Four Tennessee Football players ranked in ESPN Top 200 for 2025 NFL Draft
Four Tennessee Football players showed up in the top-200 prospects for the 2025 NFL Draft, as ranked by ESPN NFL Draft analyst Field Yates on Thursday: James Pearce, Omarr Norman-Lott, Dylan Sampson and Dont’e Thornton.
Pearce is the No. 30 overall prospect according to Yates and is ranked as the No. 6 edge rusher in the draft. Norman-Lott is ranked No. 90 and Sampson is No. 99, both with third-round grades. Thornton is No. 197 with a sixth-round grade.
“Pearce’s 4.47-second 40-yard dash in Indianapolis reminded of his high upside,” Yates wrote. “He has such effortless movements, good power, rare burst off the edge and the ability to bend around offensive linemen to create pressure.”
‘Pearce did not have the most consistent tape last season’
Yates and Mel Kiper Jr. combined for an ESPN three-round mock draft earlier this week, with Pearce dropping all the way to No. 43 to the San Francisco 49ers.
“(Pearce) posted 17 sacks over the past two seasons,” Yates wrote, “along with the second-best pressure rate in the nation in 2024 (19%). The best version of Pearce has a legitimate case to be in the same zip code as (Penn State’s Abdul) Carter as a pass rusher, but Pearce did not have the most consistent tape last season.”
The five edge rushers Yates ranked ahead of Pearce are Carter, Jalon Walker (Georgia), Mike Green (Marshall), Shemar Stewart (Texas A&M) and Mykell Williams (Georgia).
Yates had Norman-Lott as his No. 11 defensive tackle, Sampson was the No. 8 running back and Thornton was the No. 22 wide receiver.
Sampson broke Tennessee single-season rushing records for yards, with 1,491, and touchdowns, with 22, during his junior season. In 35 games over three years at Tennessee, he ran for 2,492 yards and 35 touchdowns while averaging 5.9 yards per carry.
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Norman-Lott, who transferred from Arizona State before the 2023 season, had 44 tackles, 10 tackles for loss and 9.5 sacks in 23 games at Tennessee.
Thornton, an Oregon transfer, caught 39 passes for 885 yards and seven touchdowns in 22 games with the Vols, including 26 catches for 661 yards and six touchdowns last season.
Five Vols drafted in ESPN seven-round NFL mock draft
ESPN’s Matt Miller earlier this month had the five Tennessee players getting picked in his seven-round NFL mock draft, with Bru McCoy joining Pearce, Sampson, Norman-Lott and Thornton.
Miller had Pearce as a second-round pick, going No. 49 overall to the Cincinnati Bengals. He had Sampson in the third round, at No. 67 overall to the Cleveland Browns, and Norman-Lott in the fourth round, at No. 116 to the Miami Dolphins.
He had both Thornton and McCoy as fifth-round picks, with Thornton at No. 145 overall to the New York Jets and McCoy at No. 153 to the Bengals.
