It’s pretty well established that the top two quarterbacks in the 2025 NFL Draft will be Shedeur Sanders and Cam Ward. In which order they go and how quickly they come off the board is still up in the air, but Sanders and Ward are the consensus top two in seemingly every mock draft projection as well as quarterback big boards.
The battle for quarterback No. 3, however…
What was a fairly narrow race for QB3 behind Sanders and Ward appears blown wide open. Alabama’s Jalen Milroe, Jaxson Dart from Ole Miss, Ohio State’s Will Howard and perhaps even another interloper have all moved into consideration for the third spot on draft boards.
Milroe was the consensus leader until late in the season. Brutal outings in Alabama’s shocking loss to Oklahoma and bowl loss to Michigan hurt Milroe, and then a disastrous Senior Bowl week compounded the doubts. Milroe’s relatively poor ball placement and general inaccuracy on routine short and intermediate routes throughout the week in Mobile moved the confidence meter a lot lower on Milroe as the third quarterback.
Dart had a much more impressive Senior Bowl week, showing off a deep arm that wasn’t always evident at Ole Miss. However, questions still abound about the simplistic offense Dart operated in college and his ability to zip the ball when not given a clean pocket. He’s passed Milroe on many big boards and most of the post-Senior Bowl mock drafts, though there is still time for both to help themselves at the NFL Scouting Combine and interview circuit.
Howard wasn’t at a postseason all-star game, but that’s because he was busy leading Ohio State to the national championship. His outstanding accuracy and aggressiveness in attacking down the field kept getting better in his one season at Ohio State after four mixed-bag seasons at Kansas State. Howard earns praise for his command of a talented huddle and adapting behind a makeshift offensive line due to injuries.
It’s unlikely anyone else truly threatens to become QB3 in the 2025 NFL Draft, but prospects like Syracuse’s Kyle McCord, Oregon’s Dillon Gabriel and Riley Leonard from Notre Dame will wind up being higher on some teams’ draft boards (and media big boards) than others.
