Elite Oklahoma Sooner defensive prospect makes a puzzling slip in latest ESPN 7-Round 2025 NFL mock draft
The Oklahoma Sooners have been one of the NFL's best pipelines over the last several decades, churning out 419 prospects into the NFL. In the 2025 NFL Draft, they only have three highly-regarded prospects in linebacker Danny Stutsman, safety Billy Bowman, and edge rusher Ethan Downs. However, all three are highly coveted prospects. So much […]
The Oklahoma Sooners have been one of the NFL's best pipelines over the last several decades, churning out 419 prospects into the NFL.
In the 2025 NFL Draft, they only have three highly-regarded prospects in linebacker Danny Stutsman, safety Billy Bowman, and edge rusher Ethan Downs. However, all three are highly coveted prospects. So much so that each made it into ESPN's latest 7-round mock draft.
However, one prospect, Stutsman, made a surprising fall all the way to the fifth round, going 141st overall to the Tennessee Titans. How that ends up happening is beyond me, considering Stutsman's stock has only improved since his stellar Combine showing.
There was no explanation given for Stutsman's slip down the boards, something that might have helped sort out such a bizarre selection that goes against consensus.
The 6'3, 233-pound linebacker is a high-motor, fluid athlete with plenty of range to his game. While he isn't an elite coverage player, Stutsman has the tools to do so and is a terrific run defender at the line of scrimmage. The entire coaching staff raves about Stutsman's character and toughness, and he was the heart and soul of the Sooners of the last few seasons.
While he's currently unrefined in coverage, he can earn third-down snaps as a QB spy or blitzer, both from the LOS and depth, using his excellent size and athleticism to win in other ways and keep him on the field.
Given the success we saw last season of rookie Edgerrin Cooper, a player who is stylistically similar to Stutsman, and several other similar linebackers over the years, it's stunning to see a linebacker with good size and elite testing slip so far in the draft.
Two other Sooners were selected in this mock draft, with Billy Bowman Jr. going 98th overall to the Miami Dolphins and Ethan Downs being picked 212th overall by the Baltimore Ravens.
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The Oklahoma Sooners are one of the premier programs in college football when it comes to churning out NFL talent. One of their most recent elite achievements was becoming the first program in the modern era to produce back-to-back number one overall picks in 2018 and 2019 with Baker Mayfield and Kyler Murray. Since, Oklahoma […]
