There’s always a draft riser at the quarterback position every year. 12 months ago, people would have thought you were crazy if you said LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels would be a top-two pick.
Who will it be in 2025? Well, The Draft Wire’s Curt Popejoy thinks it might be former Duke quarterback Riley Leonard.
Popejoy released a way-too-early 2025 NFL mock draft on Sunday, and he slotted Leonard in as the ninth pick to the Las Vegas Raiders.
The former Blue Devils passer transferred to Notre Dame this offseason after three seasons in Durham. He threw for 2,967 yards and 20 touchdowns as a sophomore and led Duke to a 4-0 start as a junior before an ankle injury derailed his season.
Leonard was Popejoy’s second quarterback off the board behind Texas A&M’s Conner Weigman. The old Duke signal-caller went above names like Texas’s Quinn Ewers, Georgia’s Carson Beck, and Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders.