Recapping a historic 2025 NFL Draft for Ole Miss

This past weekend’s NFL Draft was always going to bring good news to Ole Miss and its former players, but just how good of news was unknown.

Turns out the football program has a historic draft class to tout when it hits the recruiting trail as eight Rebels heard their name called over the three-day seven-round draft. It is the most Ole Miss players to be drafted in the seven-round era (since 1994) and second-most since the AFL-NFL merger (since 1967).

There were nine Rebels selected in the 1968 NFL Draft.

The above statistics point out, too, that this year’s draft produced the most Ole Miss players taken in the Lane Kiffin era (since 2020). Since 2021 there have been 28 Rebels drafted under Kiffin, the most taken under a head coach since 16 players were drafted in the David Cutcliffe era.

There were five players taken in the first three rounds, which was a new program record.

The eight Ole Miss players taken in the 2025 NFL Draft:

• Walter Nolen – Arizona Cardinals (First Round, 16th overall pick)
• Jaxson Dart – New York Giants (First Round, 25th overall pick)
• Tre Harris – Los Angeles Chargers (Second Round, 55th overall pick)
• Trey Amos – Washington Commanders (Second Round, 61st overall pick)
• Princely Umanmielen – Carolina Panthers (Third Round, 77th overall pick)
• Jordan Watkins – San Francisco 49ers (Fourth Round, 138th overall pick)
• Chris Paul, Jr. – Los Angeles Ram (Fifth Round, 172nd overall pick)
• JJ Pegues – Las Vegas Raiders (Sixth Round, 180th overall pick)

Nolen and Dart were the most-discussed to have first round potential and both were taken off the board on the draft’s opening night.

For Dart he became part of a quarterback sweepstakes with Colorado’s Shadeur Sanders. It ended up being the Giants that traded back up into the first round to snag Dart as the second quarterback taken behind No. 1 overall pick Cam Ward of Miami. Sanders stayed on the board until Saturday’s fifth round.

Following in the footsteps of former Ole Miss legend Eli Manning and going to the Giants, Dart became the third Rebels quarterback to go in the first round behind both Eli and his father, Archie Manning.

“This place is iconic,” Dart said of the Giants organization during his introductory press conference last Friday. “Everybody in the National Football League knows it. If you’re a fan you know it. So, I’m blessed to be here. I’m humbled by it. It’s extraordinary to see it on the wall when you walk by it. You can just feel it in the air when you’re here.”

The Cardinals also continued a tradition of selecting Ole Miss players by taking Nolen. In 2016 they drafted defensive lineman Robert Nkemdiche.

He and Dart became the 22nd and 23rd Ole Miss players to be drafted in the first round in program history. They were the first since tight end Evan Engram was drafted by the Giants in 2017. It was the first time since 2016 Ole Miss had multiple players drafted in the first round.

Ole Miss saw plenty of players earn undrafted free agent signings to keep their dream of pursuing a NFL career alive.

One player that was surprising to see as a UDFA signing and not a draft pick was defensive end Jared Ivey. The former Georgia Tech transfer was considered a high-to-middle-round prospect and expectations were that Ivey would not be on the board past Friday.

Once the seven rounds were in the books on Saturday afternoon Ivey remained available. On Sunday he signed with the Seattle Seahawks, one of 10 Rebels to sign as an UDFA.

The other nine Ole Miss UDFAs are:

• Ulysses Bentley – Indianapolis Colts
• Caden Davis – New York Jets
• Nate Kalepo – Tampa Bay Buccaneers
• Caden Prieskorn – Detroit Lions
• John Saunders, Jr. – Miami Dolphins
• Gerquan Scott – Buffalo Bills
• Brandon Turnage – Kansas City Chiefs
• Trey Washington – Indianapolis Colts
• Juice Wells – New York Giants

While not signing as a UDFA there were two other Ole Miss players got earned minicamp invites. Cornerback Isaiah Hamilton will go to the Seahawks rookie camp joining Ivey while offensive lineman Jeremy James is heading to the Raiders minicamp, joining Pegues.