As I predicted earlier this week, Ohio State had four players selected in the first round of the 2025 NFL draft.
I didn’t quite get the full list of four players right, as I had TreVeyon Henderson going in Round 1 and Emeka Egbuka going in Round 2. Instead, Egbuka was the first Buckeye off the board as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers drafted him 19th overall while Henderson enters the second day of the draft still waiting to hear his name called.
That said, I correctly projected the landing spots for Ohio State’s two first-round offensive linemen as the Minnesota Vikings drafted Donovan Jackson to be their new left guard while the Kansas City Chiefs drafted Josh Simmons as their left tackle of the future. I also correctly predicted that one of the six teams with late first-round picks who hosted Tyleik Williams for pre-draft visits would take the former Ohio State defensive tackle in Round 1, though I picked the wrong one of those teams as the Detroit Lions selected Williams with the 28th pick before the Philadelphia Eagles had a chance to take him.
Batting .500 isn’t too bad in the world of draft projections, though, which brings me back for another round of predictions for where Ohio State prospects could be selected on Day 2 of the draft.
I predicted on Wednesday that Ohio State would have five players selected in the second and third rounds of the draft, and I’m sticking with that prediction today. The list of players has changed slightly, with Henderson now among the Buckeyes projected to be second-round picks, while the originally projected landing spots of Atlanta and Cincinnati for defensive ends JT Tuimoloau and Jack Sawyer no longer appear likely. I still expect both of them to go in Round 2 along with Quinshon Judkins, though, while I’m still projecting Will Howard to get the call in Round 3.
With the NFL draft set to start back up Friday night at 7 p.m. (ABC, ESPN2 and NFL Network), here are my updated projections for where we’ll see five Buckeyes drafted tonight.
RB TreVeyon Henderson: Round 2, No. 36, Cleveland Browns
After disappointing some of their fans by giving up the opportunity to draft Travis Hunter on Thursday, a good way for the Browns to make that trade more popular would be to draft Henderson with one of the extra picks they acquired. The Browns need a new running back to replace Nick Chubb, and Henderson projects to be the first running back off the board early in Round 2.
DE JT Tuimoloau: Round 2, No. 41, Chicago Bears
My original projection of the Falcons taking Tuimoloau went off the table when they traded back up into Round 1 to draft Tennessee defensive end James Pearce Jr., so I’m stealing Garrick’s pick from our original projections and predicting his favorite team will draft Tuimoloau with one of their two early second-round picks. The Bears need another pass-rusher to pair with Montez Sweat, and Tuimoloau will likely be one of the first DEs off the board Friday night after his 12.5-sack senior season at Ohio State.
RB Quinshon Judkins: Round 2, No. 44, Dallas Cowboys
I’m sticking with my original projection for Judkins as the Cowboys are still likely to target a running back on Day 2 after drafting Alabama guard Tyler Booker in Round 1. They’ve shown plenty of interest in Judkins in the pre-draft process, so I don’t think they pass him up with their second-round pick, especially if Henderson and Iowa’s Kaleb Johnson go off the board early in Round 2.
DE Jack Sawyer: Round 2, No. 60, Detroit Lions
Detroit already drafted one defensive lineman from Ohio State in Williams, but why not draft another one? There’d be some conflicted football fans in the state of Michigan if the Lions drafted Sawyer, who became a villain to Wolverine fans when he ripped the flag Michigan attempted to plant in Ohio Stadium last November, but the Lions need another defensive end to pair with Aidan Hutchinson and Sawyer’s tenacious brand of play makes him a Dan Campbell kind of player.
QB Will Howard: Round 3, No. 90, Los Angeles Rams
As noted in my original projection, Shedeur Sanders’ slide down the draft board – which ended up taking him all the way out of the first round – has the potential to push the rest of the quarterback class down in turn. That said, I still think Howard gets the call from the league on Day 2, and I’m sticking with my original forecast of the Rams drafting Howard in Round 3. He’d be a good fit to back up Matthew Stafford in Los Angeles while potentially having a chance to start in a couple of years given that Stafford is 37 years old.
