Raiders NFL Draft: Sanders, Beck, 2025 QB class gets off to hot start

First full weekend of college football provides some optimism for Raiders’ future at quarterback

While the ideal situation for the Las Vegas Raiders is that Gardner Minshew (or even Aidan O’Connell) emerges as the franchise’s quarterback of the future this season, let’s be honest, the Raiders are likely going to address the position during the NFL Draft. Meanwhile, this past weekend was Week 1 of the College Football Season and several big names showed why they’ve been getting some buzz heading into the campaign.

Shedeur Sanders

Game result: 31-26 win over North Dakota State

Stats: 26/34 (76.5%), 445 yards, 4 TDs, 1 INT

Sanders made a handful of ‘big-time’ throws (BTTs)—five to be exact, per Pro Football Focus—but what was most encouraging to me was he showed much more poise in the pocket. His arm talent has never been a problem but last season he would often leave the offensive tackles out to dry by dropping too deep or drifting out of the pocket and holding the ball too long.

However, Sanders was only sacked once on 12 pressures for an 8.3 percent pressure-to-sack rate compared to last year’s figure of 25.1 percent, via PFF. Clearly, the Buffalo was focusing on that in the offseason and it was on display last Thursday. That combined with the outstanding throws was good to see to begin the year.

Carson Beck

Game result: 34-3 win over Clemson

Stats: 23/33 (69.7%), 278 yards, 2 TDs, 0 INTs

One of Beck’s biggest issues last year was that he would have too much faith in his arm strength and make throws that he shouldn’t have. But against Clemson, he was much more measured and did a good job of going through his reads, picking and choosing his spots to be aggressive.

Also, the Bulldog was pretty accurate for most of the game as the completion percentage above was deflated by four drops, according to PFF. The site credited him with an 81.4 adjusted completion percentage. Overall, it was an impressive season debut for Beck when it comes to his prospects as a pro.

Cam Ward

Game result: 41-17 win over Florida

Stats: 26/35 (74.3%), 385 yards, 3 TDs, 1 INT

Heading into the weekend, Ward wasn’t the biggest name and wasn’t getting much first-round buzz but those conversations will likely start after Saturday. He has a funky side-arm style release, but he can throw the ball all over the field, throw from multiple arm angles and fit balls into tight windows which was on display against Florida. Ward kind of reminds me of Philip Rivers in that regard, just without Rivers’ size, and the Hurricane can certainly sling it as PFF credited him with four BTTs.

Drew Allar

Game result: 34-12 win over West Virginia

Stats: 11/17 (64.7%), 216 yards, 3 TDs, 0 INTs, 6 rushes, 44 yards

Allar had the least-impressive performance of the quarterbacks mentioned but that’s primarily due to having the lowest volume of passes. But he did show off some arm talent by pushing the ball down the field, recording 12.7 yards per attempt with a 12.0-yard average depth of target. The Nittany Lion also made a few plays with his legs, rushing for four first downs and forcing a couple of missed tackles, per PFF.