Shedeur Sanders headlines top 2025 NFL Draft QBs: 'He could start for you next week'

NFL Draft season is heating up. The NFL Scouting Combine is set to begin later this week, with most of the top prospects in April's draft participating in several drills. After releasing my first mock draft a couple of weeks ago, I want to rank my top five quarterbacks for the upcoming draft.

There are two quarterbacks who are clearly at the top and are the only first-round-caliber quarterbacks in this year's class. Beyond the top quarterbacks, there are five players I debated for the fifth spot.

1. Colorado's Shedeur Sanders

Sanders is excellent. I think he's a phenomenal player. He is equal parts surgeon and artist, and that's one of the reasons why I love his game. I think it's translatable to the National Football League.

When he needs to be, he can be a surgeon. He can sit in the pocket and just dice people up. He anticipates as well as anybody in this draft. He's hyper-accurate, so he's got that ability to just be the prototypical pocket guy, dicing you up and down the field, in intermediate zones, driving the football, throwing with touch, and then taking easy throws on the outside as well, or even in the middle of the field. He's got that surgeon and command capabilities that you would want to see from your starting quarterback.

Sanders also has something more that makes him my No. 1 quarterback. He's got this ability to be an artist. Sanders does an amazing job of creating when things aren't there, which he had to do quite a bit, by the way, because of who he played for. Remember where Colorado was when he and his dad arrived? The Buffs were a one-win team in the previous year and Sanders helped them become a nine-win team and in the race for the Big 12 title by Year 2. They don't get to that point without Sanders. Sure, they also had Travis Hunter, but you don't get to where Colorado got this past season without a quarterback.

We've already seen Sanders do what he's going to be asked to do when a team takes him with one of the top picks in the draft, but his numbers were also outstanding. His 74% completion percentage was up there with some of the best in college football over the last few seasons.

My one knock on Sanders is that, because he believes in himself and his ability to create, he holds the football a little bit too long, and that led to some of the sack numbers, which were egregious in the last couple of years at Colorado. Still, he's ready. You can plug him into a team, and he could start for you next week. That's how smart and capable he is.

2. Miami (Fla.)'s Cam Ward

I like Ward a lot. His game is different from Sanders'. He's a bit more of a gunslinger, which I like, and he'll take some chances out there. He has a great arm, but he'll drift away and hold the ball a little bit too long at times.

However, Ward was the reason why Miami was able to have a strong season in 2024. That program desperately needed a jolt, particularly at quarterback. He provided that, becoming a finalist for the Heisman Trophy as he led college football with 39 touchdown passes. I love his game and attitude.

Now, was Ward as polished as Sanders? Maybe not. I don't think he's as surgical from the pocket. That's where I think he'll need some growth. I think Ward is a bit unrefined compared to Sanders because of that gunslinger mentality, and I don't know if he'll ever be fully refined because of it.

Still, it's a great thing that Ward will take chances down the field. He can trust himself because he's got a great arm. He delivers "wow" passes and plays. He's highly experienced (57 career starts), 6-foot-2 and 223 pounds, so he fits the mold. Guys are going to love him in the locker room.

It wasn't an easy choice between the top two quarterbacks. I went with Sanders at No. 1 because he's more pro-ready, but I really like Ward too and think he'll be worthy of a top-five pick. He's a quarterback with great upside that needs a little bit more polish.

3. Ole Miss' Jaxson Dart

Dart is a solid athlete. He won't get overwhelmed in the NFL, having the ability to escape a little bit.

I really like Dart's game. He gets the ball out of his hands quickly. Lane Kiffin's offense has quite a few RPOs and throws I call ratio throws, where the quarterback takes a free completion right away. Dart really excels in that, along with throwing the ball in the middle of the field, often hitting his receivers in the seam and along the hash marks.

Dart has a ton of experience, logging 41 starts over his career. He's got good, but not great, size at 6-foot-2, 225 pounds.

The reason why I don't expect him to be a first-round pick, however, is that he's got to show a better command after the second read. Dart can be very good when he gets the ball out of his hands quickly, but as soon as he has to leave the early foundation and go to his third or fourth read, he quickly loses connection with his feet and what he's seeing with his eyes. It can quickly deteriorate, and he turned the ball over multiple times late in Florida because of it.

So, Dart must show a better ability to have command and connection at the next level. Still, I can see Dart being an early second-round pick.

4. Alabama's Jalen Milroe

Milroe is such an incredible athlete that you have to take a look at him. He's so explosive and immediately the most dangerous player on the field as soon as he steps on it.

The Alabama quarterback will be polarizing in this process because people will get mad if you call him "just a running quarterback" who also needs to greatly improve as a passer. Milroe did a lot of great things at Alabama, showing fantastic growth in 2023 before regressing a little bit in 2024.

When I watch Milroe, he makes hard things look easy, almost too easy at points. He's great at using his legs and throwing the football down the field. However, he can make easy things look hard, too. That's hard to overlook if you're an NFL evaluator. To be a great NFL quarterback, you have to execute first principles before you can get past the Xs and Os. You have to make the layups as a quarterback because the above Xs and Os traits won't be able to show up if you don't.

Still, Milroe is tantalizing as a possible pick on Day 2. Opposing defenses will have to defend him in the run game and down the field. There's certainly enough there to draft Milroe. So, count me as one of the guys who like Milroe in what will likely be a polarized discussion about him.

5. Ohio State's Will Howard

This is where the big debate was for me. I had five players who I debated putting in this spot, and I think each of these quarterbacks could end up getting drafted almost anywhere after the first couple of rounds.

Syracuse's Kyle McCord had a solid year after a difficult exit from Ohio State. He led the country in passing, showing a great ability to get the ball out of his hands quickly as Syracuse ran a lot of RPOs and quick game. He had much better anticipation and worked through his progressions better at Syracuse than he did at Ohio State. I think McCord overcoming that difficulty is really a point in his favor. Syracuse head coach Fran Brown made it known in our discussions that McCord really had the keys to the program as much as some of the other coaches.

Texas' Quinn Ewers has obvious potential. He's been a highly rated quarterback for a long time, making a lot of big-time and NFL throws. He's smart and can do things with his arm that not many others can do. He can throw going both ways. I wish he was a little bigger, which I think led to some of the injury issues he had at Texas. He has never been through a full season without an injury. He's got great touch but can rely on that a little too much sometimes.

I'm a huge fan of Indiana's Kurtis Rourke. You might be surprised by his inclusion here, but I firmly believe Rourke will find a spot in the NFL. He's huge and most of his film is exquisite. When he's in rhythm, he's really in rhythm. He does an incredible job of finding the right spot with the ball. He can dissect coverages quickly as well and was a big reason why Indiana made the College Football Playoff, throwing 29 touchdowns to five interceptions. The knock is that he's largely immobile, and he can be taken out of rhythm quickly.

Oregon's Dillon Gabriel is like the quintessential point guard. He plays and processes information quickly. He's very smart, and the ball very rarely goes into the wrong spot. He can manipulate the pocket beautifully. He's an excellent player and has plenty of experience, setting the record for most starts in FBS history. He transferred multiple times and had success at each spot, showing he could learn a new playbook quickly. He just doesn't have the size or traits.

Ultimately, I went with Howard for this spot as I rewatched the film from Ohio State's title run. I think he'll get more positive reviews as we get closer to the draft as he played his best football when it mattered most. I'm not sure people realize how good Howard was in the CFP. He was lights out, setting a completion percentage record at Ohio State. He has got the experience (43 career starts) and the size (6-foot-4, 235 pounds). He ran the football well in his past. He has got great command as well, with Ryan Day and Chip Kelly saying that Howard had the ability to check Ohio State into the correct play.

Still, I don't think there's a clear-cut difference between Howard and the other four quarterbacks I just listed. I think we've got three tiers of quarterbacks right here, with these five quarterbacks making up Tier 3.

Joel Klatt is FOX Sports' lead college football game analyst and the host of the podcast "The Joel Klatt Show." Follow him at @joelklatt and subscribe to the "Joel Klatt Show" on YouTube.

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