Yesterday, I examined 10 prospects who could end up being drafted well above their consensus ranking. Today, it’s the opposite: which prospects are prime candidates to be draft night fallers? Whether it’s because of injury or character concerns, a crowded position group, positional value, or any number of other reasons, a few players beloved by the media inevitably fall each year. It’s the nature of the draft.

For this exercise, I’ll be using Arif Hasan’s media consensus board to gauge the stock of each player. It’s the industry standard consensus board for a reason, and my board has been included for the second year in a row. As always, draft fallers are determined relative to expected positioning and round — a top-five prospect falling 10 spots is viewed as a plummet in the moment, but “falling” from pick No. 84 to No. 94 is barely a footnote, if that.

We here at NFL Trade Rumors have a lot more draft content coming your way over the next week, so be on the lookout for that! This draft is shaping up to be as wild and unpredictable as we’ve seen in recent years, so stay tuned for all our content aiming to keep you all as informed and up to date as possible.

• Final Position Rankings: Quarterbacks
• Final Position Rankings: Running Backs
• Final Position Rankings: Wide Receivers
• Final Position Rankings: Tight Ends
• Final Position Rankings: Offensive Tackles
• Final Position Rankings: Interior Offensive Linemen
• Final Position Rankings: Edge Rushers
• Final Position Rankings: Defensive Tackles
• Final Position Rankings: Linebackers
• Final Position Rankings: Cornerbacks
• Final Position Rankings: Safeties

Rueben Bain Jr. — ED, Miami

Consensus Rank: 6

Bain is my No. 1 overall player in this class, but there are a few reasons he could end up falling outside the top 10. The first is his arm length: he measured at the Combine with just under 31-inch arms, good for the first percentile among edge rushers (that’s bad). Even though there’s reporting that some teams measured him as having longer arms than that, the favorable measurements would only put him in the 15th percentile or so.

The other reason for his potential fall is the news story that broke earlier this week. Back in 2024, Bain was cited for reckless driving after a crash that left one of his passengers with incapacitating injuries. Tragically, she died a few months later after never waking up from her coma. That is an unbelievably sad and heartbreaking incident, but Bain was never charged, and when the story became public, the victim’s family released a statement characterizing the event as a tragic accident and saying they wished Bain well.

Though this driving incident was big news for the public and even the media, it sounds like teams around the league have known about this for a while. In fact, it was reported that though Bain might fall, it would be due to his short arms, not this story.

Regardless, I still have a tough time believing Bain will fall too far in this draft. It’s just not strong enough at the top to pick apart one of the most talented and complete players in the class. From No. 8 to No. 15, the picks belong to the Saints, Chiefs, Bengals, Dolphins, Cowboys, Rams, Ravens and Buccaneers. I doubt he lasts long through that gauntlet of teams that either need defensive line help or love drafting pass rushers.

Keldric Faulk — ED, Auburn

Consensus Rank: 19

Faulk is an interesting prospect to monitor. The Cowboys are a team that has been connected to him, and he could still very well go in the top 20. The length, power and speed he possesses on the edge are genuinely rare, and his potential is as high as almost anyone in this class.

Yet he’s simply not a productive pass rusher right now and won’t be a fit in many schemes. His strong athleticism scores and run defense skills give him a solid floor, but his pass rush potential is still in question. This is a very deep class of edge rushers — if teams in the first round are chasing pass rush production from that position, they may pass on Faulk for other options.

Avieon Terrell — CB, Clemson

Consensus Rank: 20

I haven’t heard much about Terrell in a while. He’s had a pretty quiet pre-draft process, which sometimes doesn’t mean much. In his case, though, what we have heard hasn’t been great. A hamstring injury limited him throughout the spring, meaning he couldn’t run his 40 until his pro day. At the event, he aggravated the injury during his first run and was timed at 4.64 seconds. For a corner who measured in at just 5-11 and 186 pounds at the Combine, that’s not what you want to see. 

Meanwhile, we’re hearing so many good things about some of the other cornerback prospects: Mansoor Delane is likely to be the first defensive back taken in the draft, Jermod McCoy might have pushed his way back into the top 15 after a strong pro day, Chris Johnson is a sneaky candidate for the top 20, Colton Hood keeps meeting extensively with all the teams picking around the end of the first round and everyone loves D’Angelo Ponds’ demeanor and skillset.

So where does that leave Terrell? He’s a turnover machine and plays hard against the run, but will teams really be willing to take a slot corner in the first round? For that matter, will he even be the first slot cornerback taken? There was a time that felt like a given, but Ponds is getting more buzz right now and Arizona S Treydan Stukes is getting a little first-round love as primarily a slot defender. It’s looking more and more like Terrell won’t have a chair when the music stops at the end of the first round. 

Peter Woods — DT, Clemson

Consensus Rank: 22

I would be absolutely stunned if Woods went as high as he’s ranked in the consensus. He’s had a poor pre-draft process, weighing just 298 pounds at the Combine, measuring with short arms and putting up mediocre athletic testing numbers. It’s not like other defensive tackles have been putting on clinics and shooting up boards, but there are several who don’t have nearly the same concerns Woods does.

And the reality is, I don’t know that any interior defenders will go in the top 20 or even the top 25. Ohio State’s Kayden McDonald and Florida’s Caleb Banks are probably the two candidates to go in the first round from that group, but McDonald isn’t a pass rusher and Banks has significant medical concerns. I doubt Woods goes over either of them (or Georgia’s Christen Miller, for that matter) and none of them are locks to go super early next week.

Emmanuel McNeil-Warren — S, Toledo

Consensus Rank: 26

Think back to around the time of the Senior Bowl in January: McNeil-Warren jumped on everyone’s radar and shot up draft boards. Pretty quickly he was getting hyped as the second-best safety in this class and there were talks of him going top 15.

Since then, Oregon’s Dillon Thieneman has reasserted himself as the second safety in the draft and could go as high as the top 10. In recent days, Stukes is getting tabbed as a guy who could maybe sneak into the first round, possibly as the third safety off the board. In general, safeties tend to slide too. 

Where does that leave McNeil-Warren? I’ve been pretty consistent that I see him as a second-round pick, but consensus has him in the first round. It would still be a surprise to see him fall out of the top 50, but the first round is more of an open question with him than it’s been in a while.

CJ Allen — LB, Georgia

Consensus Rank: 33

At one time, Allen was getting consistently mocked to the Cowboys at No. 12. League sources and coaches were raving about his intangibles, his leadership, his reliability and his on-field presence. In a strong linebacker class, he was viewed as being in a tier of his own behind Ohio State’s Arvell Reese and Sonny Styles but ahead of the rest of the pack.

I never really bought into the hype with Allen, though, and we’re starting to see things swing the other way. He’s a mediocre athlete who’s slow to react in coverage and lacks true sideline-to-sideline range — although the sub-4.5 second 40 he ran at his personal pro day this week is a potential rebuttal. I still have him ranked much lower than consensus, and while he was once seen as a lock for the top 20, he’s getting left out of more and more first-round mocks. Maybe Allen still sneaks into the back end of the first round, but there’s also a world where he goes behind some of the other second-round linebackers, like Texas Tech’s Jacob Rodriguez, Texas’ Anthony Hill Jr. or Cincinnati’s Jake Golday.

Cashius Howell — ED, Texas A&M

Consensus Rank: 35

Howell is a super productive SEC pass rusher with a ton of experience. On tape, his ability to rush the passer is undeniable. He’s quick with great hands, and has a deep and varied bag of pass rush moves and counters to beat all sorts of tackles.

Unfortunately, he’s also small and relatively unathletic. His arms are a full half-inch shorter than Bain’s (making them the shortest for an edge rusher in Combine history) and he didn’t run as fast as people expected. This is a very deep edge rusher class with a lot of premium athletes in the mix. Howell is ranked as a borderline first-round player, but he might not even go in the top 50.

Brandon Cisse — CB, South Carolina

Consensus Rank: 42

Much like Terrell, I just haven’t heard much about Cisse in a pretty loaded cornerback class. Personally, I didn’t love his tape, but it’s undeniable that he’s a plus athlete with good length and the ability to play in man or zone schemes. That has value. It’s been a long time since I’ve heard any first-round buzz for Cisse, and his consensus rank is starting to move towards the middle of Round 2. Even that might be a little high for a player whose tape is subpar and could easily get lost in the shuffle.

Lee Hunter — DT, Texas Tech

Consensus Rank: 43

Back in January, Hunter’s stock couldn’t have been higher. Coming off a dominant performance in the College Football Playoff,  Hunter showed up to the Senior Bowl and played like one of the best prospects in attendance. He’s a physically dominant nose tackle who can play 3-tech as well and has some of the best pound-for-pound strength in the class.

His momentum stalled out, though, after Hunter showed up to the Combine and tested like an all-time bad athlete. Suddenly, that painted his 2025 tape in a new light. He wasn’t a consistent pass rush threat until the end of the season, and with such poor athletic testing numbers, maybe his success late should be viewed with more skepticism. At that point, he becomes another run-stuffing two-gapper in a class full of them, except most of the others aren’t going to require a top-50 pick. As a result, Hunter could slip into Round 3 as teams prioritize other positions.

Could Be A Riser Or Faller?

Jordyn Tyson — WR, Arizona State

Consensus Rank: 14

Tyson is a unique case, so he gets his own section. Off the tape alone, he’s the unquestioned top receiver in this class. He checks every box you could possibly want in a true No. 1 threat in the NFL, someone teams could funnel their passing attacks through today. He’s the No. 5 overall player on my board.

The problem is Tyson’s dealt with some serious injury concerns throughout his collegiate career. A broken collarbone to end his sophomore campaign was more unfortunate than concerning, but a torn ACL as a freshman at Colorado and the consistent hamstring issues that kept him out of the lineup periodically as a junior this past year were more noteworthy. When he didn’t participate in any testing or drills at the Combine (again because of that hamstring), red flags started being thrown up.

That’s when I became worried Tyson might become the next Will Johnson. The No. 6 overall player on my board in 2025, Johnson’s tape at Michigan was incredible, truly a blue-chip talent. But teams had serious lingering injury concerns with him, and clearly was off a ton of boards by the time the draft rolled around. The Cardinals took him in the middle of the second round and he was easily their best cornerback as a rookie, but he also missed a chunk of the season with more injuries.

Tyson won’t fall that far almost no matter what at this point, but it’s a good receiver class and there are quality prospects who don’t carry as much baggage with them. Throughout this process, there were also rumors that some teams questioned Tyson’s toughness, though I never put much stock into that.

Over the past week, however, the narrative has started to flip. Some reports now indicate Tyson is expected to battle Ohio State’s Carnell Tate to be the first receiver taken, and teams in the top 10 are inquiring if he’ll make it to them. At this point, it seems more likely that he’ll go in the top 10 than fall out of the top 20.

Still, the injury concerns are real, and if enough teams take him off their board, it’s possible the draft could fall in a way where he just doesn’t get taken early. If that happens, maybe he goes into a bit of a free fall on night one.