The demand for franchise quarterbacks in the 2025 draft at this moment in time is greater than the supply.
Things can change dramatically between now and the end of the expanded College Football Playoff, but teams such as the Giants, Jets, Raiders, Titans, Browns, Panthers and Saints could all be salivating over just two quarterback prospects who are currently considered worthy of a top-five pick … and easily could go 1-2.
A pair of top-rate evaluators — ESPN draft analyst and Insider Matt Miller, and Fox college football analyst Brock Huard — were summoned by Serby Says to offer their expert analysis.
The two crown jewels are Shedeur Sanders and Cam Ward.
With the way quarterbacks are overvalued during the draft process, Miller can envision Carson Beck and Quinn Ewers ultimately joining Sanders and Ward as top-10 picks, with Jalen Milroe a possibility only if a team sees Anthony Richardson in him.
“I think it’s Shedeur 1, I think it’s Cam 2, and then I think that there’s a bit of a gap between the next crop of quarterbacks,” Huard said. “Those two are bona fide first-round, top-10 guys, franchise QBs, and I think, unfortunately, in a league that needs them and is starving for that supply chain to be rich every year, to me, the Carson Becks and the Quinn Ewers and the Jaxson Darts have looked very human, very mortal.”
How many first-round quarterbacks as of this moment?
“I think two — definite Shedeur Sanders and Cam Ward,” Miller said. “After that, there’s a lot of projects — like Carson Beck, Quinn Ewers, Jalen Milroe at Alabama, Drew Allar at Penn State, Garrett Nussmeier at LSU … but Milroe and Nussmeier can go back to school.
“It’s not the best year to know that you need a quarterback, basically, because there’s not that group like last year with six players that are gonna go in the first round.”
Because of positional value, Sanders is likely to be the first pick of the draft.
“Everything he does well right now translates to the NFL,” Miller said. “There’s not as much projection with him as there are with some of the other guys.”
Shedeur Sanders (Colorado): “His arm’s good not great, but he’s incredibly tough in the pocket,” Miller said. “He’s able to move without being a run-first quarterback. I think more impressively is how well he can adjust his arm angle and make throws on the move, then he can make throws off-platform. But really it’s just accuracy. He knows how to put the ball on someone. It’s surgical. The ball is always right where it needs to be for his guys to make a play.”
“QB1 in this class,” Huard said. “What doesn’t show up on the TV copy, I think his greatest strength is his toughness. He just stands and delivers. And then throw on top, big hands, long arms, can spin a football, throws an incredibly catchable ball. Seems to be by all accounts a terrific leader.”
Cam Ward (Miami): “I like the journey, I like the grit. I like [that] everywhere he’s been, he’s elevated the people around him,” Huard said. “I like his size and strength, he’s got a durable, physical frame. To compare to Shedeur, I don’t think he throws as accurately and is catchable with as much kind of touch, but he can throw lasers, and loves to play and compete, and that ability to elevate everyone you is one of the most important traits there is in my opinion.”
Miller and Huard would see Ward as a fit with Brian Daboll.
“There’s a lot of tools there to run it, to throw it, to RPO it, to sling it, to do a lot of the things that I think has volume to do,” Huard said.
“He’s a playmaker,” Miller said. “Now that he’s not asked to be a superhero, he’s able to play quarterback. He moves well, great arm strength, he has touch.
“I think Milroe’s skill set would be kind of interesting there just because he is such a great runner. Even things like what Milroe and Ward do well are kind of being mitigated a little bit in the league. I can see Milroe working there as well.”
Carson Beck (Georgia): “The accuracy and the decision-making … you get multiple interception games, and you just look very, very flustered, very rattled and erratic,” Huard said. “To see that happening on multiple occasions would very much create some doubt if I’m that decision-maker having to pull the trigger on an absolutely like bona fide build-this-thing-around-him. He’s talented, he’s prototypical, he’s got a great release and strong arm and all those wonderful traits we talk about, but that’s not what you build around. You build around somebody that is unwavering and does not to me gets flustered, and we’ve seen too much of that from him.”
Miller has not seen progress this season from Beck.
“He had guys like Ladd McConkey and Brock Bowers last year where if the ball was close, they’re making a play,” Miller said. “And this year, he’s throwing behind guys, he’s leading guys too far ahead. I think he’s trying to trust his arm a little bit too much this year.”
Asked if Beck will be a first-round pick, Miller said, “I don’t know. If the draft were tomorrow, I wouldn’t feel super comfortable about that.”
Quinn Ewers (Texas): “He’s talented but frustrating,” Miller said. “He just has to play looser — more like he did against Michigan, more like he did against Alabama, Oklahoma last year. He’s good for like one frustrating play a game. But he’s incredibly young. He’s 20 years old. He’s a true junior after reclassifying in high school.”
Could he be pushed up to the top 10 in the draft?
“Should he? No,” Miller said. “But he definitely could just because the pedigree, he’s one of the highest-rated high school quarterbacks of all time. He has won a lot of games at Texas, he has a lot of experience, and I can see someone thinking that they could elevate him, that they could coach him up.”
“I’d be concerned just about the body … the durability, the sustainability.,” Huard said. “When he goes and throws at his pro workout, it’ll just be, ‘Wow.’ It’s like Jeff George-esque when it comes to the spin, the velocity, just the ease with which he can put a ball anywhere. But, the durability is real.”
Jaxson Dart (Ole Miss): “I think I like the traits as much as I do just about anybody in this class, but you got to see the consistency,” Huard said.
“I think he’s kind of limited in terms of his skill set,” Miller said. “He’s accurate, he’s smart, he’s got a great scheme. I know there’s some hype out there from find about him. I don’t quite buy into it.”
Jalen Milroe (Alabama): “I think things are moving a little bit too fast for him at times, but he’s definitely talented,” Miller said. “It’s just a matter of, ‘Are you in a position to be patient enough while he learns on the job?’ ”
Could he be a first-rounder?
“Not on his readiness or anything, but just on the traits that he had, he would be,” Miller said.
“Incredibly raw,” Huard said. “I think you’re seeing a system that right now, he can’t get his head above water with from a passing game standpoint,” Huard said. “Elite, elite athlete, unbelievable runner, can be a game-changing difference-maker in that way, but once again, unless you’re Lamar Jackson, a lot of stuff gets nullified at the next level in the phone booth that you have to play in.”
Riley Leonard (Notre Dame): “I don’t know if he’s a good enough thrower,” Huard said. “For me, my three boxes are No. 1, elevating everybody around you. No. 2, anticipation and accuracy, those stand the test of time for five decades. And No. 3 is just that viability, durability. Are you through thick and thin, through ups and downs, through the mental and physical bearings that you take, and emotional, are you going to be durable and viable?
“I think Shedeur probably checks those more confidently for me than the others. Cam is No. 2. The rest of the guys check two but not three, check one but not the other two.”
“I just haven’t seen him take that next step,” Miller said.
Drew Allar (Penn State): “Really, really good tools,” Miller said. “He threw two picks last year, but everything he did was like super, super safe, and his completion percentage was terrible. This year, he’s turning the ball over more, but he’s making more plays. He’s playing looser, I think he’s playing a lot smarter this year, despite the fact that he has some more turnovers. But he’s the one that I think once we get to the true evaluation period, could really ride up just because of the tools that he has.”
Allar is 6-foot-5, 237 pounds, a poor man’s Ben Roethlisberger.
“More like a poor man’s Justin Herbert, probably,” Miller said.
“I had him last year,” Huard said. “I thought the ability to push the ball down the field with confidence and conviction, and accuracy was a problem, which is weird, because that’s all he did in high school playing out of a shotgun like literally throwing lasers and bombs all over the field. The NFL, I think will like him this year. He beats Ohio State, he gets to the playoffs, he does great things, they’ll like him a whole lot more. But feels like someone they could love — love, love — in the ’26 draft.
Conner Weigman (Texas A&M): “He’s got a ways to go,” Huard said.
“Weigman is more like a 2026 guy,” Miller said. “I think it would definitely benefit him to play more as opposed to coming out after one year of starting.”
So much can change between now and April.
“This 12-team playoff will be not only great for college football,” Huard said, “but I think it’ll be tremendous for these evaluators as well.”