Mel Kiper, Field Yates weigh production vs. potential for Shemar Stewart in 2025 NFL Draft

In a recent mock draft for ESPN, analysts Mel Kiper and Field Yates had Texas A&M defensive lineman Shemar Stewart going No. 16 overall to the Arizona Cardinals, but they admit there’s a wide range he could fluctuate in based on how things unfold before the draft.

Stewart’s numbers on paper in college are a little lacking, one of the main reasons he’s not being talked about much as a potential top-10 pick.

“He’s got four and a half sacks in his career, Mel,” Yates said. “It is going to require a GM who has a strong backbone to take Shemar Stewart early in the draft. I think 16 is about right for where he goes. Is it too risky? Would you invest this level of capital in a player with that small of a track record production-wise?”

To that, Kiper answered with a summation of Stewart as a prospect. He’s the quintessential possible high-upside, high-risk type player.

If he only produces like he did in college, he’s probably not worth a high first-round pick. But given the immense athletic potential, he could turn into a much more productive player at the NFL level.

That’s a very real possibility.

“He’s an LTPer, he’s a look-the-part guy,” Kiper said. “There’s no question about that. He looks like a guy that could be like a Travon Walker when he came out No. 1 overall. He looks like a guy that certainly could be in that top-five discussion. The production, with how many disruptive plays… in college I went back and watched a lot of Shemar Stewart. There were a lot of games where he didn’t have a chance to get a sack. I mean the ball was getting out of the quarterback’s hands. He’s getting blocked. Remember, they had other players.”

The athletic potential is there to be a monster, Yates explained.

“Shemar Stewart, and if you’re just watching this for the first time or just hearing about him for the first time, you have to understand that what we are saying is not made up out of thin air,” Yates said. “It is what people around the NFL are saying right now. He’s 6 foot 6, he’s 281 pounds. And I don’t know how fast he’s going to run at the 40 if he does so at the Combine, Mel, but if it’s like he told me 4.51 or 4.53 for a 281-pound player, I tell you it’s real. There are people in the NFL saying if you just had me rate this guy based off the traits and the upside, he’s one of the five to 10 best players in this year’s class.”

Kiper circled back around to the argument that Stewart might also have just been overshadowed a touch by a very productive teammate.

“Nic Scourton is a good football player, by the way. It’s amazing on the same team you have Nic Scourton who came over from Purdue over to Texas A&M,” Kiper said. “Nic Scourton is a guy that has a ton of talent, but he’s not a guy that’s necessarily; we’ll see how he tests. We’ll see how that all goes. Shemar Stewart should test off the charts.

“So you’ve got a guy a little bit more productive in Scourton that may drop a little. I think Scourton’s going to be a whale of a pick in the late first round area, maybe early second, but late first, could go a little higher if he tests better than we think. But for Shemar Stewart, I think in the middle of the first round.”