Which Quarterback in the 2025 NFL Draft is the Best Fit for the New York Giants?
The New York Giants released quarterback Daniel Jones last week and have all but guaranteed that they’re going to be looking at quarterbacks in the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft.
With that, it’s time to look at who is on top of a quarterback class that has potential but has yet to see someone separate themselves as the unequivocal QB1.
The Gunslinger
There wasn’t a bigger story in the transfer portal last year than Washington State quarterback Cam Ward going to the Miami Hurricanes with the expectation that he would lead them to the promised land.
It’s yet to be seen if he finishes his mission but he’s currently leading Miami on their best season since 2001 and if it weren’t for historic seasons by Travis Hunter and Ashton Jeanty, he would be the Heisman frontrunner.
Ward might be the best pure passer in the draft this year with the arm talent to make every throw asked of him and the ability to throw from any arm slot or angle.
Miami’s offense is an Air Raid that gives him the ability to make adjustments as he sees fit based on what the defense is showing and requires him to make pre-snap reads.
Where Ward’s negatives lie are the same issues I had in the 2024 NFL Draft with Caleb Williams - he tries to play hero ball and while he’s proven he can make those plays, it also leads to back-breaking sacks and turnovers at times.
Defenses defend Ward the same way they defended Caleb by dropping eight into coverage, rushing three players, and letting him make mistakes.
Ward is accurate throwing to every level of the field and can throw off-platform with the best of them.
Watching Ward’s film can be frustrating at times because he’s got the athletic traits to make plays with his legs and pick up free yardage but chooses to wade and drift around in the backfield to look for a pass.
Ward has fumbled 50 times in his five-year college career and while that number has been held to just four times this year, he’s playing behind an elite offensive line.
If he doesn’t have an elite offensive line, will those fumbles rear their ugly head again?
The offense he plays in now gives him pre-determined reads that won’t be as freely available in the NFL and he’ll need to convince teams he can limit the mistakes when the pre-snap read doesn’t pan out.
The Enigma
There may not be a more polarizing quarterback prospect than Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders in the 2025 Draft.
Sanders is a fearless passer that operates as a quarterback with the same level of confidence that his father Deion operated with as a cornerback.
When he’s kept relatively clean in the pocket, he’s deadly accurate and layers throws like a veteran.
The issue is that when pressure gets in, he does a horrible job of extending plays with his legs and takes far too many sacks.
In fact, 20.1% of all pressures on Sanders result in sacks, a number that will need to improve at the next level.
NFL teams will likely spend as much time as possible with Sanders to discuss some of the off-field things that I think they will be concerned about.
Sanders has criticized his offensive line in postgame press conferences and has taken to social media to voice concerns with former teammates that entered the transfer portal.
Many fans won’t care about these things and many front offices might not, but the Giants as an organization will likely look further into the off-field concerns.
The bigger concern for me is how Sanders breaks down when pressure gets in considering he tends to hold the ball too long.
Sanders holds the ball because he’s risk-averse. Being risk-averse is fine but allowing that to lead to you getting pressure and making mistakes isn’t.
Personally, I don’t think Sanders is playing in an offense that is quarterback-friendly right now and it’s leading to some of these breakdowns.
The Flash
Alabama’s Jalen Milroe is the least pro-ready passer of these three quarterbacks but he’s also the best athlete by a large margin.
Milroe has improved year-over-year as a passer and while he’s got less touchdowns and more interceptions in 2024 than 2023, that doesn’t tell the whole story.
Milroe has made better decisions this year but is hampered by being in the first year of a very different offensive system with the worst supporting cast he’s ever had.
Alabama’s receivers have almost twice as many drops in 2024 than they had in all of 2023 in fewer games than last year.
Milroe was another quarterback that took too many unnecessary sacks in 2023 but has taken that percentage down from 31.9% to 15.2%.
Milroe’s issue in comparison to Ward and Sanders is that he’s the worst passer of the three by a considerable margin.
His selling point is that if he does develop accordingly as a passer, he’s got MVP upside.
The Verdict
It’s important to note here that despite getting the vote of confidence and reassurance that Joe Schoen and (potentially) Brian Daboll will be back in 2025, we’ve heard that before only for it to not be true.
However if Daboll is still the head coach then I think the quarterback he would prefer most would be either Ward or Milroe due to their big time arm talent while still being rushing threats.
Sanders is the most conservative passer of the bunch and I think Daboll would look to shy away from that considering what they’ve had recently.
Not that Sanders is similar to Daniel Jones–in fact he’s already better. But the mindset of being a conservative passer is one that rarely changes.
Additional Reading
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