Thursday, April 24 marked the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft, with the futures of 32 athletes officially decided in a night full of surprises.
As expected, some highly touted prospects slid out of the first round — one of them being South Carolina safety Nick Emmanwori. Let’s take a look at the key reasons why Emmanwori wasn’t selected on Day 1 of the draft.
Why Emmanwori Slipped to Day 2
While many analysts expected the South Carolina safety to come off the board late in the first round, NFL teams had other plans. Several top prospects — even some once considered potential top-10 picks — saw their evaluations differ drastically from the public consensus.
For Emmanwori, the main reason behind his fall was positional value. Teams placed less emphasis on the secondary in Round 1, choosing instead to load up on the trenches. Ten defensive linemen were drafted Thursday night, compared to just four defensive backs.
Zooming in further, only one safety was selected in the first round: Georgia’s Malaki Starks, widely seen as the best in the class, who went 27th to the Baltimore Ravens. There were 18 picks between the first and second cornerbacks taken, signaling that NFL front offices weren’t exceptionally high on this year’s defensive back group.
Additionally, the sheer amount of talent still available late in the first round ended up overshadowing Emmanwori. Not only was Malaki Starks still on the board at pick 27, but so were prospects like Will Johnson, Josh Simmons, Jihaad Campbell, and Mike Green — all of whom were widely projected to go ahead of Emmanwori.
Should Emmanwori Have Been Picked in the First Round?
It’s tough to pinpoint precisely what teams should or shouldn’t do in a process as layered as the NFL Draft. However, understanding how a player is perceived across the league helps anticipate moves that raw tape analysis alone cannot explain.
According to analyst Ian Cummings from PFSN, Emmanwori was ranked as the fourth-best safety in this year’s class:
- Malaki Starks, Georgia
- Andrew Mukuba, Texas
- Xavier Watts, Notre Dame
- Nick Emmanwori, South Carolina
- Jordan Hancock, Ohio State
While Emmanwori brings a unique blend of linebacker build with the fluidity and athleticism required to play safety at the next level, certain inconsistencies, particularly against the run and in how he processes and reacts to plays, may have raised red flags for NFL franchises, ultimately pushing him out of first-round consideration.
Emmanwori turned heads at the NFL Combine with a historic showing, finishing as the most athletic safety in the event according to the Relative Athletic Score (RAS). He clocked a 4.38-second 40-yard dash, posted a 43-inch vertical jump, and recorded an 11’6″ broad jump — numbers that place him among the elite athletes at his position.
Still, despite the clear physical tools, teams may be hesitant to spend early capital on a player they view as more of an athletic outlier than a refined football product. There’s a concern that Emmanwori could end up being just that — a freak athlete who never fully translates his traits into consistent, high-level NFL play.
Therefore, his slide into Day 2 is both justifiable and somewhat expected. In Ian Cummings’ 7-round mock draft for PFSN, Emmanwori was projected as the 46th overall pick — a selection that originally belonged to the Atlanta Falcons. He’s expected to be one of the most sought-after prospects entering the second round and should hear his name called early on Day 2.
