The 2024 NFL Scouting Combine gave the people what they wanted on its first day of live drills. Big meaty men, running as fast as humanly possible.

Day 1 played host to workouts for defensive linemen and linebackers, giving way to 300-plus pound men sprinting toward potential first round selections. Some of these mountains cosplaying as edge rushers cemented their place as top prospects. Others affirmed what scouts and executives had already seen on their game tape. And one bad performance reminded us not to erase a player's massive contributions on the field by how he looks in spandex.

Let's talk about the biggest winners from the first day of the 2025 NFL combine.

Stock up

DL Shemar Stewart, Texas A&M

Stewart played three seasons with the Aggies and never had more than 1.5 in any of them (or fewer. He was, if nothing else, consistent). Despite this, he has legitimate first round buzz.

The former five-star recruit showed why in Indianapolis.

Getting compared to Myles Garrett? That’s about as high as praise gets for a young pass rusher. Stewart is somehow slightly more explosive than his Aggie predecessor. How will scouts balance that against the fact Garrett had Stewarts career sack output in a single game one time in 2016?

Stewart is the perfect addition for a confident coaching staff. He could also wind up sinking the bold general manager that jumps the queue to draft him. He’s a lottery ticket, but the payout is equivalent to billions of dollars in pocket-crumpling currency.

EDGE Landon Jackson, Arkansas

Jackson is a monster at 6-foot-6 and 264 pounds, but questions about his burst and explosiveness threatened to drop his stock and eliminate him from first round consideration. He may still be an end-of-Day-1 lottery ticket, but one teams can feel a little better about after a sub-4.7 second 40 time and a 40.5-inch vertical leap.

He doesn’t quite have top-of-class explosiveness, but he runs smoothly and will be an absolute nightmare chasing down quarterbacks as they leave the pocket or running backs as they try to turn the corner. With 13 sacks and 26 tackles for loss last season – and a history of solid performances against big name Power 4 opponents – Jackson proved he’ll be one of the safest picks toward the end of the first round or top of the second.

DT C.J. West, Indiana

At 6-foot-1, West will be significantly shorter than the offensive linemen he faces in the NFL. But that can be an asset, since it keeps his center of gravity low, creating the leverage needed to wedge his 319-pound frame into gaps and stay there.

West jumped up a level after spending his first four years at Kent State. He played a key role for a Hoosier team that made the College Football Playoff. With a 4.96-second 40 and 33-inch vertical leap, he has the explosiveness to help offset concerns about his height and arm length. That may not be enough to sneak him into a Day 2 selection, but should make him a contributor at the next level – even if its doing the grunt work that doesn’t show up in the box score.

DL Nic Scourton, Texas A&M

Scourton did not make the leap to superstardom after transferring from Purdue to College Station. While he had 14 tackles for loss, his sack total halved from 10 to five in 2024.

That spurred change. He weighed in at 257 pounds in Indianapolis after clocking in around 280 in his college career. A slimmed Scourton looked more fluid and explosive than he did in College Station, showcasing smooth hips and the kind of bend he’ll need to slice around offensive tackles in the NFL.

Those position drills were all he did at the combine, but were enough to leave a positive impact – and get scouts salivating for the Aggies pro day.

Georgia’s latest round of athletic mutants

All Georgia does is produce borderline superhuman defenders who show out at the combine. Tyrion Dawkins-Ingram is the latest in a line of athletic marvel defensive linemen from Georgia. He’s not quite at Jordan Davis’s level – pretty much no one is – but after running a 4.86-second 40 and knocking out a 10-plus foot broad jump, he’s got the athleticism to boost his draft case despite the fact that at 6-foot-4 and 276 pounds he’s stuck between the tackle and edge worlds in the NFL.

Linebacker Smael Mondon Jr. saw that performance and topped it. Four solid years as a Bulldog gave way to a resume-building Senior Bowl performance. Going out and running a 4.5-second 40 and broad jumping nearly 11 feet at 225 pounds should go a long way in convincing coaches he can play a hybrid STAR position between linebacker and safety at the next level.

LB Jihaad Campbell, Alabama

Campbell entered the combine as the draft’s top off-ball linebacker. He’ll leave the combine as the draft’s top off-ball linebacker – even if he skipped the agility drills.

Stock up, but not as much as they may have wanted

EDGE James Pearce Jr., Tennessee

Pearce’s Thursday was a mixed bag. His 31-inch vertical leap cast doubts on his explosiveness. His 4.47-second 40 – with a 1.56 second 10-yard split – were both best in class, casting doubt on how much his vertical really means.

This all tracks with Pearce’s last two seasons, in which he’s looked like a superstar at times and merely a useful starter in others. He emerged as a potential No. 1 overall pick with a breakthrough 10 sack 2023. He had a relatively tame 7.5 sacks last season, some of which came against solid offensive lines (1.5 sacks against Alabama) and some which did not (two sacks vs. UTEP).

He needed to thoroughly crush the combine to cement his place as a top 10 pick. Instead, he only… kinda crushed it. Which should keep him in the first round mix, but may not elevate him back to pre-2024 hype levels.

LB Danny Stutsman

Stutsman was a prolific college linebacker who tallied 100-plus tackles each of the last three seasons. But that doesn’t always translate to the pros, particularly in a league where off-ball defenders have to keep pace with a rising tide of athletic tight ends and pass-catching tailbacks. With 4.52-second 40 speed, the veteran proved he has the top gear to be an NFL starter.

The question now is whether he has the lateral quickness to capitalize on that. Stutsman didn’t do agility drills and his positional skills showcased some stiffness that could be an issue at the next level. There’s work to be done here before his pro day.

Stock neutral

Jackson has undeniable size at 6-foot-6. He’s showcased his dedication to improving, slimming down from a playing weight around 350 pounds in his time at Memphis and Florida to under 330 at the combine. But he needed to show he could be more than a massive obstacle in the middle of the line. This was a mixed bag.

On one hand, there was a nice fluidity to his on-field work. On the other, his 24.5-inch vertical leap and 1.81-second 10-yard split cast doubt on his ability to explode through gaps and create interior pressure against NFL lines. He’s a worthy pick, but questions remain whether he can be twitchy enough to be a three-down presence.

Stock down

LB Jay Higgins, Iowa

Higgins showed the downside Stutsman faced. He was a tackling machine as a Hawkeye, leading the Big Ten in solo tackles the last two seasons (he had 171 COMBINED TACKLES IN 2023 GOOD GOD). But the All-American needed to display the athleticism to chase down receivers and running backs with NFL speed on Sundays. A 4.82 40 time at 225 pounds – on par with 2025’s fastest defensive tackles – and bottom three broad and vertical jump numbers will hurt his draft stock.

This, of course, doesn’t have to define his career. Vontaze Burfict was awesome, if unpredictable on the field at Arizona State. He tanked the combine, then emerged as a starter as an undrafted rookie and, from a physical capacity only, was an asset for the Cincinnati Bengals. One bad workout won’t tank Higgins – and he did turn in the fastest three-cone drill of the seven linebackers to try it, showcasing solid change-of-direction skill – but it will make his journey to the NFL a little more difficult.

This article originally appeared on For The Win: NFL combine stock watch, Day 1: Shemar Stewart, YOU are a Day 1 pick