PlayerProfiler is home to award-winning dynasty rankings and tools. Our Dynasty Deluxe package includes complete Dynasty Rankings, Rookie Rankings, Trade Analyzer, Draft Planner, Mock Drafts, and more. Check it out. Here, Aditya Fuldeore looks at the fantasy football impact of the 2025 NFL Draft: Top 30 Visits.
Draft season is finally here again – which means it’s time to pore over college prospect tape and follow the rumors. Top 30 visits are one way to “read the tea leaves” about where a prospect may end up. Last year, I wrote about the impact of these top 30 visits:
“Teams can bring in up to 30 players for these visits in order to get familiar with them. The visits can include interviews and physicals to help teams build out a profile on the player.”
For 2025, you can use top 30 visits as a pre-draft indicator of where a player may end up and as an indicator of positions a team is focusing on for the draft.
Top 30 Visits Background
Players who are highly projected picks are more likely to have had a top-30 visit with their selecting team. From last year’s piece:
“In the 2024 NFL Draft top-ten selections, all but one offensive skill player had a top 30 visit with the team that selected them. The outlier was QB J.J. McCarthy who went No. 10 to the Vikings and did meet with them at the NFL Combine.”
NFL teams desire to meet the top prospects on their board. So, top prospects will have a high volume of top 30 visits, making it more likely they will have a top 30 visit with their selecting team. However, guys that are not the consensus No. 1 prospect at their position may have more top 30 visits. An example from last season is Marvin Harrison Jr. being the consensus No. 1 WR; teams knew he was not making it far down their board, so Malik Nabers and Rome Odunze had a combined 11 top 30 visits as the next projected receivers.
This season, we are seeing a weaker quarterback class, meaning teams picking high will want to do more due diligence on top quarterback prospects Cam Ward and Shedeur Sanders. The NFL Combine and other portions of the pre-draft process, like Pro Days, will help teams build out profiles on players and organize who they want to bring in for top 30 visits.
Team Trends
Teams can also use their top 30 visits differently. Those with high picks will utilize as many visits as they can, and some organizations may prefer to pick from familiarity. Those with fewer picks may not utilize top 30 visits as much, and the usage of visits can also vary based on front office ideologies.
Some team-based examples from last year:
“The Rams seldom use their top 30 visits, especially after possessing a limited number of top picks in recent history. Many other teams, especially those with high picks (Texans, Vikings, Broncos), will utilize as many visits as they can fit. The Cowboys generally don’t have as many high picks but use many visits anyways to conduct their due diligence. The Panthers have picked three of their non-first rounders from the last two drafts out of their top 30 visits (Jonathan Mingo, Jonathon Brooks, Ja’Tavion Sanders).”
Teams with more recent success and/or fewer picks, like the Rams, have not used top 30 picks as frequently. However, teams needing to rebuild use the draft to build from the ground up. So, teams like the Panthers have conducted many top 30 visits and selected from that pool. The Cowboys notably use many top 30 visits, likely due to a Jerry Jones-esque philosophy. The Chargers – with former Ravens executive Joe Hortiz – do not draft from their top 30 visits as much.
Quarterback-needy teams will meet with several quarterback prospects and pick from that pool due to high demand and low supply. Jordan Travis and Joe Milton were examples of late 2024 quarterback picks that had a top 30 visit with their selecting team. In general, if you look at late-round picks, there is a good chance a team selected from one of their top 30 visits.
2025 Top 30 Visits to Eye
QB Shedeur Sanders
Expected to visit the Browns and Giants, Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders is slated to be an early first-round pick. Sanders will likely have a series of interviews with teams picking in the top ten of this year’s draft and will add more top 30 visits in addition to the Browns and Giants. It is no secret that either team is looking for a quarterback and should not be a surprise if either team picks Sanders.
QB Cam Ward
Cam Ward‘s top 30 visits will consist of teams at the top of the draft order needing quarterbacks. Be on the lookout for the Titans, Browns, Giants, Raiders, and others picking high to bring Ward in.
Expected to go in the top five, the buzz around Ward’s visits will tell which way the wind is blowing and set the tone for the top of the draft.
Wide Receivers
For the 2025 draft, WR/CB Travis Hunter is initially the top receiver on the board and will get looks from the top-picking teams. The rest of the receiver group projects as a weaker class than in past years. Expect guys like Tetairoa McMillan, Luther Burden, Tre Harris, and Emeka Egbuka to visit teams picking from all over the first round. Depending on where the teams each player visits are picking, you can conclude where that player will go. For example, if McMillan has several visits from teams picking in the 20s, the smoke that he is falling down draft boards would turn real as teams picking later expect him to be there enough to bring him in for a visit.
Running Backs
Guys outside of Ashton Jeanty may get more top 30 visits as Jeanty is the consensus RB1 and a first-round pick. Jeanty himself plans to visit the Cowboys and Bears for top 30 visits. This sets a potential draft range for him as both teams pick in the early teens and both offenses could use a lead back. Omarion Hampton and TreVeyon Henderson are next for many draft pundits and may be first-rounders. This will depend on if their top 30 visit-hosts think they are fits and where those teams pick. If several teams picking in the late first round host them for visits, it may be an indicator that either player will be selected in the first round.
Boise State RB Ashton Jeanty plans to take Top 30 visits to the #Bears and #Cowboys, per source. pic.twitter.com/Hz88Vaw9dJ
— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) March 2, 2025
Tight Ends
Colston Loveland, Tyler Warren, and Harold Fannin Jr. are the top tight ends in the draft. Teams picking in the first round will bring them in for top 30 visits to see if they can be plugged into their schemes. Later-round tight ends may have a better connection between a top 30 visit team and their selection team as these top three guys will likely visit several teams. If Loveland, Warren, or Fannin go to a top 30 visit team, it indicates the selecting team liked the fit and they may be used earlier on in their rookie seasons.
2025 Outlook using Top 30 visits
Teams are in different places every year as regimes, team needs, and team direction all change. A team bringing in several players from a certain position group indicates that the club needs that position. For example, if the Rams’ Matthew Stafford saga had gone on for long, the team would have lined up more top 30 visits with quarterbacks. Since the Rams seldom use top 30 visits, this would have indicated a move away from Stafford.
The Super Bowl-winning Eagles also tend to select from top 30 visits, as players like Johnny Wilson, Cooper DeJean, Nolan Smith, and Jalen Carter have come in for visits and been selected. Players visiting them have a high possibility of heading to Philly.
Last year, I summarized the impacts of top 30 visits:
“Top 30 visits can be useful predictors of where a team is going in a NFL Draft. Teams get a better look at the players they host and those with more picks may host more players. Each team uses the visits differently, and they can vary based on management, team direction, and need at the time. Quarterbacks and top offensive skill players are in higher demand and thus have a higher correlation between the team that selects them and a top 30 visit with that team.”
If a player has a top 30 visit with their selecting team, it is more likely that the player will be on the roster and have a chance to contribute. So, be on the lookout for these cases as fantasy rookie drafts start. Using top 30 visits to indicate player movement and usage isn’t an exact science, but helpful for rookie fantasy ranks.
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