With the college football season coming to a close and All-Star games coming up soon, the 2025 NFL Draft is inching closer with under 100 days to go.
The Athletic's Austin Mock took on the task of combining rankings from a wide range of NFL Draft experts on the top prospects in this year's draft to create a consensus Big Board.
This list of 50 has been updated for the first time since the college football season ended and will surely change from now until April.
But the early list shows quite a few noteworthy trends.
For starters, Colorado's Travis Hunter (listed as a cornerback) remains in the No. 1 spot as he did in November.
Penn State edge rusher Abdul Carter and Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty, meanwhile, both jumped up two spots and now occupy No. 2 and No. 3 respectively.
Rounding out the top five is Michigan defensive tackle Mason Graham at No. 4 and Arizona wide receiver Tetairoa McMillan at No. 5.
The Big Board is fairly even with it slightly tilted toward the defense, as they outnumbered the offensive players 26 to 24.
It's shaping up to be a draft with plenty of edge rushing talent, as the group leads the way with 10 players in the top 50.
Carter is the highest-ranked edge rusher, while Georgia's Mykel Williams (No. 8), Tennessee's James Pearce, Jr. (No. 12), Georgia's Jalon Walker (No. 18) and Texas A&M's Nic Scourton (No. 20) are all listed in the top 20.
Offensive tackle features the second-most players as they have eight among those in the list (two of them are listed as OT/G), with Ohio State's Josh Simmons being ranked the highest at No. 9.
And coming in third are cornerbacks, who have six players listed, starting with Hunter and then Michigan's Will Johnson at No. 6.
As for how relates to the Bolts and their No. 22 overall pick, pundits are somewhat spilt on what direction they will go.
Out of the 15 projections in the Chargers Mock Draft Tracker 1.0 released earlier in the week, eight went offense while seven added defensive help.
The Athletic's own Dane Brugler had the Bolts taking Michigan tight end Colson Loveland, who is listed at No. 22 on the Big Board.
Loveland and Penn State tight end Tyler Warren (No. 14 on the Big Board) were tied for the most of the 15 projections in the tracker, with two pundits each sending them to the Bolts.
As for the most mocked defensive player to the Chargers, defensive tackle Kenneth Grant, he ranked No. 24 on the Big Board.
