Cam Ward is the most dynamic, big-game quarterback entering the 2025 NFL Draft hands down.
A Heisman Trophy finalist in 2024, Ward’s decision to bypass the 2023 NFL Draft and return to college to play for the Miami Hurricanes was both a blessing for the player and perhaps gold for an NFL needy team at the top of the draft.
With a world of confidence and arm talent, Ward showcased his best traits during a season that saw him break school records in passing. He threw for 4,313 yards and 39 touchdowns in his final and only season at Miami.
As a quarterback with great improvision awareness, Ward is described by NFL Draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah as a talented arm with a high ceiling in the NFL.
He writes:
“He plays a very free-wheeling brand of football. He drifts in his drop, throws from a variety of arm angles and often falls away from the target upon release of the football. He can really power the ball into tight windows, but his aggressive nature can put points on both sides of the scoreboard. He has very quick hands in the RPO game and he can navigate around free rushers by dropping his arm angle. He took the free yards with his legs when voids presented themselves in Miami’s spread attack.”
Cam Ward NFL Draft profile
Position: Quarterback
College: Miami Hurricanes
Height/Weight: 6-2, 223 lbs
High School: Servite High School
40-yard Dash: 4.87 seconds (unofficial)
2024 Stats (Regular Season): 4,313 passing yards, 39 TD, 7 INT, 67.2 Comp. %
Career Stats: 18,189 passing yards, 158 TD, 37 INT, 65.0 Comp %
PFF Metrics: Overall grade: 92.9. Passing Grade: 91.7. Intermediate: 93.7. Deep Grade: 95.0. No Pressure Grade: 94.1. Pressure Grade: 56.5.
Strengths:
- Arm talent with the ability to zip the ball into tight places, especially in Red Zone situations.
- Great vision, able to see the entire field in and out of the pocket.
- Outstanding improvisational talent. An excellent ability to extend plays and master throws on the run.
- Processing skills are off the charts, able to work through progressions and make the right read.
- Leadership and the ability to make players around him better.
- Ability to make explosive plays and clutch when the game is on the line.
- Throws the ball with great accuracy, especially deep cross routes and down the seam.
Weaknesses:
- Still needs to work on his consistency in reading defenses.
- Can rely too much on his arm talent (which is also a strength), but what would make him an effective starter in the NFL will be his ability to reset within the pocket and get the ball to the necessary spots without forcing throws.
- Needs to work on holding on to the ball when extending plays. Had an issue with fumbling the ball in 2024.
- Can Cam Ward still be a leader when his team is not winning will be a big factor in his development at the next level.
2025 NFL Draft projection
With a strong showing at Miami’s Pro Day, Ward all but solidified himself as the top quarterback in the 2025 NFL Draft. There are high odds that he will be the No. 1 overall player taken in the draft, but if somehow the Tennessee Titans go in another direction, he will certainly be the first quarterback taken whether that is No. 2 to the Cleveland Browns or at No. 3 to the New York Giants. Any three of those teams would be a great spot for Ward who showcases a talented arm, leadership and the ability to maneuver in the pocket to keep plays alive.
NFL Comparison:
The NFL comparisons can get a bit crazy at this time of the year. A talented playmaker at the quarterback position, Ward has a lot of Ben Roethlisberger in him given his ability as a gunslinger who gets the ball downfield to his weapons. In that comparison, Ward is also a big quarterback who is hard to bring down. Not as athletic or fast as a Jalen Milroe or Shedeur Sanders, Ward does have that ability to escape the pocket like Big Ben and create on the run.
When it comes to crazy or even wild comparisons, NFL analyst Louis Riddick says Ward reminds him of Patrick Mahomes due to his improvisational skills.
“He reminds me of Mahomes with how he can be unconventional, throw the football from all different kinds of weird angles and then just put a bunch of horsepower on it when he needs do,” Riddick said on NFL Live Wednesday. “To me, if someone was telling me that’s maybe what you’re getting, I’d be pretty damn excited.”
While the Mahomes comparison is reaching a bit, if you take aspects of Big Ben’s game and Mahomes as far as being “unconventional”, perhaps the best comparison is Ward being just the next Cam Ward and not the next Vince Young type bust to be selected that high in the draft.
NFL Bold prediction:
The not so bold part of this prediction is that Ward will be selection No. 1 overall by the Tennessee Titans. He’ll enter camp competing with Will Levis for the starting role, but that would just be for competition purses. Ward clearly wins the role Day 1 and will have a similar rookie impact as C.J. Stroud with the Houston Texans in 2023 and Jayden Daniels with the Washington Commanders in 2024. He won’t win NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year, but he will trigger excitement in Nashville and have the team on the brink of a playoff berth.