2025 NFL Draft position rankings: QBs headlined by Cam Ward, Shedeur Sanders

The 2025 NFL Draft is almost here, and Yahoo Sports experts Nate Tice and Charles McDonald are breaking down the top prospects position by position. Here are the quarterbacks. Check out Nate and Charles’ consensus big board here, along with Nate’s final big board and Charles’ final big board.

1. Cam Ward, Miami

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2. Shedeur Sanders, Colorado

3. Tyler Shough, Louisville

4. Jaxson Dart, Ole Miss

5. Riley Leonard, Notre Dame

1. Cam Ward, Miami

Nate Tice: Cam Ward exudes calmness when you watch him. Whether it’s in his pocket movements or executing in big moments, Ward is more than happy to try and make tough throws or attempt trick shots. He has no qualms continuing it even when punished.

Ward has a good frame, a good arm with a quick sidearm delivery that can attack all three levels, and he can create with his legs or off-platform when needed. He can also make the higher-difficulty plays. Ward can get a little too carried away with his heat-check moments and have some throws get away from him, but he has continued to add layers to his game at each stop of his college career and makes everyone around him better.

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Ward is a good, but not overwhelming athlete, but is an effective scrambler with a good clock in his head for when to tuck the ball and run. Ward measured in under 6-foot-2 at the combine, but his height isn’t a deterrent because of his ability to quickly operate and change arm angles around pass rushers.

Ward still has a few things to clean up, and might lack a true overwhelming trait, but he’s young and has already shown the ability to operate (and excel) both in and out of structure — with results, too. Any fan base that drafts him should be rightfully excited because Ward is just a fun player to watch. You gotta love a QB that tries stuff.

Charles McDonald: Ward took a windy road to get here, but he’s nearly the consensus top quarterback in this year’s class. He went from Incarnate Word to Washington State to Miami and never looked out of place at any spot.

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This past season, Ward was the driving force behind Miami’s success and nearly dragged the Hurricanes to the College Football Playoff despite having a porous defense. Ward is a big-time risk-taker on the field, but his arm talent and accuracy downfield allowed him to keep the Hurricanes alive in tough spots. His willingness to hunt big plays gets him in trouble sometimes, but it’s better to have to rein that in than try to get him to play outside of his comfort zone.

Ward will have a learning curve early on as he adapts his style to the increased pace of NFL play, but he has all the tools to be an NFL franchise quarterback.

2. Shedeur Sanders, Colorado

Charles McDonald: Sanders will likely go much, much higher than 37th overall, which is where I have him ranked, by the time the draft comes. That’s just the nature of quarterback drafting in the NFL right now. However, it is fair to wonder exactly what his ceiling is.

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Nate Tice: Sanders improved his play this season, especially with his feel in the pocket and timing that he plays with on concepts. Sanders is tough, has a good arm and is more than willing to challenge defenders on tougher throws like in-breakers over the middle. When in rhythm, he can let his pass catchers thrive because of his friendly ball placement.

Sanders has below-average size and is also just an average athlete, which shows up when asked to create. He has markedly improved his pocket movement (although he still has a tendency to drift backward).

Sanders still has plenty to work on, especially in regards to timing and feel in the pocket. And while he has a good-enough arm for the NFL, his tools aren’t overwhelming enough to consistently mitigate tough situations. Sanders will have to be dropped into a good ecosystem to keep ascending at the next level.

3. Tyler Shough, Louisville

Nate Tice: I did a deep dive on Shough recently. The tl;dr — Shough is an old prospect with an injury history, but he is a good athlete who can absolutely spin it, especially while throwing on the move. He also doesn’t take sacks (which can be both good and bad). There are enough high-end throws on Shough’s tape that makes him interesting. Teams are going to have to gauge how early it is to draft a QB who was in the same high school recruiting class as Trevor Lawrence.

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Charles McDonald: Shough is a quality quarterback prospect, but injuries and age make him a curious case to crack this draft season. Shough will be 26 this fall and was in college for seven seasons. He operated Louisville’s offense well and has some nice traits as a passer. He has starter potential, but his path doesn’t have a great track record of working out in the NFL.

4. Jaxson Dart, Ole Miss

Charles McDonald: Look, Dart is going higher than where I have him ranked on my big board (68th), but my ranking isn’t going to be in line with that. Dart has some intriguing physical tools to develop, but his accuracy is streaky and he has a big learning curve coming from Lane Kiffin’s offense to the NFL. Someone will get enticed with the peak plays he makes, but there’s a lot of room to grow here before he’s ready to start every week in the NFL.

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Nate Tice: I wrote more extensively about Dart recently. Overall, he has interesting size and tools to work with. But his ability to consistently work through plays is still a work in progress that will need time to sharpen at the next level.

5. Riley Leonard, Notre Dame

Nate Tice: I’m likely going to be one of the higher people on Leonard. I do think there is a lot to like and tools to work with for a Day 2 dart throw.

Leonard has good size and is an excellent athlete who is a weapon on designed runs and in the open field. He has a good feel in the pocket (but can bail outside a bit too quickly at times) with an ability to mitigate sacks and pressure, something he has now shown behind two shaky offensive lines at Duke and then behind a — forgive the pun — green Notre Dame unit.

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Leonard is an accurate thrower underneath with some real flashes of layering throws (and some downright excellent throws like at the end of the game against Indiana in the CFP), but his deep ball remains a gigantic question mark and he can have bad sprays crop up now and again. Some of that was Notre Dame’s iffy receiving core, but Leonard did feel like he was never comfortable consistently pushing the ball at times.

Leonard’s tools, toughness and ability to avoid negative plays make him intriguing to me, and his overall passing has picked up as the season went along as Notre Dame’s offense — and personnel — started to mature. I give Leonard some leeway because he was late to the QB position (with basketball being his main focus and playing wide receiver early in high school). But he still has to show that he can execute those complex throws on a more consistent basis, which might never happen and will make him more just an interesting backup option.

But it’s not the worst bet to make on such a competitive player with this much athleticism — who shows more feel for the position than he gets credit for — to turn into a starter down the road, with the usual “gets proper coaching” caveat.