QB rankings for last 2 draft classes: Where do Ward and Sanders land?

How do the top two 2025 QBs stack up compared to last year’s years class?

With the Las Vegas Raiders in the quarterback market for the second NFL Draft in a row, there’s been a lot of chatter about how the 2025 quarterback class compares to last year’s. A record six signal-callers were taken in the first 12 picks last April while the upcoming crop of passers is underwhelming.

Naturally, there have been a handful of mailbag questions over the last couple of months about how Miami’s Cam Ward and Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders compare to the likes of Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels and Drake Maye, etc.

However, I wanted to make sure I had enough time to dive into Ward’s and Sanders’ games before answering the question. Now that I’ve gotten a chance to dive into the film, let’s dive into the comprehensive rankings. For clarity, this is based on how I viewed each player as a prospect, meaning the results of this past season are not factored in.

1. Drake Maye

Maye was my top quarterback last year as it was hard to find many flaws in his game. At over 6-foot-4 and 223 pounds, the North Carolina product has the ideal size to go along with a big arm, athleticism and accuracy to have all the traits of a top NFL quarterback.

We saw flashes of those traits last fall to be optimistic about Maye’s future, and now he’ll be working with former Raiders head coach Josh McDaniels with McDaniels joining Mike Vrabel’s coaching staff as the New England Patriots’ offensive coordinator.

2. Caleb Williams

I’m still a believer in Williams’ talent and, more specifically, his ability to create off-script plays despite his underwhelming rookie campaign. It was a close call last year, but I liked Maye’s talent, tools and size more. With Ben Johnson becoming the Chicago Bears’ head coach, I’ll be interested to see what year two looks like for the 2024 No. 1 overall pick.

3. Jayden Daniels

Admittedly, I was too low on Daniels by not having him in the same tier as Maye and Williams. However, the LSU product has been fantastic this season and will likely edge out Brock Bowers for the Offensive Rookie of the Year award. Lessons learned, don’t place too much weight into a quarterback prospect’s age, and pay more attention to how they developed as a passer during their last season in college than the first four years.

4. Cam Ward

Photo by Megan Briggs/Getty Images

While the quarterback class as a whole is down, Ward has a legitimate shot at being a good starter at the next level, in my opinion. He has plenty of arm talent, is athletic to extend plays and can throw on the run. It’s just a matter of if he can find the balance between being a playmaker and being reckless. To me, it’s not that close between Ward and Sanders…

5. J.J. McCarthy

I was fairly high on McCarthy’s talent and potential coming out of Michigan. So, it might surprise people that it was hard for me to pick between him and Ward. Ultimately, I had to give the nod to the more productive college player and the guy whose arm talent I have more confidence in versus someone who was more of a projection.

6. Bo Nix

I always thought Nix had a stronger arm than most people were giving him credit for, though I wouldn’t put it past the “solid” or above-average category. He proved that this past season with some impressive throws and even exceeded my expectations as a rookie. Coming out of Oregon, the former Duck was also known for his accuracy and could continue to surprise people in Denver moving forward.

7. Shedeur Sanders

Photo by Andrew Wevers/Getty Images

Sanders is accurate and makes good decisions with the football, but the middling arm talent is where he loses it for me. Also, he takes a lot of bad sacks, so I worry that he’ll end up in a lot of long down and distances and doesn’t have the arm strength to dig out of them.

In my opinion, the Colorado product’s draft stock is getting a boost from the lack of quality quarterback prospects in the class and isn’t someone to trade up for. That being said, the Raiders’ need at the position is big enough that it’s worth taking a flier on Sanders if he falls to the sixth overall pick.

8. Michael Penix Jr.

Penix has a big arm but struggled with controlling the fastball on shorter throws and had accuracy issues coming out of college. Pair that with a long injury history and I was weary of him as a prospect. Still, the Washington product ended up getting taken eighth overall and had some impressive moments when called upon at the end of the season to build momentum heading into year two.