Championship Sunday is set: New England at Denver in the AFC, Los Angeles at Seattle in the NFC.
Before those kickoffs, it’s worth zooming in on a very specific throughline each contender shares,their 2025 draft classes and how those first-year pros nudged veteran cores from good to conference-title caliber.
New England Patriots: trench fixers and instant role players
New England’s class was designed to supercharge Drake Maye’s Year 2, and it largely did. No. 4 overall OT Will Campbell stepped into the blindside job and held up far better than the “arm length” predraft nitpicking suggested; by season’s end, local and national review pieces were pointing to his steady pass pro and run game edge as a culture shift for a line that badly needed one. Running back TreVeyon Henderson gave Mike Vrabel a true changeup next to Rhamondre Stevenson, flashing homerun speed and holding up in protection, the exact multipurpose profile scouts projected in April.
Midround OL Jared Wilson found a home inside and logged heavy snaps, while third-round WR Kyle Williams supplied intermittent vertical juice, including a long TD that hinted at more to come.
Together, that foursome delivered the “day-one help” New England targeted on draft weekend.
Depth picks mattered, too. The Patriots’ own postdraft grades and independent roundups called out the class for breadth, defensive depth with Craig Woodson and Joshua Farmer, subpackage edge potential in Bradyn Swinson, and special teams reinforcements, that let Vrabel mix and match without overexposing young players. However you slice it, analysts widely labeled the haul a foundational hit that matched a splashy free agency spree, and the team’s January standing backs that up.
Denver Broncos: Day 2 offense that kept the top seed on schedule
Denver’s most impactful rookie was a secondrounder: RJ Harvey. When injuries struck the backfield, Harvey’s passgame utility and nose for the goal line stabilized drives and redzone packages (12 total TDs, with robust receiving value), which proved vital for a team that leaned on defense and complementary football to earn the AFC’s No. 1 seed.
Third round WR Pat Bryant grew into a reliable chainmover as the year wore on, giving Bo Nix another rhythm option on early downs and in the quick game.
On defense and special teams, the rookie returns were quiet but tangible. Firstround CB Jahdae Barron logged snaps at nickel and outside and flashed ball skills (five PBUs, an INT) while learning the league’s spacing; midround edge Que Robinson and thirdround DL Sai’vion Jones offered rotational snaps; and sixth round P Jeremy Crawshaw was steady enough to flip fields for a defense that thrives on long grass. The class won’t win any “most productive” trophies, but it gave Denver useful snaps across the roster, exactly what a top seeded team with an established identity needed.
Los Angeles Rams: a lighter lift, but timely, targeted contributions
GM Les Snead traded out of Round 1 and made just six selections, so the rookie footprint was always going to be smaller in 2025. Still, the Rams found situational help. Second-round TE Terrance Ferguson gradually carved out redzone utility (three TDs) and seam work as the year progressed; third round EDGE Josaiah Stewart supplied rotational pressure snaps to spell a loaded front; and seventh round WR Konata Mumpfield chipped in as depth when packages called for a true slot. It wasn’t volume, but the hits matched the need.
If you’re grading purely on rookie production, ESPN’s season-end audit slotted the Rams’ class 32nd, largely because the veterans (Matthew Stafford, Puka Nacua, Jared Verse, Braden Fiske, etc.) carried the load and snaps were scarce. Inside the building, that was by design, 2024’s megaclass was already starting all over the field. The 2025 rookies were drafted to complement that core, and that's exactly how Sean McVay used them on the path to the NFC title game.
Seattle Seahawks: identity pieces on offense and defense
Seattle’s draft paid off where it counts most for Mike Macdonald: the line of scrimmage and the middle of the field. Firstround Grey Zabel slid from FCS tackle to NFL guard and immediately raised the floor of the interior (elite runblock winrate metrics with room to grow in pass pro), a big deal for a team that recommitted to undercenter, outsidezone principles. On defense, second round Nick Emmanwori became Macdonald’s movable chess piece, safety/slot/box enforcer, unlocking heavy nickel play without sacrificing run fits and directly feeding the suffocating scoring defense that propelled Seattle to the NFC’s top seed.
The Seahawks also squeezed role player value from Day 2/3. TE Elijah Arroyo chipped in as a field stretcher when healthy; fifth rounder Tory Horton flashed redzone savvy (five TDs in limited games); and late picks like Bryce Cabeldue and Mason Richman provided depth snaps that mattered during the NFC West grind. It wasn’t a gaudy stat class, but it was a “fit our blueprint” class- precisely why it shows up as impactful in filmroom evaluations even if some box scores are modest.
Why it mattered in January
All four teams arrived at Championship Sunday with clear, coherent identities, and rookies who reinforced them. New England’s first-year blockers and back sharpened a balanced offense for an MVP caliber sophomore QB. Denver’s Day 2 skill talent absorbed attrition and kept the complementary engine humming. L.A.’s smaller rookie roles were timely and specialized around a veteran nucleus. Seattle’s rookies, led by a guard who finishes and a safety who erases, align perfectly with Macdonald’s physical blueprint. That’s not just “drafting well”, that’s drafting to win postseason football.