Even with the season ending in disappointment, the 2025 Michigan Panthers were still a great team and one that will be remembered thanks to a bunch of now iconic players that will be mentioned soon. Mike Nolan and crew were able to defeat their demon in the Stallions and get to their first ever championship game. What is crazy is to think that last year the Panthers had a league high 16 players sign into the NFL and off them, the notable names were CB Nate Brooks and of course the fan favorite K Jake Bates. Let’s see if they will be able to follow up that success with another summer filled with opportunity as we look at the likelihood of every Panthers player signing into the NFL.
Methodology
For the record, this section is the same for every article so feel free to skip it if you have already seen it. The first piece to explain is the tier system. There are 5 tiers a player could land in, tiers 1-5. Tier 1 is NFL bound, basically I’m almost 100% sure that this player will go to the NFL (by signing an NFL contract at some point in the 2025 NFL season), Tier 2 is decent chance, I’m more sure than not that this player will go to the NFL which is about 75% chance, Tier 3 is maybe, flip a coin 50% chance, Tier 4 is outside possibility, which is about 25% chance, and Tier 5 is all the players that have flaws that make me think there isn’t a chance they make it to the NFL. I haven’t included the Tier 5 players but any player not listed is in that tier.
This is also only counting players that ended the season rostered by a UFL team. For example, last year the Commanders signed Ramiz Ahmed who was on the Stallions before being cut midseason, he doesn’t count and won’t be listed. This is also a good time to also mention that any reported workouts that might be released before this publishes won’t affect the grades.
The reasons that players end up in a given tier is an unscientific combination of 4 factors: quality of play in the UFL, recency of NFL experience, age, and positional value. If you check off all three of these boxes you are going to rate highly but you don’t need all three. For example last season Marcus Simms was a Tier 2 despite being 5 years out of the NFL thanks to great play and still being only 26. I’m relying heavily on PFF grades to get an opinion on every player but I have watched every game and my personal opinion can influence that too. Lastly, age is a factor that is going to hurt a lot of good players in the UFL and keep players that if they were younger would have been Tier 1s and Tier 2s but there is a sharp fall off when a player reaches 28 that will affect how players are graded. 77% of players that sign out of these leagues since 2022 are 26 or younger and that number climbs to 89.7% if you more it to 27 or younger. Then finally with positional value, it is clear there are some positions the NFL is more interested in than others. Positions that are valued above average are WR (19.7%), DL (13.2%), and CB (11.1%). Positions that are valued below average are TE (5.8%), SAF (2.9%), and P/LS who are both (2.1%). Some of this is because of quantity, with more receivers and corners rostered than tight ends and Specialists but some of it is quality with positions like safety being at a surplus of talent at the NFL level. If you have any other questions about how I came to specific grades or put the whole thing together, you can reach out to me at Nicholas_Thorn2 on Twitter or in the PFN discord to ask me whatever I missed here.
Last year my stats were as follows:
Tier 1: 12 total, 92% signed, 100% tried out
Tier 2: 38 total, 45% signed, 68% tried out
Tier 3: 71 total, 28% signed, 46% tried out
Tier 4: 156 total, 14% signed, 26% tried out
Tier 5: 144 total, 3% signed, 6% tried out
QB and Weapons
Tier 1: QB Bryce Perkins
Tier 2: RB Toa Taua
Tier 3: RB Nate McCrary, WR Sioasi Mariner, WR Malik Turner, TE Gunnar Oakes
Tier 4: QB Danny Etling, WR Samson Nacua, WR Jaylon Moore, WR Xavier Malone, TE Jalen Wydemyer
Bryce Perkins is the best quarterback that spring football has ever seen. Last year his play was great but the sample size was low, this year he was even better and was the reason the Panthers were able to win the USFL. He is the only Tier 1 QB in the league and seems like a slam dunk signing for any of the few QB needy teams out there. He wasn’t alone as Toa Taua was the biggest surprise of the season as he went from getting cut to one of the best backs in the league and should be able to get his first ever NFL opportunity thanks to that wild ride. After them, there is a bunch of players that were great but had something holding them back like in the case of Sioasi Mariner and Malik Turner, its age and Nate McCrary and Gunnar Oakes, its production. Oakes was All-UFL this season and is in a three way tie for the highest rated tight end this year. This was an electric group especially thanks to Perkins and Taua and should see a few player get a chance this summer.
Offensive Line
Tier 1: T Ryan Nelson
Tier 2: G Jake Burton
Tier 3: G Cohl Cabral, T Chim Okorafor
Tier 4: C Noah Johnson, T Brian Dooley, G Victor Curne
Both teams that were in the championship had great offensive lines and just like DC, their star Offensive Lineman was their left tackle. Ryan Nelson is one of the best stories league wide as he was a guard last year and this season moved back to his original position and was dominant all year long. Nelson feels like a lock to get his first NFL opportunity this summer. Jake Burton and Cohl Cabral both got NFL opportunities last year and both have a good shot to get another look as those 2 guard spots were dynamite all season. Chim Okorafor is in a similar spot with a chance to got 2 for 2 on NFL looks after a UFL season. One player that had to be rated low but I’d love to see them exceed expectations is Noah Johnson who has been a 3 year starter for Michigan without a look and has been one of the best centers in the league since then. This was a complete group and the Panthers would be insanely luckily to get an opportunity to run it back next year.
Front 7
Tier 1: None
Tier 2: ED Ron Stone Jr
Tier 3: ED Kenny Willekes, LB Donovan Mutin
Tier 4: DL Taylor Stallworth, DL TJ Carter, DL Benning Potoa’e, ED Ron’Dell Carter, ED Mika Tafua, LB Javin White, LB Frank Ginda, LB Andrew Parker
Injuries really hurt this front 7 and it shows with the lack of slam dunk players in this exercise. The player that I think stands above is Ron Stone who wasn’t the top player on the defensive line but was a quality rotational defensive lineman that finished the season strong and has age and NFL experience on his side as well. After him is Kenny Willekes who would’ve been rated higher if he had stayed healthy and Donovan Mutin who was a rotational piece that like Stone has age and NFL experience giving him a boost. After them, they have the entire defensive in Tier 4 with the notable exception of former UFL DPOY Breeland Speaks who missed most of the season with injury and has age working against him. This is a group that wasn’t flashy and was built out of NFL vets so their NFL interest will be limited but they were still very functional during the season despite that.
See also
Secondary
Tier 1: None
Tier 2: CB DJ Miller Jr, SCB Kedrick Whitehead
Tier 3: CB Keni-h Lovely, SAF Arnold Tarpley
Tier 4: SAF Tyree Gillespie, SAF Akeem Dent, SAF Dee Delaney
The Michigan Secondary will be remembered for the worst performance I can remember from a secondary in the Championship against DC. The group that had 2 All-UFL players were picked apart and that did end up hurting a few players here. THe main one is DJ Miller who was a Tier 1 through the regular season but had struggled enough in recent weeks that I decided to lower him a tad even if it was a great season. Kedrick Whitehead was an All-UFL CB and the Special Teams Player of the Year which gets him back into Tier 2 where he was last year even with a look in ‘24 never happening. Below them is All-UFL Safety Arnold Tarpley who has age working against him even with a 2 year stint with the Falcons in recent memory and Keni-H Lovely who missed some time but was a solid rotational CB for the Panthers. THe one name to mention that isn’t here is Kai Nacua who had a great year but it feels like his NFL career is solely in the past even as he balls out at this level. This is a group that Steve Kazor will have to give a long look at this offseason and might look very different in 2026 but they still have a few players that could get a chance.
Specialists
Tier 1: None
Tier 2: P Seth Vernon
Tier 3: None
Tier 4: K BT Potter, LS Peter Bowden
This was a young specialist group which gave them a high ceiling and a low floor. That means they have the highest rated punter in Seth Vernon but the other 2 specialists fall into the middle of the pack. Vernon was a solid punter this year but is rocketed above the punters that were rated higher because of the age and NFL experience which basically every other punt lacks. Of the Tier 4s, BT Potter especially was hit or miss this season but age is helping to keep them on the radar and it wouldn’t shock me to see Potter or Bowden get a look. There isn’t likely another Jake Bates her but the Panthers hopefully get rewarded for their youth movement.
Conclusion
Overall, it is easy to see why the Panthers were the team to beat for the majority of the season. They had a ton of surprise breakouts and every though they fell short in the season, they should see some interest over the summer. Some of the names to keep an eye on are QB Bryce Perkins, OG Jake Burton, RB Toa Taua, and CB DJ Miller Jr to name a few. It will be hard to match that 16 NFL signs last year but with this team, they just might.
Which Michigan Panthers players do you think will make a run to the NFL? Let us know down in the comments below, or join the conversation on Discord!Â
