Four former Ole Miss players among PFF's favorite picks in 2025 NFL Draft

Last weekend the Ole Miss football program celebrated a record-setting eight players being selected in the 2025 NFL Draft. The most since the seven-round era began in 1994.

Now that the draft dust has settled and the evaluations of how each NFL team handled its respective picks Pro Football Focus is adding their take on what went down in Green Bay.

Released on Wednesday, PFF made a list of favorite draft picks for all 32 NFL teams and four Rebels were included.

Walter Nolen, Tre Harris, Trey Amos and Chris ‘Pooh’ Paul, Jr. were considered as PFF’s favorite selection by their respective teams.

Nolen was the first of two Ole Miss players to go in the first round, being taken by Arizona as the 16th overall pick. He was the first Rebel to go to the Cardinals since Robert Nkemdiche, another defensive lineman, was drafted by them in 2016.

“Excited to add Walter Nolen from Ole Miss, a guy we did a lot of work on, scouts through the fall, and through the Senior Bowl, and through the Combine, and then brought (Nolen) in for a visit,” Cardinals general manager Monti Ossenfort said. “He impressed us the whole way. The tape spoke for itself. Violent, disruptive, high-motor, tenacious three-down player. Hard to find those guys that can affect the pocket from the interior of the formation.”

The third Ole Miss player to get taken was Harris by the Los Angeles Chargers, providing quarterback Justin Herbert another weapon to utilize. He was viewed by PFF as its favorite selection by the organization.

Harris finished 2024 with an overall season grade of 89.7 by PFF and was the sixth-highest grade among 1,041 wide receivers.

“Harris was the exact type of wide receiver the Chargers needed, bringing and elite PFF receiving grade on a deep throws and a 61.5% contested catch rate,” PFF wrote. “As a deep threat down the sideline, he can stretch the defense and maximize Justin Herbert’s arm strength while opening things up underneath for Ladd McConkey.”

Going five picks later was Amos to the Washington Commanders as the 61st overall pick. He was one of only five picks the Commanders had in this year’s draft. Forcing 13 pass break ups to lead Ole Miss Amos earned a 85.6 coverage grade in 2024 from PFF.

Harris going against Amos every day in practice looked to boost the latter’s chances of getting drafted by the Commanders, according to general manager Adam Peters.

“[Amos] is a big strong dude and he’s a competitor. And you said there’s a lot of good players on that team [Ole Miss],” Peters said when talking to media about drafting Amos. “We didn’t have him on a 30-visit, but we had Tre Harris on a 30-visit who was a big strong dude too. And he talked about how they battled every day in practice. It’s iron sharpening iron, so to speak. And so, he’s played against a lot of really good players and he doesn’t back down to anybody. And it’s almost like he relishes it.”

Going a little later in the draft than most anticipated, Paul is also heading to Los Angeles but to the city’s other NFL team, getting drafted by the Rams.

The former Ole Miss linebacker was drafted in the fifth round as the 172nd overall pick, adding some depth to the middle level of the Rams defense.

“The Rams found a gem in undrafted free agent linebacker Omar Speights last season, as he turned into a starter as a rookie. I think they found similar value with Paul as their fifth-round pick,” PFF wrote. “His instincts and high football IQ will be assets in Los Angeles.”

Paul earned an 87.2 overall grade in 2024 by PFF as the Rebels leading tackler. The outlet also described Paul as “one of the more patient and effective linebackers in college football.”