Happy NFL Draft Day Northwestern Wildcats fans! One Cats player to watch, as this draft plays out over the next three days is wide receiver A.J. Henning. The speedy Michigan Wolverines transfer matches Xander Mueller with a day three grade. Other than A.J. Henning and Xander Mueller, it’s doubtful that Northwestern sees anybody get else drafted.
The 2025 NFL Draft will be held at Lambeau Field, home of the Green Bay Packers, and the adjacent Titletown District in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
The NFL Draft is a huge night for sports gambling, and if you’re doing any betting in Kenya on the draft, then you know everything after Cam Ward #1 overall to the Tennessee Titans is a total wild card. Anything can happen from pick #2 onward.
Henning and Mueller may not go to round six or seven. Although, it’s also very possible they end up UDFAs.
However, it’s very likely someone takes a flyer on A.J. Henning, due to his blazing speed.
He ran a 4.4 40-yard dash at Northwestern’s Pro Day on March 18.
Had he been invited to the 2025 NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis, and run that time, it would’ve ranked tied for the 11th-best among wide receivers at the event.
If Al Davis was alive, you know the joke about him, he loved to draft guys with excellent 40 times.
A.J. Henning brings more to the table than just speed though.
“I pride myself on breaking tackles and getting YACs (yards after the catch),” he said in the postgame press conference following the loss to Indiana in early October.
Northwestern coach David Braun discussed another asset in Henning’s NFL Draft portfolio: “One piece of A.J.’s game that is really great, he’s so versatile.”
In addition to the impressive 40 time, Henning produced a couple other impressive measurables, a 10’3 in the broad jump, 34.5″ in the vertical jump and 16 reps on the bench press (225 pounds).
And as NU quarterback Jack Lausch pointed out, after that early fall loss to IU, Henning will put in the work.
“Bryce (Kirtz), A.J. those receivers, they work they tails off, even on the run downs,” he said that Saturday.
Given the limitations of Lausch, and the Northwestern quarterbacking play in general this past season, Henning was kind of limited as to how much of his talent that he could really showcase.
The NU offense was certainly lacking, to say the least, so Henning didn’t have a lot of opportunity to put up gaudy stats.
However, his impressive showing at the NU Pro Day should balance that out some what.
For our NFL mock draft go here.
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the Washington Post and ESPN. You can follow him on Linked In and Twitter