Rookies on the Hot Seat in 2025: Can These 2024 1st-Rounders Bounce Back?

The NFL regular season gets cooking in 59 days, a showdown between the Dallas Cowboys and Philadelphia Eagles.

Some 2024 1st-round rookies didn’t live up to the hype in 2024. And as 2025 gets underway, these men will be watched with hot seat stakes.

In the meantime, training camps will heat up this month, followed by a full slate of preseason contests in August.

And a handful of 2024 1st-Round rookies must totally flip the script on last season’s performance (sometimes lack thereof). These are those five men from Round 1 of the 2024 NFL Draft who must avoid hot seat chatter in 2025.

Players are listed alphabetically.

2024 1st-Round Rookies on the 2025 Hot Seat

From Troy Fautanu to Caleb Williams, here we go.

1. Troy Fautanu (OT, PIT)

Fautanu played 55 offensive snaps in 2024 before a knee injury ruined everything. Albeit in a very small sample, Tautanu played well in his solo game, tallying a 64.4 Pro Football Focus grade.

He’ll be tasked with protecting the right side of the Steelers offensive line and a soon-to-be 42-year-old quarterback — a tall task.

The Washington alumnus basically has to avoid a major injury because otherwise, the bust label would follow him indefinitely.

2. Jordan Morgan (OL, GB)

Morgan played 186 snaps as a rookie, a teensy amount before succumbing to a nagging shoulder injury. He started one game for the Packers last season.

For now, Morgan is penciled in as a backup guard behind Sean Rhyan on Green Bay’s depth chart, though that could change at training camp and in the preseason.

Morgan logged a 59.2 PFF mark, which is probably why he wasn’t trusted to start. Rhyan represented a wiser option.

If Morgan doesn’t become a full-time starter in 2025, the Packers’ pick will look silly in retrospect, especially when they could’ve drafted Ladd McConkey or Nate Wiggins on 2024 draft night.

3. Darius Robinson (DT, ARI)

Robinson, who many considered a “reach” by the Cardinals in the first place, saw action on 183 defensive snaps as a rookie and didn’t play well in general. His 48.4 PFF score left much to be desired.

And not for nothing, Arizona signed Calais Campbell this offseason, and if anyone knows anything about Calais Campbell, it’s that he will start — no matter what. The man doesn’t age.

Of all players on this list, Robinson is on the fastest track as a failed 1st-Round pick.

Cardinals reporter Darren Urban wrote about Robinson in May, “Since the offseason program began, perhaps no player’s physique has been noticed more than Robinson. (Maybe Marvin Harrison Jr., who also has added muscle, which shouldn’t be a surprise after Robinson said the two have lived at the facility since season’s end.) What’s interesting is that the 6-foot-5 Robinson said his weight remains around the 285 pounds he played at last season.”

“It’s now just lean muscle. Linemen can only do so much in the offseason, but he unmistakably looks like a wrecking ball. The defensive line has undergone an overhaul in the offseason. But adding in a streamlined and motivated former first-round pick in Robinson might make the biggest impact of all.”

4. Dallas Turner (OLB, MIN)

Turner performed wonderfully for the Vikings when Jonathan Greenard and Andrew Van Ginkel actually allowed him to see the field.

Those two men reached the Pro Bowl and benching them just to get Turner snaps as a rookie was not an option.

Turner’s splashy plays turned heads; the working theory is that he just needs playing time. He should receive more action with Patrick Jones II and Jihad Ward not re-signed by the Vikings this offseason.

5. Caleb Williams (QB, CHI)

Caleb Williams still has a few years to go before anyone makes a determination on his first overall draft stock a season ago.

He should be set up nicely with Ben Johnson in charge, so the anxiety on his trajectory might be reduced.

Regardless, Williams must sharpen his tendencies, allowing himself to throw an interception or two for the sake of limiting sacks. The man took way too many sacks as a rookie.

If Williams doesn’t improve in 2025, he’ll be in trouble via the court of public opinion.

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Dustin Baker reports on the NFL with a political science degree from the University of Minnesota, earned in 2007. He hosts VikesNow, a YouTube channel covering the Minnesota Vikings through weekly insights, guest segments, and opinion pieces. His passion for football started in 1989, and he’s just as devoted to tracking the NBA.

Beyond football, Dustin’s favorites include Basset Hounds, peanut butter ice cream, The Sopranos, and the music of The Doors. All stats cited are from Pro Football Reference and Stathead; contract data courtesy of OverTheCap.