Nick Baumgardner

Ann Arbor, Michoacán

I write about football and the NFL Draft at The Athletic. Dad. Flint born, Millington Cardinal. 📸: nickbaumgardnerfb 🎙️ Welcome To Detroit 📖"Mountaintop."

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Articles

Which teams made best picks over past 5 years?

4 days ago | nytimes.com | Nick Baumgardner

Football is, and will forever be, a talent-driven sport. How an NFL team handles its draft picks - every single one of them, every year - is the predictor for current and future success. And though it's extremely difficult to assign a numeric value to a football player or draft class (especially compared to a sport like baseball or basketball), we're going to give it a shot anyway. Below is a look at how each NFL team has performed over the past five drafts.
Jayden Daniels or Caleb Williams at No. 1?

1 week ago | nytimes.com | Nick Baumgardner

It takes much longer than one year to truly evaluate a young football player, but how a rookie performs in the NFL is usually pretty strong evidence of what a team has moving forward. With that said, welcome back to another redraft. This time, we'll tackle the 2024 draft - one that definitely lived up to the hype in some areas, while also leaving a few teams wanting more. (Note: The order reflects how it stood entering Round 1, thereby resetting some trades that shuffled the board.) 1.
Shedeur Sanders' best landing spot? What should Titans do?

1 week ago | nytimes.com | Nick Baumgardner |Scott Dochterman

The 2025 NFL Draft is less than two weeks away, but the news cycle has been almost eerily quiet leading up to it. Have the Titans made a decision about how they'll use the No. 1 pick? What's going to happen with the quarterback class, especially if and when Aaron Rodgers ever announces his plans for the coming season?
Should the Steelers target a running back early or wait in 'uniquely deep' draft?

2 weeks ago | nytimes.com | Mike DeFabo |Nick Baumgardner

The Steelers have made it clear in their words and through their actions that they want to build a physical football team that wins games in the trenches. While general manager Omar Khan has invested heavily into the offensive line in his first two drafts and hired a run-first offensive coordinator in Arthur Smith, Pittsburgh lost its bell cow when Najee Harris took his 1,097 career carries to the Los Angeles Chargers.
Browns land Travis Hunter, Mason Graham cracks top three

2 weeks ago | nytimes.com | Nick Baumgardner

The NFL Draft features 32 first-round picks. It does not, however, necessarily feature 32 prospects with a first-round grade. Most drafts don't sniff that number. And though the 2025 NFL Draft definitely features depth of talent at several positions, the number of players in this class with a consensus first-round grade is likely in the low teens. That's especially important when discussing the top two quarterbacks, Miami's Cam Ward and Colorado's Shedeur Sanders.
How this 2025 NFL Draft hopeful is looking to turn his calling into reality

3 weeks ago | nytimes.com | Nick Baumgardner

On the first day of the rest of his life, Esa Pole was being pulled in two directions. It was spring of 2021, and he was a 6-foot-6, 290-pound junior college freshman who had never been in a three-point stance with pads on, about to compete on a football field with guys who'd been doing this since they were children. He couldn't help but feel awkward. But when he saw how the California sun looked as it beamed through a pair of glass doors onto the field, in that moment, he felt something else. Hope.
What makes Tyler Warren, Colston Loveland stand out in 2025 NFL Draft TE class?

3 weeks ago | nytimes.com | Nick Baumgardner

Twenty years ago, odds are neither Tyler Warren nor Colston Loveland would've made it through college as a tight end. Warren, a 6-foot-5, 256-pound grizzly bear on wheels by way of Penn State, likely would've been told to figure out how to play defensive end or bulk up and try his hand inside as an offensive guard. Loveland, Michigan's 6-5, 248-pound dynamo, probably would've been asked to lose weight and play X receiver.
Which prospects stood out in their workouts?

3 weeks ago | nytimes.com | Nick Baumgardner

The data is in (for the most part). The 2025 NFL Draft is now just weeks away and the evaluation cycle is closing. As has been the case the last few years, many of the top prospects in this class chose not to perform any public workouts; several more chose not to run 40s, relying more on school-provided GPS numbers from the season. Plenty still tested in front of NFL scouts and decision-makers, though.
Is Kyle McCord an NFL Draft sleeper? QB guru Jordan Palmer thinks so

1 month ago | nytimes.com | Nick Baumgardner

Kyle McCord was doing his best to maintain his excitement, though his quarterback coach - the same one who didn't bring any footballs to their first workout together - was testing that mission. The coach? Jordan Palmer, who is more like a physics/physical education/psychology professor crossed with the best gym teacher who's ever lived. The two first met when McCord attended the Elite 11 quarterback competition in high school.
How will 2025 NFL Draft be impacted by first wave of free agency?

1 month ago | nytimes.com | Nick Baumgardner |Scott Dochterman

It was a wild start to NFL free agency, as the usual flurry of impact signings (and re-signings) shared headlines with several intriguing trades. Plenty of free agents remain unsigned, but with the first wave of moves out of the way, let's turn our attention back to the 2025 NFL Draft. How has all that's happened early in the offseason impacted what we can expect come April? Draft expert Nick Baumgardner and national college football writer Scott Dochterman break it down. 1.