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Lions, Panthers projected to select two Vols each in 2025 NFL draft
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- Lions, Panthers projected to select two Vols each in 2025 NFL draft
The NFL draft will take place April 24-26 at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Several former Vols, including James Pearce Jr. , Dont'e Thornton Jr. , Dylan Sampson , Omarr Norman-Lott and Cooper Mays , are prospects in the 2025 NFL draft.
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Tennessee had three players selected in the 2024 NFL draft: Jaylen Wright to Miami (No. 120 overall) in the fourth round, Joe Milton III to New England (No. 193 overall) in the sixth round and Kamal Hadden to Kansas City (No. 211) in the sixth round.
Ahead of next week's draft, NFL Network analyst Chad Reuter released an updated seven-round mock draft Friday.
Five Vols were selected in Reuter's mock draft and are listed below.
James Pearce Jr.
James Pearce Jr.
Reuter projects Pearce Jr. to fall near the bottom of the second round at No. 60 overall to the Lions .
Drafting Pearce Jr. would be an interesting move for the Lions considering trusted commodities like Aidan Hutchinson and Marcus Davenport will be returning from injury.
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Dont'e Thornton Jr.
Dont'e Thornton Jr.
Thornton Jr. joins Pearce Jr. with Detroit in Reuter's mock draft as the last pick in the third round (No. 102 overall).
Amon-Ra St. Brown receives the most targets of any receiver for the Lions. Other wide receivers the former Vol would compete against are Kalif Raymond , Jameson Williams and Tim Patrick .
Dylan Sampson
Dylan Sampson. Photo by Dan Harralson, Vols Wire
Reuter forecasts Sampson to be selected by the Browns with the second pick of the fourth round (No. 104 overall).
Cleveland is in need of running backs after not re-signing Nick Chubb in free agency. Jerome Ford and Pierre Strong Jr. are Cleveland's only running backs on the roster.
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Omarr Norman-Lott
Omarr Norman-Lott
Reuter projects Norman-Lott to be selected by the Panthers with the second pick in the fifth round (No. 140 overall).
Carolina signed Tershawn Wharton from the Chiefs and Bobby Brown III from the Rams in free agency. Former Vol Shy Tuttle is also part of the Panthers ' interior defensive line.
Bru McCoy
Reuter projects Bru McCoy to join Norman-Lott on the Panthers in the seventh round (No. 230 overall).
Carolina's receiving core is a mixture of older veterans like Adam Thielen and David Moore , along with younger, less proven players, in Xavier Legette and Jalen Coker .
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This article originally appeared on Vols Wire: Five Vols have updated projections in seven-round 2025 NFL mock draft
