5 NFL Rookies With Worst Landing Spot to Become 1st-Year Stars

NFL fans are getting their first glimpses of the 2025 draft class during rookie minicamps. While there’s still a long road ahead, these events at least offer a small glimpse into how these prospects may fare during their initial professional campaign.

Some of these rookies stand out for their potential to quickly become stars at the NFL level. Because they landed with a team that had a clear hole at their respective position, these up-and-coming talents can capitalize by seizing a meaningful role early on.

Not every rookie ended up being selected by a franchise in dire need of their skillset. Plenty of teams drafted for value instead of need, resulting in situations where the first-year talent projects to be buried on the depth chart and riding the pine early in their career.

Barring a trade or other roster move before the start of the 2025 campaign to clear the logjam, expectations for these players should be tempered. With that in mind, let’s highlight five rookies who landed in an inopportune spot.

WR Luther Burden III, Chicago Bears

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Luther Burden III is one of the more polarizing prospects in the 2025 class. While the potential is clearly there for him to become an NFL star, there’s also a chance he ends up becoming the latest in a long line of the Chicago Bears’ early-round draft busts.

Burden went ballistic during a breakout sophomore campaign in 2023, putting up 1,212 yards and nine touchdowns on 86 catches. That performance led to him being placed on the Biletnikoff Award watch list ahead of a highly anticipated 2024 season, but Burden failed to meet those lofty expectations.

Poor quarterback play and an uninspiring Tigers offense certainly didn’t help, but Burden’s 61-676-6 stat line represented a significant regression and a concerning last look before taking the leap to the NFL. That didn’t deter the Bears from expending a second-round pick on the wideout, a puzzling selection that didn’t quite fill a position of immediate need for the rebuilding franchise.

Burden has joined a receiver’s room headlined by incumbent No. 1 DJ Moore and Rome Odunze, Chicago’s first-round pick last year who is looking to bounce back from his own disappointing 2024 campaign. The Bears are likely to feature a heavy dose of Colston Loveland in the passing attack too, with the No. 10 overall pick set to compete with fellow pass-catching tight end Cole Kmet for snaps and targets as a rookie.

Although we haven’t seen exactly what head coach Ben Johnson has planned for the offense he’s installing around promising QB Caleb Williams, it’s unlikely the system will result in a No. 3 receiver putting up big numbers—especially after said receiver struggled in his final collegiate season.

The Burden pick seems more oriented towards the future with both Kmet and Moore hitting the open market in 2026. If one or both of those players depart in free agency, Burden should see plenty more action next season and will get a fair shake at becoming a star then.  

RB TreVeyon Henderson, New England Patriots

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The New England Patriots used the first draft of the Mike Vrabel era to make a major investment in their backfield. The club selected TreVeyon Henderson, one of the most exciting RB prospects in the 2025 class, at No. 38 overall and could start featuring the Ohio State product immediately despite the presence of veteran starter Rhamondre Stevenson.

While Henderson is a proven back who excelled for the Buckeyes during all four of his seasons—culminating in a national championship run as a senior—he’s going to find it difficult to continue contributing at a high level in New England. The Patriots look at least a year away from emerging as a legitimate playoff threat and don’t have the pieces in place for a rookie back to succeed.

The most glaring issue is in the offensive trenches. The Patriots ranked a paltry No. 30 in PFSN’s final o-line rankings for the 2024 season, an issue they attempted to rectify with the selection of LSU standout Will Campbell at No. 4 overall. As great as Campbell has the potential to be, the Pats don’t have enough talent spread out amongst their offensive line to properly support the ground game.

Henderson will also be facing an uphill battle to get enough carries to break out in Year 1. Although he hasn’t averaged more than 4.0 yards per carry since his breakout 2020 campaign, Stevenson projects to hang onto a sizable role in the backfield rotation as he enters the second season of a four-year contract extension he signed last June.

Game scripting may not be kind to Henderson’s chances of logging double-digit carries on a weekly basis. The Pats are projected to win a middling 7.5 games in 2025, and while this represents an improvement for a squad that won just eight total contests over the last two seasons, it’s likely New England will still be playing from behind frequently in 2025.

There’s every reason to believe Henderson will eventually become a feature back and a star for the Patriots, but the team needs at least one more offseason to load up on pieces before his inevitable breakout.

QB Shedeur Sanders, Cleveland Browns

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Shedeur Sanders endured one of the most agonizing and shocking slides in the NFL Draft’s storied history. While the projected first-round pick eventually had his freefall stopped by the Cleveland Browns at No. 144 overall in Round 5, the Colorado product now faces an extremely difficult path towards contributing as a rookie.

Sanders joins a quarterbacks room that went from the league’s thinnest to most crowded in short order. The Browns, desperate for QB help with the disappointing Deshaun Watson potentially sidelined for all of 2025, opened the offseason by trading for 2022 first-rounder turned journeyman Kenny Pickett. The team also signed the aging Joe Flacco, a veteran presence with Super Bowl experience, as a potential contender for the QB1 role.

If that weren’t enough competition for Sanders, the Buffaloes star must also beat out Dillon Gabriel—a signal-caller who ranked 140 slots below Sanders on the B/R Scouting Department’s final big board—after the Browns opted to draft the Oregon/Oklahoma/UCF product at No. 94 overall.  

DraftKings Sportsbook placed odds on what will be the most intensely watched positional battle of the offseason. Pickett is the even money favorite to win out, followed by Flacco at +250. Sanders isn’t far behind at No. 3, however, boasting +300 odds that are far better than Gabriel at +750.

Assuming Browns ownership doesn’t get involved and put pressure on the coaching staff to play the polarizing but popular rookie—and there have been whispers that Jimmy Haslam may exert his influence to get Sanders on the field early—it appears unlikely either of Cleveland’s first-year signal-callers will open the 2025 season as the starter.

Sanders will eventually gets his opportunity—general manager Andrew Berry has stated he believes the QB will “outproduce his draft slot”—but given the league’s evaluation of the prospect coupled with Cleveland’s extreme logjam under center, the odds of him starting, let alone evolving into a star, look rather low in Year 1.

WR Isaac TeSlaa, Detroit Lions

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Isaac TeSlaa is one of the most intriguing prospects in the 2025 NFL Draft class, becoming one of the biggest risers during the pre-draft process due to his otherworldly athleticism.

While the Detroit the Lions clearly coveted the wideout—trading a trio of third-round picks to get him—there’s a chance the Arkansas product doesn’t live up to the immense hype surrounding him.

Although TeSlaa tested off the charts at the scouting combine—earning the 11th highest Relative Athletic Score out of the 3,441 receivers who passed through Indianapolis since 1987—and has all the physical tools to become a star at the next level, there’s not much in the way of proven production.

TeSlaa only posted a pedestrian stat line of 62 receptions, 896 receiving yards and five touchdowns during his two seasons with the Razorbacks.

Even though the Lions have done extremely well maximizing the talents of their wide receiving corps during the head coach Dan Campbell era, it won’t be easy for TeSlaa to find a role early in his career.

Amon-Ra St. Brown is already occupying the top pass-catching spot and is getting plenty of support from speedster Jameson Williams, sure-handed veteran Tim Patrick and rising star tight end Sam LaPorta. Dynamic playmaker Jahmyr Gibbs is a major factor in the passing game out of the backfield as well, ranking fourth on the team in receiving last year.

TeSlaa likely won’t be on the field enough, let alone earning enough targets to break out during his rookie year. It doesn’t help that TeSlaa already appeared to be struggling to create separation on at least one play during rookie minicamp:  

Expect TeSlaa to play a bit role in 2025 and steadily ramp up his production over the life of his rookie contract, potentially reaching his peak towards the end of that four-year deal. The long-term outlook may be strong, but don’t expect much from the wideout in Year 1.

TE Tyler Warren, Indianapolis Colts

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The Indianapolis Colts have been searching for a playmaking tight end for years. The lack of production from that position led them to draft Tyler Warren at No. 14 overall, an interesting gamble that may not pay off

There’s no question that Warren can become a contributor at the NFL level. He’s big (standing 6”6”, 256 pounds), fast and skilled, but his greatest asset is arguably versatility.

With a rare ability to line up receiver, running back, fullback and even quarterback in addition to his natural tight end spot, Warren has the chance to become a Taysom Hill-esque talent at the next level.

Although that’s a valuable piece for most teams, the Colts simply aren’t lacking skill-position talent at this juncture. They won’t be able to maximize the talents of a versatile player who can do everything quite well, but not much at a truly exceptional level.

While some offenses would deploy Warren as their goal line back or even slot him in under center to add an athletic running option in specific packages, the Colts already have players who fill those roles far better than Warren can with Jonathan Taylor and Anthony Richardson, respectively.

Indy’s run-heavy offense had more than enough mouths to feed in the passing game even prior to Warren’s selection. The team boasts a loaded receiving corps featuring Michael Pittman Jr., Alec Pierce, Josh Downs and Adonai Mitchell, four wideouts who all underperformed last year due to the lack of consistency under center.

While Warren should have little issues beating out incumbent Mo Alie-Cox for the starting tight end job, his projected placement near the bottom of the pecking order will result in production that leaves much to be desired and won’t improve until Indy sorts out its signal-caller woes.