Is Cam Ward set up to fail? Can Jaxson Dart protect himself? Biggest Year 2 questions for top 2025 draft picks
We spent so much time earlier this year thinking and talking and writing about the 2026 NFL Draft . It makes sense, given that for most of the offseason, we didn't know who would be drafted where or how they would affect their new teams. Even now that they've been drafted, we've only had a short while to figure out who fits best and what we should expect from them as rookies. But that doesn't mean we should just push the 2025 draft class aside. The players selected just last year will have a significant impact on their teams in 2026, for obvious reasons. In the space below, we're going to look at 15 players taken fairly early in the draft, detail the biggest questions facing them in Year 2 and examine what the answers might mean for their respective teams. Ward had one of the worst supporting casts in the NFL last season. His pass-catchers couldn't get open and struggled to actually catch the ball when they did. The offensive line was seemingly broken for most of the year. Tennessee addressed the first part of that equation by signing Wan'Dale Robinson and drafting Carnell Tate with the No. 4 overall pick. But did the Titans do enough on the offensive line to make sure Ward has enough time to find his targets down the field? We'll find out in September. Hunter lasted only seven weeks before suffering a non-contact knee injury that knocked him out for the rest of his rookie season. Given his size and workload, there will always be questions about whether he can hold up long term. But there are also questions about where he'll actually play on a down-to-down and week-to-week basis . Before he got hurt, the Jaguars started shifting his usage to make him more of a wide receiver than a cornerback, according to Pro Football Focus. But entering this season, the Jags have Brian Thomas Jr. , Jakobi Meyers and Parker Washington at receiver and not quite as much strong depth in the defensive backfield. Will his snaps now lean more toward the defensive side of the ball? And if so, how much will he actually contribute as a receiver? Carter finished 12th in the NFL with 66 pressures, according to Tru Media. He also ranked 46th in pressure rate out of 271 players who rushed the passer 100 times or more. But because Carter converted just four of his pressures into sacks, he checked in 211th among that group in sack-to-pressure ratio. That's not something you'd expect to continue for someone who showed such a strong ability to get near the quarterback. Can he finish the job more often in Year 2? For most of his rookie season, Campbell was a solid if relatively unspectacular left tackle. He checked in 39th out of 85 qualified tackles in PFF's pass-blocking grades from Weeks 1 through 12. But after suffering a knee injury that kept him out for about a month, Campbell struggled badly. He finished dead last out of 81 qualified tackles in pass-blocking grade and allowed 15 pressures in four games. His short arms meant people were skeptical of his ability to stick at tackle, and the struggles down the stretch exacerbated those concerns. We'll find out quickly how much of those struggles were injury-related and how much were about him perhaps needing to play another position. Jeanty averaged just 3.7 yards per carry as a rookie, with a 41% rushing success rate. He caught 55 passes but finished 56th among 66 running backs who ran at least 100 routes in yards per target. Like Ward, Jeanty experienced a terrible situation during his rookie season, working behind a decrepit offensive line in perhaps the worst offensive environment in the league. With Klint Kubiak, Tyler Linderbaum and more in the fold, things should be better this year. Can Jeanty's production follow? McMillan had a terrific rookie season, catching 70 passes for 1,014 yards and seven touchdowns. He finished the year with a very solid 1.86 yards per route run average, which was 32nd in the NFL. Generally, star receivers get about 2.00 yards per route. Can McMillan take a s [... truncated ...]
