Cosell, speaking exclusively with BBV at the NFL Combine, says Ward is “clearly a better prospect” than Shedeur Sanders
Greg Cosell is one of the foremost quarterback analysts in the business. So, when I spotted Cosell making the rounds in the prospect interview space Thursday at the NFL Scouting Combine, I asked him if we could talk New York Giants for a couple of minutes.
Cosell, who I had never met, graciously agreed. The results of our 3-minute chat are below.
Will Matthew Stafford be a Giant?
I had to ask Cosell what he thought about the hype train that is the Matthew Stafford to the Giants rumors.
“To be honest with you, I don’t know. That’s all speculation. No one knows the answer to that stuff,” Cosell said.
“So, I can’t speak to that. I don’t think Stafford’s lost anything as a player. So, that’s all I can say.”
Cam Ward or Shedeur Sanders?
If the Giants are not able to swing a deal for Stafford, their next-best option appears to be selecting either Cam Ward of Miami or Shedeur Sanders of Colorado at the top of the 2025 NFL Draft.
Cosell was emphatic about which of the two he sees as a better prospect.
“Well, I think one guy’s clearly a better prospect than the other. I think Cam Ward’s clearly a better prospect,” Cosell said. “I think Shedeur is the kind of quarterback, and you can be very successful this way, but he’s a ball distributor and an executor, so he needs a team.
“The way the NFL has sort of evolved, those kinds of quarterbacks have to really be high level, pre-snap and post-snap. The guy who’s sort of the epitome of that is Joe Burrow. You’ve got to be really, really good, because the game is such now that defenses have really evolved and gotten so much better with pressure concepts and late coverage rotation that you really have to be high, high level if you’re just basically a pocket quarterback, which is what Shedeur Sanders is.
“Shedeur Sanders is not the same level of prospect, for instance, as C.J. Stroud, and C.J. Stroud sort of fits into that mold as well, but Shedeur’s not that level of prospect.”
Would Cam Ward be worth moving to No. 1 for?
Cosell said he is surprised that he seems to be a bigger believer in Ward than other analysts.
“I’ve done both these guys in great detail. I’m kind of confused as to why Ward is not being talked about sort of in the general world out there,” Cosell said. “I don’t know what teams think, but to me, Ward has really high level traits.”
Good enough traits for the quarterback-needy Giants to engineer a trade from No. 3 to No. 1 select him?
“I think Ward’s worthy of a No. 1 pick in the draft. That’s my opinion based on film study. I think he’s worthy of that,” Cosell said.
“And I happen to know people at Washington State [where Ward played in 2022 and 2023] who told me he’s an alpha dog and a highly accountable kid and everything you want in a quarterback. Normally I don’t get that kind of information. I just sit in my office at (NFL) Films and watch tape. But once I learned that, it made me think that enhances my view based on the tape.”
