As the 2025 NFL Draft approaches, the deep edge rusher class has become a central focus. Prospects like Abdul Carter, Shemar Stewart, and Mike Green garner the most discourse, but over a dozen EDGE prospects could go within the top 100.
How does the versatile group of 2025 EDGEs stack up, and what might their NFL projections be? Below, you’ll find our current top 10 EDGE rankings for the 2025 NFL Draft.
Prospects like Landon Jackson, J.T. Tuimoloau, and others were close to cracking the top 10, but they just missed the cut in a stacked EDGE class.
10) James Pearce Jr., Tennessee
In the preseason, James Pearce Jr. was one of the favorites to be the first EDGE prospect off the board. There’s still a good chance he sneaks into Round 1, but more uncertainty has seeped into Pearce’s evaluation as time has gone on.
No one disputes Pearce’s talent. His 4.47 40-yard dash at 6’5″, 245 pounds is proof of his hyper-elite burst and speed off the edge, and he’s also incredibly twitched-up. He rode those tools to 17.5 sacks and 27.5 tackles for loss over the past two seasons.
Having said all this, Pearce is still mainly a speed-to-power rusher who lacks the hip fluidity to run the arc or levy consistent inside moves. He lacks elite length and mass, and there have been whispers about how coachable he is. Pearce is a true boom-or-bust player.
9) Oluwafemi Oladejo, UCLA
Oluwafemi Oladejo might be one of the most fascinating talents in the 2025 NFL Draft. He began his collegiate career as a linebacker but transitioned to the edge in 2024, accumulating four sacks and 14 TFLs. He’s still relatively raw, but the arrow is trending up.
Oladejo’s evaluation is brimming with developmental potential. At 6’3″, 261 pounds, with over 33″ arms, he has a strong, well-leveraged frame. He’s explosive, agile, fluid on counters, and flashes the necessary bend to reduce his surface area and pinch corners.
While Oladejo is still raw operationally, evaluators will point to his Senior Bowl as reason for optimism. There, he unleashed violent cross-chops and chop-club-rip combos in 1-on-1s. Ultimately, he’s a high-character, high-upside EDGE prospect with coverage drop versatility.
8) Princely Umanmielen, Ole Miss
Princely Umanmielen is tougher to figure out as a prospect, but the upside is clear as a pass-rush threat. He logged 11.5 sacks and 22 TFLs in his final two years at Florida and then had a career-best season at Ole Miss in 2024, amassing 10.5 sacks and 14 TFLs.
Umanmielen weighed in at 264 pounds at the Senior Bowl and then 244 pounds at the NFL Combine. His playing weight likely rests in the middle, and at 6’4″, with over 34″ arms, he has the size and length to be a phase-diverse defender with his rare explosion and bend.
Right now, Umanmielen doesn’t have much of a power-rushing component, which is something he’ll have to build up in the NFL. That said, he’s a deadly speed and finesse rusher who can also use his length, flexibility, and instincts to hold strong in run defense.
7) Bradyn Swinson, LSU
Bradyn Swinson isn’t always included among the cluster of EDGE prospects in the early-to-mid Day 2 range, but he grades as a top-50 talent on my board. A late bloomer, Swinson racked up 8.5 sacks and 14 TFLs in his fifth year, catapulting his NFL Draft stock.
Quietly, Swinson has every tool in his arsenal. At 6’4″, 255 pounds, with 33 3/8″ arms, he has size, mass, length, and an ideal speed-to-power profile. He’s exceedingly explosive, with legitimate first-step explosiveness and arc-running burst, and his bend is elite.
Swinson has room to be more consistent with his pad level through counters, and he can also continue to expand his pass-rush arsenal. But Swinson’s high ceiling on the attack, combined with his sturdy run defense, makes him a worthwhile gambit past Round 1.
6) Donovan Ezeiruaku, Boston College
If you’re looking for pass-rush production, Donovan Ezeiruaku might be your desired target in the fringe first-round range. Ezeiruaku led the ACC in sacks (16.5) and TFLs (21) in 2024, and on tape, he has arguably the deepest pass-rush bag in the 2025 NFL Draft.
At 6’2 1/4″, 248 pounds, with 34 1/2″ arms, Ezeiruaku’s body type is extremely unique. He has ideal natural leverage in the trenches but also abnormally long arms, which he can use to outreach blockers and capitalize on his leverage game.
Ezeiruaku isn’t the most explosive or powerful, and that’s what ultimately dilutes his ceiling. Nevertheless, he has enough speed off the line, he’s incredibly bendy and agile, and his motor runs hot from snap to whistle. As a 3-4 rush OLB, he has a bright future.
5) Mykel Williams, Georgia
There are two potential first-round EDGE prospects in a similar raw, power-heavy mold. Mykel Williams is the lower of the two on our board, but he still has plenty of appeal within the top 32 picks. The central element of his evaluation is his hyper-elite power profile.
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At 6’5″, 260 pounds, with near-35″ arms, Williams is built to exert overwhelming force and generate displacement. He’s a slab of rock in the run game with great assignment discipline, and as a pass-rusher, he can win with bull-rushes, long-arms, and swims.
Beyond his power and torque, Williams doesn’t have a very complete profile, and his overall pass-rush execution is very inconsistent 1-on-1. That said, Williams can be weaponized on day one as a stunter, battering ram, and edge-setter, and his ceiling offers even more.
4) Nic Scourton, Texas A&M
He’s the lower-graded Texas A&M edge rusher by a slight margin on our board, but if you value pass-rush production and projection security, there’s a reasonable path to prefer Nic Scourton over Shemar Stewart in the 2025 NFL Draft.
Scourton doesn’t have the elite power profile or the torrid burst that Stewart boasts. That said, Scourton has a strong, well-leveraged frame at 6’3″, 257 pounds, with 33″ arms, and he wins against tackles with a combination of finesse and fast, strong, workmanlike hands.
Scourton is one of the better pass-rush technicians in the 2025 NFL Draft, and it shows. His spin move is the flashiest part of his game, but he can also win with chops, clubs, rips, inside counters, and power exertions. We may look back to see that he was undervalued.
3) Shemar Stewart, Texas A&M
In recent memory, there hasn’t been an EDGE prospect more polarizing than Shemar Stewart. Stewart never eclipsed more than 1.5 sacks in a given CFB season, but his generational athletic profile has him projected as early as the top-12 picks.
At 6’5″, 267 pounds, with over 34″ arms, Stewart dazzled with a 4.59 40-yard dash, 40″ vertical, and 10’11” broad jump at the NFL Combine. That athleticism shows up on tape. Stewart rockets off the snap, erases gaps in pursuit, and can channel awesome power.
Stewart plays with the speed, power, and twitch of a Super Serum patient, but his pass-rush execution is woefully inconsistent. His floor in run defense is high enough, but you’re ultimately drafting Stewart for his upside as an unequivocal game-wrecker down the road.
2) Mike Green, Marshall
Only one player can lead the FBS in sacks each year. In 2024, that player was Mike Green. In his second year at Marshall, Green amassed 17 sacks and 23 tackles for loss, earning Sun Belt Player of the Year honors, national acclaim, and an invite to the Senior Bowl.
Green has since aced the offseason process, and he’s viewed as a consensus first-round talent. His explosiveness and bend stand out at 6’3″, 251 pounds, but he also has surprising speed-to-power, efficient and synergetic hands, and strength in run defense.
For Green, the on-field evaluation isn’t the only factor. Teams will need to carefully vet his dismissal from Virginia. If Green passes the background check and character evaluation, he has the tools to be a dynamic pass-rush catalyst for odd and hybrid-front teams.
1) Abdul Carter, Penn State
There’s Abdul Carter, and then there’s everyone else. It’s that simple. Carter isn’t just EDGE1 in the 2025 NFL Draft. He’s also PFSN’s top-ranked prospect in the class, a blue-chip talent, and an impact starter right out of the gate at the NFL level.
Carter transitioned from off-ball linebacker to EDGE in 2024 and didn’t waste any time becoming a nightmarish force for opposing tackles. He led the nation with 24 TFLs in an All-American campaign and also registered 12 sacks on the rush.
At 6’3″, 250 pounds, Carter’s first step is truly an anomaly. He has teleporting explosiveness that can’t be matched, he can bend while keeping speed, he can engulf runners in pursuit, and he can erode extensions with his ferocious compact power.