Top 10 NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year candidates in 2025: Who is biggest challenger to Abdul Carter?

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With NFL training camps opening around the league this week, it’s almost time for us to stop projecting how rookies will handle the step up in competition and see how things go in real life. But before we get there, I have one more forecast for you. Below are my top 10 candidates to win the Defensive Rookie of the Year award in 2025.

But first, a few trends to note:

No safety has won this award since Mark Carrier in 1990.

No defensive tackle has won the award since Aaron Donald in 2014.

Five of the last six winners were edge rushers, including hybrid edge/linebacker Micah Parsons in 2021.

With that, here are my top contenders to succeed Jared Verse as DROY.

NOTE: The odds below, provided by Caesars Sportsbook, are current as of 11 a.m. ET on Monday, July 21 unless otherwise noted.

Cleveland Browns

Drafted: Round 2, No. 33 overall

Don’t sleep on Schwesinger, a former walk-on who developed into a first-team All-American. He ended up being picked with the first selection of Round 2, but he had Round 1 buzz heading into the draft. The former Bruin is walking into a highly favorable situation, with a starting spot open at linebacker due to the neck injury that will keep Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah sidelined in 2025. Also, Schwesinger is going to have 2023 DPOY Myles Garrett and fifth overall pick Mason Graham (more on him in a bit) creating playmaking opportunities for him. He led the FBS with 90 solo tackles in 2024, and we don’t have to look back very far to see a ‘backer who stuffed the stat sheet and was rewarded with DROY honors (Shaquille Leonard, 2018). As my colleague Lance Zierlein wrote of Schwesinger, he’s “a human bloodhound” when it comes to tracking the ball. That should give him a chance to eat in Year 1.

San Francisco 49ers

Drafted: Round 1, No. 11 overall

Williams is an imposing presence at 6-foot-5, 267 pounds, something that clearly isn’t lost on one of his new fellow Niners edge rushers. “He’s a unit,” Bryce Huff recently told the website The SF Niners. “I’m not gonna lie to you. I saw him training this morning and I said, ‘Yeah, he’s gonna wreak some havoc in this front for sure.’ ” Consider me intrigued. Playing opposite five-time Pro Bowler Nick Bosa should set Williams up with favorable matchups. Will he be able to take advantage of those opportunities? Williams was hobbled by an ankle injury in 2024 and never recorded more than five sacks in a season during his three years at Georgia. If San Francisco bounces back from a disappointing year and Williams plays a big role in the renaissance, I could easily see him outperforming this ranking when the ballots are cast.

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