• Injuries limited Will Johnson this past season: The Michigan cornerback, largely considered a top-two player at his position in the 2025 NFL Draft, still graded well throughout his college career.

• Shemar Turner was at his best in 2023: He set career highs in PFF overall grade (76.6), PFF pass-rushing grade (80.7) and PFF run-defense grade (68.9) before struggling to generate pressure in 2024.

• 2025 NFL Draft season is here: Try PFF’s best-in-class Mock Draft Simulator and learn about 2025’s top prospects while trading and drafting for your favorite NFL team.

Estimated Reading Time: 6 minutes

Click here for more draft tools:

We are now less than a week away from the 2025 NFL Draft. This draft has the potential to be one of the most unpredictable in recent memory, as nothing seems set in stone aside from Cam Ward going No. 1 overall to the Tennessee Titans.

While it’s important to value a draft prospect’s most recent work, it’s not uncommon for them to play their best ball in their freshman and sophomore seasons, as injuries and scheme changes affect prospects from year to year.

Here, we will take a closer look at five prospects from the 2025 class who peaked prior to 2024.

CB Will Johnson, Michigan 

Johnson is widely considered a top-two cornerback in the 2025 NFL Draft who will likely be off the board in the first 15 picks. He would be a near lock for the top 10 if it weren’t for some recent health concerns, including turf toe and shoulder injuries that caused him to miss most of the 2024 season.

Johnson graded well throughout his college career, but his most impressive season came as a true freshman in 2022. His 88.2 PFF overall grade ranked 12th among 917 qualifying cornerbacks, a figure built from three interceptions and just one penalty across 307 coverage snaps that season.

There are some clear similarities between Johnson’s college career and that of Houston Texans standout Derek Stingley Jr. Like Johnson, Stingley’s best season came as a freshman (highest PFF coverage grade in the country, 91.7), but injuries limited him to just three games in 2021, his final season.

The Texans made Stingley the third-overall pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, and he’s been one of the best cornerbacks in the NFL over the past two years, so peaking early in his college career didn’t hold much weight when it came to his NFL outlook. Will Johnson will hope to follow a similar path, wherever he ends up.

DI Shemar Turner, Texas A&M

Turner is one of the most experienced defensive linemen in the draft, having averaged nearly 500 snaps per season over his last three years at Texas A&M. He has some length and overall size limitations, but he more than made up for that in effort and versatility along the defensive line, as evidenced below.

In terms of production, 2023 was Turner’s best year in college. He set career highs in PFF overall grade (76.6), PFF pass-rushing grade (80.7) and PFF run-defense grade (68.9). Last season came with its challenges, as he finished the year at 59.4 overall after struggling to generate pressure (21 across 314 pass-rushing snaps) and wrap up on tackles (23.3% missed tackle rate).

Despite the down year, Turner currently ranks 77th on PFF’s big board and has a strong chance of being selected by the end of Day 2.

Winston is one of the top safeties in the 2025 NFL Draft despite his limited experience in college, sitting at 29th on PFF’s big board. The former four-star recruit played just 694 defensive snaps over his three years at Penn State. His 2024 season was cut short after just two games due to a partially torn ACL.

Still, Winston’s athleticism and tape from 2023 will impress NFL teams.

He was the only safety in the nation with a PFF run-defense and PFF coverage grade above 85.0. He was also incredibly efficient as a tackler, missing none of his attempts in 2023.

It will be interesting to see how teams view Winston as he recovers from his knee injury, but it would be a surprise to see him get past the second round; if he does, he could become one of the steals of the draft.

QB Quinn Ewers, Texas

Ewers is a former five-star quarterback and the No. 1 player in the 2021 recruiting class. Arm talent has never been an issue for him — the reason he will get drafted — but his stock is not on par with other quarterbacks in this class because of inconsistencies on downfield throws, poor pocket presence at times and lacking footwork.

Ewers’ best individual season came in 2023, when he ranked in the top 10 among all college football quarterbacks in turnover-worthy play rate (1.7%) and in the top 20 in yards per attempt (8.8) and adjusted completion rate (76.3%).

Ewers’ turnover-worthy play rate last season more than doubled to 4.0%. He struggled mightily under pressure, finishing the year with just a 41.6 PFF passing grade.

The former Texas Longhorn is the ninth-ranked quarterback on PFF’s big board (157th overall) heading into the 2025 NFL Draft. He will benefit if he ends up in a situation where he can sit and learn early in his career as he adjusts to the speed of the NFL game.

CB Quincy Riley, Louisville

What Riley lacks in size, he makes up for with twitched-up movements and an elite track background. He enters the 2025 NFL Draft with a lot of experience at the college level, having played 2,720 defensive snaps at Middle Tennessee State and Louisville.

Riley’s best season came in 2023, when his 85.9 PFF overall grade ranked among the top 30 cornerbacks in the nation. His ball skills were on full display, as he recorded a combined 13 interceptions and pass breakups for a 37.2 passer rating against. He was also extremely disciplined, committing just one penalty on the season.

Riley was still solid in coverage in 2024 (11 combined interceptions and pass breakups, 73.0 passer rating against), but his lack of physicality was evident. He missed 25.6% of his tackle attempts, including six over the final four games of the season. While his skill set suggests a future in the slot could be in play, his struggles in the run game could make the fit challenging.

Riley currently lands 168th on PFF’s big board as the 18th-ranked cornerback. It will be interesting to see how NFL teams weigh his ball skills/high incompletion rate against his size/lack of physicality in the middle rounds of the 2025 NFL Draft.

Looking for More 2025 NFL Draft Content?