Welcome to the second scouting report of the 2025 NFL draft cycle.
This time around, we will be diving into the quarterback (QB) class. Let us just cut to the point: QBs are the most important position in football; it is not close. If you want any chance of winning it all in this league, you need to win at the QB position. The QB is the commander of the offense; everything revolves around him. They receive the play calls, change the play calls, hand the ball off and pass or run the ball.
For an explanation for how we decided who scouts who and how we write these reports, click on this link here | 2025 NFL Draft Scouting Report, EDGE: Texas A&M and Ohio State boast two stars each in the top 10 ā The Pacer.
To come to the grading for the players, we took the following traits and graded each trait by how the players performed:
- Arm Strength
- Release
- Still Accuracy
- Moving Accuracy
- Accuracy vs. Pressure
- Aggressiveness
- Pocket Work
- Mobility
- TO Aversion
- Creation
- Scrambling
- Size
- Potential
Similar to how we graded out edge defenders (EDGEs), we usually grade three games each for the players; take the scores of each trait; add them up and then we divide by the number of traits we come to our final grade. Without further ado, here are our 2025 Draft QB rankings.
Rankings:
- Cam Ward, Miami | Grade: 7.23 | Round Projection: Early 1st | Scouted by: CB
- Tyler Shough, Louisville | Grade: 6.54 | Round Projection: Mid 2nd | Scouted by: CB
- Jaxon Dart, Ole Miss | Grade: 6.15 | Round Projection: Late 2nd | Scouted by: CL
- Jalen Milroe, Alabama | Grade: 6.08 | Round Projection: Early 3rd | Scouted by: CL
- Kyle McCord, Syracuse | Grade: 5.54 | Round Projection: Mid 3rd | Scouted by: CL
- Sheduer Sanders, Colorado | Grade: 5.46 | Round Projection: Late 3rd | Scouted by: CB
- Riley Leonard, Notre Dame | Grade: 5.38 | Round Projection: Late 3rd | Scouted by: CB
- Will Howard, Ohio State | Grade: 5.31 | Round Projection: Early 4th | Scouted by: CB
- Dillion Garbiel, Oregon | Grade: 5.23 | Round Projection: Early 4th | Scouted by: CB
- Quinn Ewers, Texas | Grade: 4.69 | Round Projection: Mid 4th | Scouted by: CL
Scouting Report: Jaxon Dart, Ole Miss
Dart brings what a lot of people will remember as the classic pocket passing gunslinger that used to dominate the league. Think of guys like Favre or Rivers who wanted to throw the ball a lot and let their arm do the talking, and they will live or die by the result. Now do I think Dart is anywhere near the talent of these guys? No. But I do think the mindset is the same.
Where Dart starts to delineate from this style is with his athleticism. Dart has good size and speed for the position, even if he prefers to use it as a last stitch effort, and I believe, if an NFL team can encourage him to use his legs more, he can unlock another fold to his game that will give him a chance to carve out a spot in the league as a decent starter or good backup.
Dart also has another thing on his side, and that is his age. Dart is 21 years old and is the youngest of any of the quarterbacks in the draft. This youth, combined with his lack of experience in pro style offenses leaves Dart as the most malleable signal caller in this draft if a team wants to take the time to mold him into what he can be.
In summary, Dart still has a lot of room to grow and become a better player, but he also can remain the same or have his flaws exacerbated by the skill level in the NFL. He is a true dart throw. Can a team hit the bullseye?
Strengths: Highly accurate on medium and short passes | Strong enough arm for the NFL | Athleticism that provides upside as a rusher | Has created good chemistry and trust with his receivers to make throws early | Aggressive enough as a passer to push the ball downfield
Weaknesses: When forced to avoid pressure, his athleticism does not show | Throwing on the run is a work in progress | Has not had to make full field reads yet | Cracks under the pressure of clutch situations like two-minute drills/game winning drives
Grade: 6.15
Round Projection: Late 2nd
Team Fits: Rams, 49ers and Dolphins
Pro Comp: Former Eagles, Donovan McNabb
Scouting Report: Tyler Shough, Louisville
Shough is slowly moving up scouts and analystsā boards, but is the hype real? I say yes. Shoughās long-time in college has slowly helped him build up to this final year at Louisville where he had an overall strong season.
Shough gets a lot of hate though because he is already 25 and will be 26 before the end of the 2025-26 NFL season. He has “played” for seven years in college, three at Oregon, three at Texas Tech and one season at Louisville. There is an explanation to that though and it plays into one of his bigger weaknesses/concerns, injuries. He did not get his first chance to start til 2021, but unfortunately he broke his collarbone in that season along with the 2022. He then suffered a fibula injury in the 2023 season. Due to those injuries he has actually played less career college games (42) than Miamiās Cam Ward (age 23 and 57 games) and Coloradoās Sheduer Sanders (age 23 and 50 games played).
With all of that being said, Shough showed out in the 2024 season and showed off some NFL level traits. He won the 2024 College AP Comeback Player of the Year award for his return to football. Shough has one ability that I kept keying in on several times in film: keeping your eyes downfield. This basically allows the play to be kept alive much longer than it can be at times. In turn though, it also hurts in holding the ball too long and taking several unnecessary sacks over and over again. Strangely enough he feels the pressure well and does react to it, but struggles with managing the pocket.
Shough also has a tendency to look for the deep shot and play a lot of hero ball. This leads to several deep pass attempts (which he did get better at as the season went by) but also a lack of processing and getting stuck on one or two reads.
In summary, I think Shough could be a good NFL QB but he clearly has some traits that will hold him back from being great or elite along with a major red flag of injury history.
Strengths: Can make about any throw | Feels pressure well | Keeps his eyes downfield well | Deep ball is good (not perfect though and does need work) | Throw-under-pressure is one of the best of the class
Weaknesses: Holds onto the ball a little too long | While he feels pressure well, his pocket awareness is bad | Inconsistent processor/sometimes a one read QB | A little turnover prone | Major injury concerns
Grade: 6.54
Round Projection: Mid 2nd
Team Fits: Saints, Colts and Rams
Pro Comp: Saints, Derek Carr
Scouting Report: Cam Ward, Miami
Honest question, where would you rank Ward in last yearās QB class? That is one of the most asked questions I see for saying if Ward is truly a great or elite QB prospect or not. Last yearās class was insane so the bar is set high. Overall, I think he will end up better than all but three of last yearās class.
Ward in a way reminded me of Bears QB Caleb Williams. His off-script ability is what makes him so dangerous, but that is not to say he cannot play from the pocket or on-script, but that is his greatest strength. Tie that with an incredible arm talent of Wardās and you have yourself a great QB. Unlike Williams though, Ward does not have the same athleticism or even arm strength to bail him out from time to time.
That is where we go the issue of Wardās pocket awareness and sack avoid. On one hand, you will see Ward struggle to sense the pressure and it looks like he is about to be sacked and then boom, he escapes and makes some great throw downfield or across his body. What worries me here is while yes that sack avoidance trait is great, being able to escape consistently like that in the NFL is another story.
Time to flip back to something positive. No way you looked at it, Wardās accuracy was pretty good this past year. He could just about hit almost any throw on the field when he wanted to. He is a very aggressive QB and time and time again that showed up in his presence of pushing the ball and receivers down the field.
In summary, I think Ward is a great QB prospect who thrives off off-script plays and aggressiveness but will need good coaching to tap into his elite potential.
Strengths: Amazing arm talent | Accuracy is amazing across the board | Avoids sacks well | Off-script plays are elite level | Very aggressive for better and worse
Weaknesses: Holds onto the ball too long at times | Pocket awareness is a struggle | Being aggressive can get the better of him sometimes | Plays a lot of hero ball
Grade: 7.23
Round Projection: Early 1st
Team Fits: Titans, Giants and Jets
Pro Comp: Slightly less athletic version of Raiders, Geno Smith | Weaker arm and less athletic version of Bears, Caleb Williams
