NFL Combine
2/19/25
7 min read
2025 NFL Combine: Predicting This Year's Biggest Breakouts
The NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis is almost here, and there are a few prospects that media outlets are going to quickly fall in love with after tearing it up in the on-field drills.
Athletic testing plays a key role in identifying standout traits, while NFL teams can use the testing to weed out players who don't meet their thresholds at certain positions. It's also a great opportunity for a handful of players to steal the show by putting up impressive numbers in multiple drills, so let's break down who the most likely candidates are to be this year's combine standouts.
Potential Combine Breakout Stars
Mike Green, EDGE, Marshall 
Mike Green was one of the biggest winners of this year's Senior Bowl, and he has a chance to ride that momentum into a strong combine performance.
Green finished the season with an FBS-leading 17 sacks to go along with 59 pressures. He weighed in at a respectable 251 pounds down in Mobile, then showed off his ability to win with speed and power during 1-on-1 drills in practice.
With his athletic profile, Green should turn plenty of heads during on-field work in Indianapolis. He's previously been clocked at 4.57 seconds in the 40-yard dash while also benching 405 pounds and squatting 525. If his testing can match his ability to win with speed and strength, he'll solidify top-10 draft status.
Savion Williams, WR, TCU 
Height-weight-speed wide receiver prospects are some of the most closely monitored players at the combine, and Savion Williams has a great chance to put up one of the highest Relative Athletic Scores among this year's wideouts.
Williams is a 6-foot-5, 225-pound receiver who caught 60 passes for 611 passes and six touchdowns. He was such a unique weapon on TCU's offense that he also carried the ball 51 times for 322 yards and another six scores.
Savion Williams is an INSANE athlete.
— NFL Draft Files (@NFL_DF) January 12, 2025
Led all WRs with 43 total missed tackles forced (next best was 32!!) while taking snaps at RB and WR.
Verified at 6’4, 220lbs with a 73.5% career contested catch rate. Projected to run 4.4s with a 40+ inch vertical. Drops are a concern. pic.twitter.com/gMvHLT3ZeN
The TCU wideout has previously posted a 40-inch vertical jump and a 10-foot-6 broad jump. He's a twitched-up prospect who shows off his explosiveness constantly on tape. While it's unclear how he will handle agility drills, he has a chance to tear up all of the speed and explosiveness drills to skyrocket up draft boards.
Nick Emmanwori, SAF, South Carolina
There are a handful of safety prospects who could shine at this year's combine, including Notre Dame's Xavier Watts and Andrew Mukuba out of Texas.
However, no one has the physical traits that Nick Emmanwori possesses.
A 6-foot-3 and 227 pounds safety, Emmanwori had 88 total tackles with a missed tackle rate of just 7.2 percent while also allowing zero touchdowns when targeted for a passer rating of 37.1 allowed.
The athletic testing should blow people away for Emmanwori. According to Feldman's Freaks List, the former South Carolina safety posted a 42-inch vertical, 11-foot-4 broad jump and bench-pressed 24 reps of 225 pounds at just 20 years old.
Emmanwori's tape is as legit as it gets, but his combine testing could make him a first-round pick.
Donovan Jackson, OL, Ohio State
Preconceived notions about "fat and slow" offensive linemen are a thing of the past, as players in the trenches become more and more athletic each year.
Donovan Jackson, who is from Ohio State, is the perfect example of that. A former 5-star high school recruit in 2021, Jackson showed off his athletic ability by kicking out from guard to left tackle in the middle of this past season and holding his own before dominating in the College Football Playoff.
Fully caught up on Donovan Jackson’s tape & the shift he made in the playoffs was incredible.
— James Foster (@NoFlagsFilm) January 21, 2025
W10-14 when he first moved to LT was an admirable performance from someone playing out of position. Last 4 games was legitimately shutdown tackle tape. Verified 36-in arms in HS btw pic.twitter.com/317jxT7CQj
That kind of positional versatility is rare, and the film shows a player with explosiveness and fluidity in a 6-foot-4, 320-pound frame. There might be questions about Jackson's ability to play tackle at the next level, but he should quiet some of those concerns during weigh-ins with reported 36-inch arm length.
Look for the athletic testing to match the eye test for Jackson, who continues to steadily climb up draft boards after playing out of position during a national title run.
Jalen Milroe, QB, Alabama
After struggling to stand out among the quarterbacks at this year's Senior Bowl, Jalen Milroe shouldn't have a problem dominating the competition at this year's combine.
There isn't a quarterback with more exciting rushing ability in this class than Milroe. The Alabama passer ran for more than 1,250 yards with 32 rushing touchdowns in the last two seasons, both on designed runs and as an off-script scrambler.
The play speed should easily translate into the 40-yard dash, vertical jump, and broad jump drills. He'll also have a chance to show off what's probably the strongest arm in this year's draft class by throwing routes on air.
Milroe's physical tools are some of the best in this draft class, and the combine will be the best way for him to improve his draft stock by showing off those tools.
Tez Johnson, WR, Oregon
Players like Xavier Worthy, John Ross, and Henry Ruggs have seen their draft stocks skyrocket after blazing 40-yard dash times in recent years. Tez Johnson has a strong chance at being the next name on that list, potentially making a run for the 40-yard dash record.
Scouts have plenty of questions about Johnson's size, weighing in at just 156 pounds at the Senior Bowl. However, once he showed up in Mobile, Johnson cooked just about every cornerback he faced in 1-on-1 drills and even showed some willingness as a blocker during team periods.
Here is every one-on-one rep by Oregon WR Tez Johnson during Day 1 of the Senior Bowl: pic.twitter.com/GuyF11UnSP
— Marcus Mosher (@Marcus_Mosher) January 28, 2025
Johnson's play style should easily translate to combine drills. He's one of the twitchiest receivers in this class, easily capable of burning past defenders and making them miss with terrific change-of-direction skills. The 40-yard dash, three-cone drill, and 20-yard shuttle should be drills where Johnson shines.
Even if he's historically small, undersized receivers like Worthy, DeVonta Smtih, and Tutu Atwell have shown that they can still have roles in this current era of the NFL, and teams will fall in love with the person as much as the athlete once he meets with teams in Indianapolis.
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