NFL Rookie Minicamps: Four Teams That Need to Feel Great by Sunday

We’re just 119 days from the NFL’s “Thursday Night Football” season opener between the Baltimore Ravens and the Kansas City Chiefs. While that sounds like plenty of time for the league’s rookies to be ready to shine in Week 1, you can bet the league’s coaches are thinking the next 17 weeks are nowhere near enough.

Which brings us to the importance of this weekend. While “rookie minicamp” sounds relatively benign — what with the best players in the world not involved — the next three days set the tone for all the new guys.

Each team gets to work 30 hours (10 per day Friday through Sunday) with their newcomers. Particularly for teams that have invested much of their franchise’s future on a rookie or two, these three days offer a big hint as to whether their franchise might become the next Chiefs — or the next laughingstock.

Here are four teams that really need to come away feeling good about their draft:

Tennessee Titans

Last month, Cam Ward became the 19th quarterback in the last 25 drafts to be the No. 1 overall pick. Guess how many of those 19 have won a Super Bowl? Yep, just two: Matthew Stafford and Eli Manning.

We mention this for two reasons: First, it’s statistically incorrect to expect Ward to lead the Titans to a Super Bowl. Second, no one’s going to care about the first reason. The pressure to be special starts now.

Head coach Brian Callahan and offensive coordinator Nick Holz had months to decide that Ward was the best fit for the No. 1 pick. They believe they understand how he thinks, how he works and how he reacts to success and failure — but this weekend is the equivalent of the end of the honeymoon. Will Ward and the Titans live happily ever after? The first signs — good and bad — will come out this weekend.

Jacksonville Jaguars

One of the most exciting storylines that will play out over the course of the 2025 season is how many snaps Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter can handle each week.

Is he a receiver first? Is he a corner first? Does he have the intellectual bandwidth along with the athletic ability to prepare to play both sides of the ball?

Considering Hunter was a two-time Academic All-America — he reportedly posted a 3.79 GPA while earning his degree in anthropology — his meeting-room preparation sounds like it won’t be a problem. But with Hunter available to the Jaguars 10 hours per day this weekend, they’ll start learning exactly how much they can pile on his plate before he starts to buckle.

Las Vegas Raiders

Ashton Jeanty wasn’t drafted sixth overall to take a little heat off new Raiders quarterback Geno Smith. He’s going to be the franchise. Jeanty is just the sixth running back drafted in the top 10 over the last 10 years. Three have been Hall of Fame-worthy: Saquon Barkley (No. 2 in 2018), Christian McCaffrey (No. 8 in 2017) and Ezekiel Elliott (No. 4 in 2016).

Bijan Robinson, who racked up 1,456 rushing yards and 14 touchdowns last year after a so-so rookie season, could also be on his way to Hall of Fame status. Even Leonard Fournette (No. 4 in 2017), who’s the “bust” of the group, earned a Super Bowl ring in 2021.

Of all these guys, Elliott enjoyed the best rookie year. He piled up 1,631 yards and 15 touchdowns on the ground and finished third in the NFL’s MVP voting. He touched the ball an average of 23.6 times per game. Expect Jeanty to touch it at least that often — though he might catch three times as many passes as Elliott did (32) in his rookie year.

This weekend, the Raiders start to discover how superhuman and versatile Jeanty might be.

Atlanta Falcons

Remember when the Falcons drafted quarterback Michael Penix Jr. in last year’s first round despite signing Kirk Cousins to a four-year, $180 million deal just one month before? The Falcons and GM Terry Fontenot caught some serious flak.

Now fast-forward to this draft: The Falcons received more ridicule when they gave up their 2026 first-round pick to move up 20 spots to get pass rusher James Pearce Jr. with the No. 26 pick — even though they had just used the 15th overall pick on edge rusher Jalon Walker.

The only way this makes sense is if Pearce is much better than the majority of the NFL believes him to be. The Falcons will breathe a lot easier if Pearce, who dealt with pre-draft whispers that he has a stiff body and he’s “difficult,” proves to be difficult to block.