Detroit Lions
Detroit Lions: G Tate Ratledge (Round 2, No. 57 Overall)
Ratledge entered the 2025 campaign tasked with filling the shoes of Kevin Zeitler, who earned a near-elite 86.5 PFF overall grade in 2024. The rookie got his NFL career off to a strong start, posting the 12th-best PFF run-blocking grade (73.5) among guards.
Pass blocking proved to be a challenge for the right guard, but, like many other rookies, he improved as the season wore on. He gave up six pressures and no sacks across his final seven outings after surrendering 18 pressures and two sacks over his first 10 games.
Green Bay Packers
Green Bay Packers: WR Matthew Golden (Round 1, No. 23 Overall)
One wouldn’t assume that Golden was the Packers’ most impactful rookie by looking at a stat sheet. It’s true that his box score — 29 catches for 361 yards and no touchdowns — tells the story of his season, though: Green Bay didn’t use him much.
The Packers sent just 40 targets his way during the regular season, the fewest for a rookie first-round wide receiver (minimum 200 receiving snaps) since Darrius Heyward-Bey’s 38 in 2009. Yet, no rookie receiver who saw more than 25 catchable targets this regular season hauled in a higher percentage of passes than Golden (96.7%). He did what he could on his meager workload, earning a 68.1 PFF receiving grade.
Chicago Bears
Chicago Bears: T Ozzy Trapilo (Round 2, No. 56 Overall)
Tight end Colston Loveland and wide receiver Luther Burden III came on strong to close out the Bears’ 2025 regular season, leading the team with 597 and 481 receiving yards, respectively, since Week 9. But as good as they were, Trapilo provided arguably even more value.
Since he became a starter at left tackle in Week 12, the second-rounder allowed just 13 quarterback pressures. His 77.7 PFF pass-blocking grade over the span was better than all but that of Chiefs first-rounder Josh Simmons. That helped quarterback Caleb Williams work from a clean pocket 64.8% of the time during that stretch — the 13th-best rate in the NFL.
Minnesota Vikings
Minnesota Vikings: G Donovan Jackson (Round 1, No. 24 Overall)
The Vikings will feel good about Jackson anchoring their interior offensive line for the foreseeable future after his flashes as a rookie.
It wasn’t always pretty for the left guard, who earned a 38.8 PFF pass-blocking grade in Week 2 and a 19.6 mark in Week 15, but he went his final nine outings without allowing a sack and produced a career-high 70.8 PFF run-blocking grade in Week 16.
