NFL Draft 2025: Day 3 Sleepers Your Team Should Be Targeting

If the first round of the NFL Draft is about finding cornerstone players, Saturday might as well be “trait” day across the league.

Saturday is the day that NFL scouts pound the table, for the wide receiver they saw make the play that stuck with them the entire flight home, or the defensive end who obliterated an offensive tackle in the key spot of a game that led them to etch their name into their notebook.

It’s also the day that coaching staffs scour the board for the perfect fit for their scheme or who they believe can elevate the special teams units that could be primed to play an even bigger role in success than ever.

Speaking to league executives and coaches in the past several months, and from my conversations and observations during the week in Mobile leading up to the Senior Bowl back in January, several players keep coming up. These are the players to watch on Saturday who could steal the show in key moments come Sundays this fall.

Whether it’s the edge rusher with elite get-off, defensive backs with off-the-charts versatility or the high-motor and high-effort players who are going to become favorites of their next coaching staff, these are the prospects your team should be targeting in Rounds 4 through 7 on Saturday afternoon.

DL - Aeneas Peebles, Virginia Tech

Explosive and disruptive don’t begin to describe Peebles’ high motor that he plays with on virtually every snap. A hyper-aggressive interior defensive lineman who does an outstanding job not just of shooting the gaps but shedding blockers en route to the quarterback, Peebles’ disruptiveness was on full display during the Senior Bowl and likely pushed him up some boards. Despite his slightish 6-foot-1 and 288-pound frame, Peebles is a wrecking ball along the interior, where Pro Football Focus awards him an elite 91.2 pass-rush grade.

DL - Ty Hamilton, Ohio State

With plenty of big-game experience on his resumè against elite offensive linemen, Hamilton’s sudden burst pops the moment you put on his film, and he isn’t afraid to use his handfighting to cast aside interior linemen. Shooting the gap exceptionally well has helped Hamilton log six sacks and 12 quarterback hurries last season.

S - Jaylen Reed, Penn State

Throughout his two seasons as a starter on the back-end of Penn State’s secondary, Reed was always lurking and really emerged as a disruptive playmaker in coverage when K.J. Winston was lost to a season-ending injury early in 2024. Reed is at his best, as a box-safety, where Pro Football Focus awarded him a stellar 80.5 run-defense grade. A culture-driver with solid instincts both against the run and the pass, Reed has plenty of value to add to a secondary.

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