2025 NFL Draft Review – Part One - Terrence Ferguson

Introduction

The 2025 NFL Draft has officially come to a close and teams are now finalising their preseason rosters by signing undrafted free agents. The Rams ended up drafting 6 prospects that they hope can help solidify their roster and take them to another Super Bowl while also adding a number of UDFA’s that can compete for roster spots once preseason comes around.

The Rams started Thursday night with pick number 26 in a first round that didn’t offer many surprises other than Jacksonville’s trade up for Travis Hunter. In this 2025 draft class, it was pretty commonly believed that it was a draft deep with starters but had a lack of blue-chip talent. This meant that, teams had drastically different draft boards and, at times, opted to go for team fits ahead of physical traits. 

The Rams did consider all three options (trading up, down or sticking and picking) but in the end opted for a trade down out of the first round.

Rams trade down to pick 46

As the first round began, the Rams were constantly on the phones to teams above them asking about the price of a possible trade up. They had a number of potential targets that all ended up being taken before their pick at 26: Tetairoa McMillan at 8, Colston Loveland at 10, Tyler Warren at 14 and Emeka Egbuka at 19. Personally, I would’ve loved to jump ahead of the Buccaneers at pick 19 to grab Egbuka but McVay and Snead both said that the asking price given by teams was way too high to even consider.

Once, they knew that it was too expensive to move up, it wasn’t a huge surprise that the Rams were willing to trade back out of the first round. The only worry was if anyone would be willing to trade up at that point in the draft when the player wouldn’t necessarily be considered ‘blue-chip’.

Former Rams Defensive Co-ordinator Raheem Morris and the Atlanta Falcons came to the rescue. The full terms of the trade were: Falcons receive picks 26 and 101, Rams receive picks 46, 242 and a first round pick in 2026. Even McVay came out after the draft and said that he was surprised at the return the Rams managed to get for the trade back. Not only would it be a great return in any year but next year’s draft class, both as a whole and specifically for quarterbacks, is projected to be very strong so an extra first round pick could be massive.

The strategy next year now becomes even more flexible and could put the Rams in an incredibly strong position to maintain its high quality roster. One popular option may be to use that extra first round pick to trade up for a top quality quarterback to take the reins of the franchise from Matthew Stafford if he decides to retire. The Rams may also decide to just stick and pick two first round talents to help maintain the foundations of the team or even use the pick to trade for a quality player midseason to help push for a Super Bowl in Stafford’s last season in the NFL.

Personally, I loved this trade in every way. The gap in quality between pick 26 and 46 wasn’t huge so to gain a first round pick next year is magnificent business by Les Snead and the Rams. The Rams were even considering taking Terrance Ferguson at pick 26 but he ended up falling straight in to their lap at pick 46 which made the trade that much better. 

Trade down grade: A+

Rams select TE Terrance Ferguson

For the past two drafts it has been clear that the Rams have wanted a top tier tight end to pair with Tyler Higbee and it seems that they have finally got their man. Two years ago, they tried to trade up for Dalton Kincaid, and just last year they aggressively tried to trade up for Brock Bowers who turned out to be a revelation for the Raiders offense. This time they traded back and still got their star receiving tight end that they were after.

Ferguson himself holds the record for both career receptions and touchdown receptions at Oregon for a tight end, having been at the college for 4 years. He played a decent role in all four years so has great experience – in a highly valued Oregon team – for a prospect that is just 22 years old. He is also heading into an experienced tight end room, including veterans Tyler Higbee and Colby Parkinson.

One knock on Ferguson coming out of college was his blocking ability. While he could do a decent job, he wasn’t consistently winning as he was a little raw in terms of technique. He certainly has the size and athleticism to be able to be a great blocker as well as a receiver, so being in a room with two high quality blocking tight ends in Higbee and Parkinson will hopefully prove the world of good for Ferguson and he can develop nicely into a more well-rounded tight end.

The only other small concern that comes with Ferguson is a concussion that occurred in a game this year against UCLA. It was just the fourth game of the season when Ferguson took a big hit to the head when bringing in a catch and lay unconscious on the field for a few seconds before dragging himself back to his feet and walking gingerly off the field. Despite Ferguson playing every game for the rest of the year, there were a couple of incidents where you could tell he was tentative to bring in contested catches or receptions where he knew he was going to take a hit. However, this was his only concussion in college so it may be a complete outlier and not affect him whatsoever when he arrives in the NFL, but it is something to look out for as it is something the Rams have had to deal with before with Brandin Cooks most famously.

Other than that, there aren’t any glaring deficiencies in Ferguson’s game which means that his ceiling in the NFL is extremely high. He is at his very best when running vertically up the seams of the defence and bringing in passes for first downs and touchdowns. At 6”5 he can box out smaller safeties or linebackers when bringing in catches and then has the ability to be able to shrug off defenders trying to tackle him, run right through them or even make them miss with his impressive agility. In 2024, 72.1% of his catches resulted in either a first down or touchdown and 25.6% of his catches resulted in 20+ yard gains. This is exactly what the Rams need with Cooper Kupp gone, a receiver who can generate first downs with easy completions but also have the ability to generate big plays.

He was the most impressive tight end in terms of testing at the combine, proving that he was by far the most athletic of those that did test there. He had the quickest 40-yard dash time of all TE’s with 4.63 seconds combined with an elite 10-yard split of 1.55 seconds which proves how fast he can get off the line of scrimmage and beat defenders quickly to help his quarterback make quick and easy throws. He also had the best vertical jump and third best broad jump among tight ends at the combine which justifies his position in the top tier of uber-athletic tight ends in this draft class.

It is not just his athleticism that got Ferguson drafted this early by the Rams, he pairs it with top tier route running. He has great footballing IQ that allows him to run his routes to perfection in order to find gaps in the defence and create separation and leverage against his defender. He doesn’t have any limitations in his route tree either, he’s more than comfortable running anything from go/streak routes using his top end speed, to stop/curl routes with urgency and then drag/in/out/corner routes with great cuts and feet to give his quarterback a larger window to throw in to on what are usually the more difficult routes to throw to.

As a whole, his receiving skills are superb on every level, and he can beat a defence in so many different ways which will work well in tandem with Puka Nacua, Davante Adams and all of the other offensive weapons that the Rams now possess. Last season, the Rams offense was not at the level that was expected of the group, so they will be hoping to reconjure the fear in defences when they come up against the Rams offense.

Finally, he is a great weapon in the redzone. This was a key downfall for the Rams offense last year as Kupp wasn’t able to generate the separation he had been able to in previous years and Higbee missed most of the year through injury. With Higbee back and Davante Adams signed, the 6”5 Ferguson can provide another great option for Stafford in what becomes a crowded end zone as offenses reach the redzone and the field shrinks in front of them. He is able to high point passes as well as create separation so he can be used in a number of different ways in the redzone which make him a valuable weapon for Sean McVay and Mike LaFleur.

Draft pick grade: B+

Conclusion

I really like Ferguson as a tight end and his ceiling is extremely high if he can put his athleticism and mental tools together in the NFL so I trust him to make an instant impact and then take over the tight end room from Tyler Higbee when he leaves/retires. The Rams’ tight ends produced the least amount of receiving yards for any tight end room across the NFL last season so it was vital that the Rams could get a difference maker at the position to give Matthew Stafford another option in the passing game.

However, the reason I can’t give this pick an A is because of the other players available at the time of our selection. All three cornerbacks of Will Johnson, Benjamin Morrison and Trey Amos were still on the board so it was surprising when the Rams opted not to draft what may be considered their biggest need when there were some very good options available. I know it would’ve been risky to take Johnson or Morrison due to their injury histories, but Amos was being mocked to the Rams at 26 let alone 46, so the value and positional need were both there.

Despite that, we all know how much McVay loves to add to his offensive weaponry and reports coming out of the draft claim that James Gladstone (former lead scout for the Rams) called the pick before it was announced so they must’ve really liked the tight end for a long time and at the end of the day, there’s a reason why they’re running an NFL organisation. 

Trust in McVay. 

Trust in Snead.