My 2025 NFL Draft All-Satellite Team: The Players Who Excel in Space

Welcome back to The McShay Report! In today’s newsletter, I’m unveiling my 2025 NFL draft All-Satellite team to celebrate the players who excel in space. I made my first All-Satellite team in 2010 with Clemson’s C.J. Spiller as the headliner. That was around the time when the NFL began its shift toward spread-focused, pass-happy offensive attacks. NFL play callers scoured the college ranks for dynamic offensive weapons in space. Fifteen years later, speed, explosiveness, and elusiveness are highly prized traits for NFL talent evaluators. The players I’ve selected for this year’s team possess those qualities. It’s less about tackle-breaking power or contact balance. I’m looking for players who break ankles and possess the kind of speed that renders even the best pursuit angles useless. Previous All-Satellite team members include Odell Beckham Jr., Tyler Lockett, Christian McCaffrey, Lamar Jackson, Jaylen Waddle, and Jahmyr Gibbs. This year’s group is bound to join that roster of explosive game-breakers.

One quick programming note before we dive in: My Mock Draft 3.0 releases this Thursday for premium subscribers. Upgrade for just $4 to get access to all of my mocks, big boards, and insider intel through this year’s NFL draft. Or you can Double Down for $36 to access all of my draft content in 2025 and 2026.

1. Travis Hunter, WR/CB, Colorado

He won’t log an official 40 time, but Hunter’s more of a 4.40 guy than a 4.30. He has plenty of speed to annihilate a crease when he catches one, but his superpower is his agility. From his lightning-quick feet to his oily hips to his Matrix-like field vision, Hunter’s just athletically different from every other skill player in this draft. He forced 47 missed tackles after the catch over the past two seasons, almost none of which featured tackle-breaking power.  

Hunter’s ball skills are the rarest of the rare as well. You might wonder how that factors into his ability to make defenders miss in space. The answer is simple: Watch how quickly Hunter plucks the ball out of the air and transitions upfield while on the run. It’s a blur. There’s zero wasted motion, which disorients an oncoming defensive back who’s trying to gauge an attack angle. Hunter frequently beats the first responder before they know what’s happened.

2. Luther Burden III, WR, Missouri

At 6 feet and 206 pounds, with a 4.41-second 40, Burden is just a flat-out difference-maker with the ball in his hands. NFL scouts frequently compare him to Deebo Samuel, and there’s some truth to it. They’re both built more like running backs, they show a natural quickness when they pluck the ball out of the air and transition upfield, and their good vision and contact balance allow them to generate chunk yardage with the ball in their hands.  

In three seasons at Missouri, Burden averaged 7.3 yards after the catch and forced 65 missed tackles. He also averaged 6.9 yards on 34 carries with four touchdowns and 10.5 yards on 24 punt returns with another score. So while his route running needs refinement and he comes with some questionable intangibles, Burden’s ability to create in space is undeniable, and he’ll be taken among the top 40 picks.

3. TreVeyon Henderson, RB, Ohio State

With Henderson, it’s less about ankle-breaking movement and more about blinding acceleration. His feet are so damn quick. He’s a downhill runner who will make a slight shuffle-slide before kicking it into full gear. His combine showing featured a 4.43-second 40 time, a 1.52-second 10-yard split, and top-five results at his position in both the vertical jump (38.5 inches) and broad jump (10 feet, 8 inches), confirming the explosiveness littered all over his tape.  

Like Jahmyr Gibbs coming out of Alabama two years ago, Henderson has NFL teams salivating about his potential as a chunk-play generator in the passing game. Henderson’s ball skills are underrated: He’s a great pass blocker (which will keep him on the field without tipping tendencies), and he averaged 11.1 yards per catch at Ohio State, a staggering number for a running back.

4. Ashton Jeanty, RB, Boise State

I’m not gonna apologize for putting Jeanty fourth on this list. It’s actually a hell of an honor to be ranked this high considering how much of his damage comes from his power and contact balance. For the purposes of this list, I’m focusing on the twitch-driven yards Jeanty generates in space. Combine the two, and it’s easy to see why Jeanty is the best all-around running back prospect to enter the NFL draft since Saquon Barkley in 2018.  

I marvel at Jeanty’s ability to sense against-the-grain cuts (big or small) and how his feet and hips cooperate with his brain. That’s the best way I can describe it. He averaged 6.4 yards on 750 career carries and 10.8 yards on 80 career receptions. What makes that 10.8-yards-per-catch mark so remarkable is that the vast majority of his catches came at, near, or behind the line of scrimmage. He generated nearly all of that yardage with his quick transitions upfield, sensational vision, and breathtaking ability to string multiple cuts together—and, yes, his ability to break tackles.  

He hasn’t run a 40-yard dash, and I don’t really care. His play speed is plenty fast (I would estimate mid-to-high 4.4-second range), and his ability to accelerate to top speed off of cuts is one of the features that makes him so special.

5. Isaiah Bond, WR, Texas

Bond is undersized, has durability questions, is raw as a route runner, and has inconsistent hands. But he can fly and has staggering run-after-the-catch abilities! He ran a disappointing 4.39-second 40 at the combine and reportedly ran a faster time at Texas’s pro day—in the 4.35-second range. He did, however, reach a top speed of 24.17 miles per hour at the combine, second fastest among all players.

6. DJ Giddens, RB, Kansas State

Giddens has gone criminally under the radar during this draft process, largely because of the historically deep talent pool in this year’s running back class. But it won’t take long for this twitched-up, 6-foot, 212-pound back to make his mark in the NFL. Giddens is near the top of the list among his position group when it comes to his ability to make defenders miss in tight spaces. What’s truly remarkable is that he’s significantly taller and bigger than other backs like Henderson, Jeanty, Jaydon Blue, RJ Harvey, and Dylan Sampson.  

Giddens was a checkdown/outlet receiver in college and still averaged 11.7 yards per catch—better than Henderson and Jeanty. But he has the traits to run actual routes in the NFL. The team that drafts Giddens (presumably in Round 3) will get one of the true steals of this year’s draft class.

7. Jaydon Blue, RB, Texas

Blue is undersized but a lightning strike waiting to happen. He wasn’t a featured back at Texas (five career starts) and never will be in the NFL, but whichever team drafts him will find a way to get the ball in his hands a few times per game. He’s explosive and has unique elusiveness to complement his 4.38-second 40 speed (second fastest among running backs at the combine). I like him most in the passing game—he has experience running actual routes, knows how to uncover, and has reliable hands. His two touchdown catches against Ohio State in the College Football Playoff semifinal were memorable. He also averaged 26.7 yards per kickoff in 2023.

8. Jalen Milroe, QB, Alabama

Milroe is a rare athlete at the quarterback position. He rushed for 1,257 yards and 32 touchdowns in two seasons as Alabama’s starter and is an absolute burner. He’ll be selected on night two of the draft and will eventually become one of the two or three most dynamic running threats at the quarterback position in the NFL. I think we’ll need to wait a year or two for him to develop before we witness the impact of his 4.37-second 40 speed on NFL defenses.

9. Savion Williams, WR, TCU

Likening Williams to Cordarrelle Patterson is probably the most accurate comp of any in this year’s draft class. Like Patterson, Williams is unrefined—to say the least—as a receiver, his ball skills are erratic at best, and you never know what you’re getting. But also like Patterson, Williams is big, fast, versatile, and dynamic with the ball in his hands. I’ve talked to personnel who think Williams, who averaged 6.9 yards after the catch in 2024 and scored 20 touchdowns on only 199 career touches, will come off the board in Round 2, despite all his flaws.

10. Bhayshul Tuten, RB, Virginia Tech

He’s the fastest back in this year’s loaded class, running a 4.32-second dash at the combine. You see the speed on tape when he hits a crease. Tuten’s not the biggest or most elusive runner, but he’s a pursuit-angle assassin when he hits daylight. He’ll have real value as a middle-round pick for a team that will deploy him in a rotation.

11. RJ Harvey, RB, UCF

Harvey’s absolutely electric as a pick-and-slide runner and has good patience and vision. He hits openings hard and has an excellent jump-cut and acceleration off of his cut. He also shows outstanding stop-start quickness with the ball in his hands. He averaged 13 yards on 39 catches in his last two years at UCF and can be a difference-maker in the NFL passing game.