10 Unexpected NFL Rookies Of 2025 Who Have Stolen The Spotlight
This article was originally published on Total Pro Sports.
Every year, the NFL draft promises a new wave of talented rookies. And every year, there are guys who steal the spotlight and aren’t always the ones we expected.
The 2025 rookie class has been something else. We’ve seen late-round picks play like first-rounders. We’ve seen Day 1 investments called “busts” in September, then flip the script by December.
“Unexpected” can mean many things. Maybe the draft capital didn’t match the production. Maybe the team around them was supposed to be terrible. And maybe everyone had already written them off before they got their shot.
These 10 NFL rookies? They didn’t care about the expectations. They stole the spotlight anyway.
Let’s get into it.
Which rookies stood out in the NFL in 2025?
Jacob Parrish, CB, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Here’s a guy who quietly became one of the best rookies in the entire 2025 NFL class… and most people probably don’t even know his name yet.
Jacob Parrish. Third round. Pick 84 out of Kansas State. The Buccaneers grabbed him to play in the slot, and all he did was immediately go to work.
Through the first month of the season, Parrish was the second-highest graded rookie in the entire draft class… ahead of a lot of guys who went way earlier than him. Todd Bowles loved him.
But here’s what makes him special… he does everything. Slot coverage? Yep. Outside reps? Sure. The guy is a Swiss Army knife.
Tampa’s defense is among the better squads in the league this season, and Parrish was a big reason why.
Third round, though. Go figure.
Luther Burden III, WR, Chicago Bears
Luther Burden was supposed to go in Round 1. Every mock draft had him there. Then the Bears lucked out and snagged him at pick 39 in the second round, and he started the year… fourth on the depth chart. Behind Rome Odunze, DJ Moore, and Olamide Zaccheus.
But Burden kept climbing. And by December, he wasn’t just on the field… he was one of the most efficient receivers on the roster.
47 catches, 652 yards, 2 touchdowns. A 75 percent catch rate.
His first career touchdown? A 65-yard bomb on a flea flicker against the Cowboys in Week 3. That play told you everything you needed to know. This kid can fly.
Burden didn’t put up the biggest numbers on the team, but every time he touched the ball… something good happened, and he was a big factor in the Bears’ turnaround.
Harold Fannin Jr., TE, Cleveland Browns
Bowling Green. MAC school. Third round. Three different quarterbacks.
None of that mattered to Harold Fannin Jr., and we are seeing that resilience show up at the next level.
The Browns grabbed him at pick 67, and by the end of the season, Fannin led the team in receptions, receiving yards, and touchdowns.
All of them, as a rookie tight end from a Group of Five school. That’s wild.
72 catches. 731 yards. 6 touchdowns. The only rookie with more receptions in 2025 was Tyler Warren.
And look… the Browns didn’t exactly have stability at quarterback this year. Three different guys threw him the ball. It didn’t matter. Fannin was the security blanket every single one of them needed. When David Njoku went down with injuries, Fannin stepped up huge. And he’s been one of the most surprising rookies in the NFL this season.
The kid was ready from Day 1.
Part of an epic Browns rookie class, too. And we’ll get to more than in a minute.
Xavier Watts, S, Atlanta Falcons
The NFL let this man fall to the third round.
Xavier Watts out of Notre Dame… one of the best safeties in college football… and 95 picks went by before the Falcons traded up to grab him at 96. Teams are going to be kicking themselves for years.
Five interceptions as a rookie. You know who else had five picks as a rookie in Atlanta? Deion Sanders. In 1989. Sure, he’s got a long way to go before he’s like Prime Time, but that’s the company Watts is keeping now.
He started all 17 games. 96 tackles. 11 passes defended. Won Defensive Rookie of the Month back in September and never slowed down.
The highlight reel moment? Week against the Rams. Watts picked off Matthew Stafford twice in the same game.
Another somewhat arbitrary stat, but still… he was the only first-year player ever to intercept Stafford multiple times in a single game.
And keep in mind Stafford had thrown just a handful of picks all season before that night. Watts got two of them by himself.
There is a reason people have been talking about Defensive Rookie of the Year. I mean… look at the numbers. It’s a real conversation.
Carson Schwesinger, LB, Cleveland Browns
Alright… if you want the ultimate underdog story of the 2025 season, this is it.
Carson Schwesinger. Second round. Pick 33. UCLA linebacker. Pretty straightforward, right? Well, not so fast.
Four years ago, Schwesinger was a walk-on at UCLA. Not a recruited walk-on. Not a three-star who got overlooked. The guy wasn’t even ranked by recruiting services. His only scholarship offer? FCS Bucknell. Chip Kelly gave him a walk-on spot, and Schwesinger had to earn everything from the scout team up.
And here’s the kicker… before his senior season in 2024, Schwesinger had never started a college game. Not one. Ten career starts. That’s it. All of them in his final year.
Now? 157 tackles this season. Most by a Browns rookie since the turn of the century. Sixth in the entire NFL.
Plus, he had 11 tackles for loss… most among all rookies in the NFL… 2.5 sacks and two picks.
Enough to end up a Pro Bowl alternate. Nearly made All-Pro.
Not bad for a former walk-on.
Tyler Shough, QB, New Orleans Saints
This one hits differently.
Tyler Shough got drafted in the second round by the Saints. Forty overall. Derek Carr retired right after, which meant the starting job was up for grabs. And you know what happened? Shough lost the competition. He was injured in practice. Yep… somehow Spencer Rattler won the job in camp.
And the Saints went 1 and 7.
Then Shough got his chance. Week 9 against the Rams. And suddenly… New Orleans had hope again.
Shough went 5 and 4 as a starter. Won four of his last five games. 67.6 percent completion rate. 2,384 passing yards. 10 touchdowns, 6 interceptions. Nothing flashy, but the guy was steady when they needed him most.
He became just the third rookie in NFL history to post three straight games with at least 250 passing yards and zero interceptions.
Kellen Moore came out after the season and said, “We feel great about Tyler.” He’s the starter going forward.
From losing the job in camp… to owning the future. The 26-year-old took the long road to get here, but now it’s his team. That’s a redemption arc.
TreVeyon Henderson, RB, New England Patriots
The whispers were not kind early on.
TreVeyon Henderson came out of Ohio State as a second-round pick, drafted just two spots behind his college teammate Quinshon Judkins. And through the first seven weeks, he couldn’t find any running lanes and really struggled in pass protection.
Then Rhamondre Stevenson got hurt. And Henderson got his shot.
What happened next was ridiculous.
147 yards against the Bucs in Week 10. A 55-yard touchdown run. A 69-yard touchdown run. First Patriot to have two 50-plus yard runs in the same game since Laurence Maroney back in 2007.
By season’s end, Henderson had 911 rushing yards and 9 touchdowns at 5.1 yards per carry.
He won AFC Offensive Player of the Month in November—and he tied an NFL rookie record with four touchdown runs of 50-plus yards.
The Patriots went 14 and 3 and won the AFC East for the first time since 2019. Henderson’s explosiveness was a huge part of that.
Slow start? Sure. But once he got going… home run hitter is an understatement.
Colston Loveland, TE, Chicago Bears
Remember when everyone called this guy a bust?
The Bears took Colston Loveland 10th overall out of Michigan. A lot of people thought Tyler Warren was the better tight end prospect. When Loveland started slow… the critics pounced.
Through six games: 11 catches, 116 yards, zero touchdowns. The bust narrative was in full swing.
Then Week 9 happened. Six catches. 118 yards. Two touchdowns against the Bengals. And just like that, Loveland caught fire.
Since Week 9… he has completely flipped the script and finished the regular season with 58 catches, 713 yards, and 6 touchdowns… and became the first Bears rookie to lead the team in receptions since Willie Gault in 1983.
But here’s the one that’ll blow your mind… Loveland is the first Bears rookie tight end to lead the team in receiving since Mike Ditka. In 1961. That’s over 60 years ago.
Bust? Nope! How about you try franchise cornerstone?
Crazy how fast things change for one of the NFL’s best rookies.
Jaxson Dart, QB, New York Giants
I mean… we’ve all seen this movie before, right? Giants draft a quarterback. Everyone gets excited. It goes horribly wrong.
Jaxson Dart was supposed to be the next chapter in that sad story. The Giants traded up to grab him at 25 out of Ole Miss. He started the year behind Russell Wilson. People were already writing the obituary.
But then Dart took over in Week 4. And he didn’t just survive… he put his name in the record books.
Nine rushing touchdowns. The most by any Giants quarterback in franchise history. Third-most by any rookie QB ever, trailing only Cam Newton and Billy Kilmer. He became the first quarterback in NFL history to rush for a touchdown in five consecutive games.
Overall? 2,272 passing yards. 15 touchdowns. 5 picks. 487 rushing yards. 24 total touchdowns in just 12 starts.
The Giants went 4 and 13. Let’s not pretend they were good. But for the first time in years… the quarterback actually looked like the answer. Dart was electric.
Maybe… just maybe… the curse is broken. Giants fans haven’t felt hope at the quarterback position in a long time. Dart gave them something to believe in.
Tetairoa McMillan, WR, Carolina Panthers
Tet McMillan got drafted 8th overall by a team everyone expected to be terrible. The Panthers were supposed to be in full rebuild mode. Bottom five. Competing for next year’s top pick.
Someone forgot to tell McMillan.
70 catches. 1,014 yards. 7 touchdowns. He broke the Panthers’ rookie receiving record… a record held by Kelvin Benjamin.
And he became just the second rookie receiver in franchise history to top 1,000 yards.
McMillan led all rookies in targets. All rookies in receiving yards. Over 30 percent of the Panthers’ total receiving production came from him alone… one of the highest shares in the league by any player, let alone a rookie.
And let’s not forget, the Panthers made the playoffs for the first time in eight years. At 8 and 9. With one of the NFL’s best rookies carrying the offense.
That’s not supposed to happen.
The Panthers drafted him to be a building block for the future.
Instead, McMillan made the future arrive early. Carolina hosted a playoff game this January because of what this kid did.
If that’s not stealing the spotlight, I don’t know what is.
