Day 3 of the NFL Draft was a busy one for the Florida Gators. As expected, Florida had a score of players get picked in rounds four through seven, and when the draft was over, the Gators had seven players have their names called.
With that in mind, here are three things that stood out from the Draft as these Florida players will now try and make it in the NFL.
The Florida Gators logo carries weight in the NFL
When the dust settled, Chimere Dike, Cam Jackson, Jason Marshall Jr., Shemar James, Graham Mertz, Jeremy Crawshaw and Trikweze Bridges were all selected in the draft.
Jackson going in the 5th round was the only selection that felt like a drop compared to mock drafts while Mertz and Bridges weren't on mock draft radars at all so it was nice to see them get selected.
The seven players selected were tied for the sixth most of any program in 2025, more than notable programs such as Notre Dame, Penn State, Tennessee, Clemson, and FSU.
Transfer Portal Matters
One thing we noted after the first round was that most first-round picks are actually homegrown players who have never transferred from their original schools. But if you drill down into the later rounds, that trend definitely sways toward the portal.
Of the seven players Florida had drafted, four were acquired via the transfer portal, with Marshall, Crawshaw, and James being homegrown players who had only ever played with Florida.
Florida's roster was better than advertised in 2024
Mind you, Florida had seven players drafted, and that was without Montrell Johnson or Elijhah Badger getting picked or that Jake Slaughter could have declared early and would have been a Day 2 pick.
And not to turn around and always make this a Billy Napier slam fest, but one of the reasons Gator fans were so frustrated in 2024 when the Gators started 4-5 is because this is a roster that had talent, so losing four of five games by double digits when you have the sixth most players drafted in the country isn't a great look.