There was plenty of talk of the first pick of the 2025 NFL Draft being either Georgia quarterback Carson Beck or Texas signal-caller Quinn Ewers.
Now, that conversation has shifted to the argument between whether it will be Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders or Miami’s Cam Ward to come off of the board first.
For a while now, practically everyone has thought the son of the legendary Deion Sanders would be a lock for the No. 1 selection. But the tide seems to have shifted now.
Jeff Howe of The Athletic recently noted that Sanders would have to “nail” all of his interviews in order to surpass Ward, meaning the Miami passer would likely be headed to the Las Vegas Raiders in April.
“Miami’s Cam Ward has the early lead on the race for the draft’s QB1, while Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders will have his supporters among teams,” Howe wrote. “Sanders will need to nail the interview process to solidify himself in the top two, according to a couple of NFL personnel evaluators.”
It will be interesting to see how this truly shakes out when the first team is on the clock next year, but there is no denying the journeyman Ward has proven he can be more than a flash in the pan with a consistently stellar season at Miami.
Former Hurricanes quarterback Steve Walsh, who himself is considered to be one of the best to play the position for Miami in history, recently noted the talent of Ward and just how slow the game appeared to be for him from a mental perspective.
He said it didn’t take long for him to realize the Hurricanes had their guy — and it has been a long time since they have had even a solid starting quarterback.
That’s a testament not only to what Ward can be in the right environment, but also a testament to the Mario Cristobal effect.
What I saw from him early on in one of the first games this season, the first thing that struck me, was that it looked like everybody around him was playing in slow motion,” Walsh said in an interview on RG.
“He was just so in command of everything he was doing on the field. It looked effortless from him. To me, as a former quarterback, that is when the game slows down and you’re one or two steps ahead of the defense and then you can play at an elite level.”
Even with Miami ending off the season painfully close to making it into the College Football Playoff, they still finished out as one of the best teams in the nation on the outside looking in.
Much of that can be credited to Ward, who completed over 67% of his passing attempts for 4,123 yards with 36 touchdowns and seven interceptions. He also scored four times on the ground.
Only time will tell, but it’s going to likely be a close race for QB1 as the college football postseason winds down.
