently to speak with Bleeding Green Nation about five sleepers the Eagles and other NFL teams could look at in the upcoming 2025 NFL Draft.

Harold Fannin, Bowling Green, TE, 6’3,’’ 241 pounds

“I don’t know if this guy may qualify as a sleeper, because people lately are talking more about him. Normally, people don’t get too excited about players coming out of Bowling Green. But I saw Fannin in the game he played against Penn State last year and I thought he was really good. I didn’t know much about him before that game. He certainly got my attention. If you really looked at the tight ends in that game, he looked better than Tyler Warren. I’m guessing he may drop to the third or fourth round, which would qualify him as a sleeper. He had 117 catches last year for over 1,500 yards. It was the biggest statistical season a collegiate tight end ever had. Beyond the numbers, he looks really good. Where he goes depends on what you are looking for from your tight end. If you want a big-time blocker, it probably won’t be him. He is more a tight end you move around the formation and flex out. He is between the tight end/wide receiver mold kind in the Shannon Sharpe kind of way, though not comparing them directly to one another on the field. He good routes and catches the ball well. He fights for extra yards. There is a lot to really like about him. I think the Eagles may actually have an interest in him, too, because I don’t know where they stand with Dallas Goedert. There seems to be a strong feeling that they may move Goedert. Scott Loeffler was Fannin’s head coach at Bowling Green, and he’s now the Eagles’ quarterback’s coach. Loeffler certainly knows what the kid can do. He will be voice in the Eagles’ draft room saying, not at No. 32, but in the day following, that they should be taking a look at Harold Fannin.”

Jeffrey Bassa, Oregon, LB, 6’1,” 232 pounds

“I liked everything about his game. He qualifies as a sleeper because he is 6-1, 230, which is not ideal NFL size. NFL people probably think he is a little too short. NFL people do not know exactly how to evaluate linebackers, because no one really knows what the linebacker position is these days. For that reason, linebackers are a little hard to evaluate. I thought he was really impressive. I know he is a little undersized. He started in college as a safety, then moved to linebacker. He still looks like something between a safety and a linebacker. He is so quick to read and react on plays. His instincts are very keen. He always seems to be moving in the direction of the football. He has enough speed to cover running back out of the backfield, and tight ends for sure. He does not have the liability of being an undersized guy swallowed up by blockers. He gets off blocks very well. If you watched Oregon last season, it was clear Bassa was the leader of the defense. He was the one telling everyone where to go and what to do. He looks like he has a real head for the game, and real instinct for the game. I know the pros are going to be a little leery of him because of his size. At the very least, he will come in and be a very good special teams player. But he is also someone who will find his way onto an NFL field sooner than most people realize.”

Jacob Parrish, Kansas State, CB, 5’9,” 191 pounds

“Every year I always pick a Kansas State guy and feel obligated to take a Kansas State guy every year starting with Darren Sproles. This year my Kansas State guy is Jacob Parrish. Again, he falls under the sleeper category because pro scouts probably feel he’s a little too small. He’s 5-9, solidly built at 190 pounds, but he is 5-9. He can fly. He ran a 4.35 when he was timed at the NFL Combine. The question will be, wherever he goes in the draft, where a team feels they can use him. Coaches in the NFL will probably think that he’s a little too small to play the outside corner position. But I definitely think he can be a really, really good slot corner. I think he can play inside very well. He can play zone; he can play man. I’ve seen him play both. K-State played both. They flipped out of man and zone, and he looked equally comfortable in both. He improved his tackling. He looked more physical and looked more willing to come up and get involved in run support. If you looked at his testing, and I believe people can overdo this stuff, like the sprints, the cone drills, all that stuff, he was really, really good. He has an awful lot of physical ability. He had a 37.5-inch vertical leap, which for a 5-9 guy is pretty good. He is definitely a very good player. It’s a matter of how he would fit in your scheme. He may very well drop to the third day of the draft, but he is a good prospect nonetheless.”

Que Robinson, Alabama, Edge, 6’4,” 243 pounds

“This is unusual to talk about sleepers from really big schools. Robinson is someone who never really got to play until this last season, because there are so many good players at Alabama. He was a reserve type of player. He played a little here and there. Last year was supposed to be his opportunity to really play a lot, and he got hurt. He only got in nine games, before he injured his arm and missed the rest of the season. There is not a whole lot to go on from his college career, except if you look at the actual games he played in, he has an awful lot going for him. He looks like a natural edge rusher. It would be a mistake to try and play him at linebacker. He’s too small to play inside. He has the frame and skills to be an edge rusher. He is explosive off the ball, and very aggressive at the point of attack. I would agree he might have to get a little bigger and stronger. I know nine games is a very small sampling, but if you look at his pressure rate per snap, the actual times he was around the quarterback, it’s at a high rate. When he was on the field, you knew he was on the field. Because there is not a lot of tape to go on, no one will be rushing to draft him. He will probably be a day three pick. But if he gets to a pro team, and he will, he will get an opportunity to show what he can really do and I think he will show he’s going to be a pretty good player.”

Dan Jackson, Georgia, S, 6’1,” 195 pounds

“Again, it is unusual to talk about sleepers from really big schools, but Jackson was overshadowed, because Malaki Starks was so good. Jackson didn’t even get invited to the NFL Combine, which for a Georgia starting defensive back is unusual. That tells me a lot of the pro people are taking this kid for granted and maybe overlooking him. When I saw him play, I was very impressed by what he did on the field. It’s why I was a little more surprised that he did not get invited to the combine. When Georgia had a pro day and he got a chance to test and try out, he was really good. A lot of pro people came away impressed. That got him back on the radar. He will not be drafted until day three. He ran a 4.46, which is a good time for a safety. He has always been an overachiever. He was a walk-on at Georgia, which at Georgia is not easy to do, considering the blue chip kids that they get every year. He has no problem coming up and playing the run. One of the things that really attracted me to him is he plays from sideline-to-sideline. He is not a half-field safety. The other thing I really like is that he always plays hard, no matter the score and or where in the game. He seems to be a guy who reads plays, routes, and quarterbacks, and he always seems to know where the ball is going. He is sort of similar to Bassa, where he can be a very good special teams player for a year or two, and with the right defense and right coaching staff, they can really work with this kid and make something out of him.”