NFL Combine: Was Howard really that bad?

A few thoughts on the QB3 battle after Saturday’s workout at the NFL Combine

INDIANAPOLIS — While top quarterbacks Cam Ward and Shedeur Sanders didn’t participate in Saturday’s workout at the NFL Combine, Pete Carroll, John Spytek and the Las Vegas Raiders were undoubtedly paying close attention to the throwing session.

The Raiders’ best chance at getting a signal-caller in the 2025 NFL Draft could be targeting the third-best player at the position, and all of the contenders were letting it rip in Indianapolis.

Below is a recap and a few thoughts on how each significant quarterback performed.

Jaxson Dart

Dart continues to have a strong pre-draft process as he had the best throwing session on Saturday. He consistently connected on the intermediate to deep passes, showcasing some impressive accuracy throw after throw. There was also a noticeable zip on his passes compared to the other quarterbacks in his group. The former Rebel has made strides toward taking command of the QB3 competition.

Will Howard

There was a lot of hoopla surrounding Howard’s performance as video of his missed throws circulated social media. To be clear, he wasn’t spectacular and definitely left some meat on the bone. But overall, Howard had a solid outing, and the criticism surrounding him is overblown, in my opinion. He just didn’t do anything to help his stock.

Quinn Ewers

Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images

On the other end of the spectrum, I thought Ewers’ performance was overrated. He was connecting with receivers early but fizzled out toward the end. Also, even a few of his completions on the deep passes were slightly under-thrown, where receivers had to slow down for the ball or adjust to make the catch. The former Longhorn who was a gunslinger during his sophomore season just hasn’t had the same arm strength since he got rid of the mullet, much like the story of Samson.

Dillon Gabriel

Gabriel is a timing and rhythm thrower, which makes an event like the combine difficult since he’s throwing to receivers he isn’t familiar with. While the former Duck’s accuracy stood out on the short to intermediate throws, he struggled to connect consistently on deep passes. Saturday highlighted one of the issues with Gabriel’s transition to the next level; if he isn’t on time, he doesn’t have the arm to make up for it.

Kyle McCord

McCord performed exactly how I thought he would. He’s a very accurate thrower and was consistently on target with the majority of his throws. However, his lack of arm strength and velocity was apparent compared to the rest of the quarterbacks.

Jalen Milroe

At Alabama, Milroe was known for having a rocket arm but struggling to control it. That continued to be the case at the combine, as he has plenty of arm strength but was missing all over the place. I don’t think I’ve seen someone make it look so easy on one throw and then so difficult on the next one like Milroe does. He also tried to replicate Joe Milton’s deep shot, where he held onto the ball a little longer and attempted to unleash a bomb down the field but failed by underthrowing the receiver.

Tyler Shough

Shough gave Dart a run for Dart’s money as the most impressive thrower. The Louisville product came out of the gates firing and didn’t miss until he tried to get cute, pretending to step up in the pocket to avoid pressure, only to skip the pass. He did recover and continued to make strong passes in the middle of the workout. However, Shough struggled to finish by missing a handful of sail routes at the end, giving Dart the nod for the day.

Riley Leonard

I haven’t done a breakdown on Leonard because he wasn’t a good passer at Notre Dame or Duke. But I have to give credit where credit is due: Leonard had a solid session on Saturday. He didn’t have consistent ball placement, however, his workout was littered with completions to earn a shoutout.