The 2025 NFL Draft has come and gone, with teams having made the selections they hope will have helped them find the stars of their next Super Bowl run. No position is more important in the modern NFL than quarterback, and that makes it a key focus in any draft.
With this year’s class, a clear divide emerged between the value placed on top pick Cam Ward and the other options, with many arguing he’s the only true franchise prospect in the field. Now that Ward is officially a Titan, where do his prospects for the year stand? Will he be the best rookie QB in Madden 26 and on the real field, or will one of his challengers surpass his efforts on the field?
The 2025 NFL Draft QB Class
To say that the 2025 NFL Draft class was not a banner year for signal callers is an understatement. By the time draft day had rolled around, Ward had solidified his place as consensus top option, with few other big names drawing serious attention near the top of the draft.
The next biggest name on offer was Shadeur Sanders, a player hailed as a top option by many mock drafts only for Sanders to fall to the 5th round. Ultimately, only one other QB, Jaxson Dart, was selected in the first round, and only barely. Based on early projections, this call is clearly down to whether one high-chance ticket is better than a handful of longshots.
Cam Ward (TEN)
Faced with the realization that Will Levis was not panning out as the franchise option the Titans had hoped for, it was clearly time to pivot in 2025. Enter the Miami product ready to take over the reins and look to become the next franchise great under center. Ward is an exciting playmaker, capable of creating magic under pressure, a potentially highly valuable skill when joining a bottom-of-the-barrel side like Tennessee.
The argument in favor of Ward besting the field is a simple one: talent. The high-end evaluators around the NFL spend their entire careers analyzing players and while it’s still a guessing game to an extent, the broad agreement is that Ward was the best QB prospect in the field, and not by a particularly close margin. He’ll be coming into a team where he is expected to play right away, and with expectations for the team low he will have the opportunity to battle against that low bar the same way Jayden Daniels and C.J. Stroud have in recent years.
The argument against Ward is also simple: the Titans drafted first for a reason. Low expectations come out of low talent around Ward on the field. With Calvin Ridley and Tyler Lockett as his top options, the Titans have a dominant wide receiver room in 2020, but Ward will hope both can generate like their younger selves if he’s to be successful in 2025. With multiple other teams likely trying out rookies at some point this year, that’s a lot of chances for one to find a more successful setting than Ward is walking into.
The Field
While nobody in the field may be coming into the NFL with as much hype or credibility attached to their name, that doesn’t mean one or more can’t surprise and have a great rookie campaign. These are the top options likely to threaten Ward for top NFL rookie in 2025:
- Jaxson Dart (NYG): The only other first round pick in the draft, Dart went to the New York Giants, a franchise that has been struggling to fill the deceptively-large hole left by Eli Manning. Like Ward, Dart is moving into an offense that hasn’t been lighting the world on fire, but with Malik Nabers to throw to, it’s a tantalizing option for a new player. His ability to push the ball downfield can combine with Nabers’ skill to have a strong rookie campaign if things work out.
- Tyler Shough (NOR): Derek Carr is retiring, meaning the New Orleans Saints now have an opening at QB and only 2024 5th-rounder Spencer Rattler to battle for it. This gives Shough a great opportunity to come in and win the job, and when it comes to good rookie campaigns that’s half the battle. Shough plays well off play-action so a big year for Alvin Kamara would go a long way toward unlocking his potential.
- Dillon Gabriel and Shadeur Sanders (CLE): The world’s most “interesting” QB room, Gabriel and Sanders join a crowded room still bogged down by the money and morality pit that is Deshaun Watson. Cleveland is a disaster, now as always, and it’s not even clear which of these two will be the winning rookie on their own team, let alone then outplaying Ward, but they also look likely to be a team with one of the most stealable QB jobs in football.
- Jalen Milroe (SEA): While Milroe will enter the year as a backup to Sam Darnold, it’s yet to be seen if Darnold’s big year was a sign he is a starter-caliber QB after all without Jordan Addison and Justin Jefferson split wide, so Milroe may get the chance to show his worth this year.
The Verdict
If predicting NFL results was easy there’d be a lot fewer teams like the Jets and Panthers running around. That said, if forced to put our money where our mouth is, the pick has to be Ward. Under normal circumstances in sports you are almost always better off choosing the field, as the unpredictability means it’s best to have as many lotto tickets in hand as possible.
With this year’s class, however, it’s hard to look past Ward given the clear disparity in expert assessment of his prospects and that of his competition. While it would not be a surprise if someone else had a breakout year as there are always surprise breakout performers (hello, Brock Purdy) with no clear second contender to provide primary opposition it’s the top pick who gets the nod.
