Shedeur Sanders, Cam Ward Ranked Among Caleb Williams, 2024 NFL Draft QB Class by GMs

Shedeur Sanders and Cam Ward are the early favorites to be the top two quarterbacks off the board in the 2025 NFL draft, but at least some NFL general managers don't view them as being on par with the top quarterback picks in the 2024 NFL draft.

Last year's draft was among the quarterback-heaviest of all time, as Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels and Drake Maye were the top three picks, while Michael Penix Jr. went eighth, J.J. McCarthy went 10th and Bo Nix went 12th.

Speaking to Dianna Russini of The Athletic, an anonymous AFC general manager put Sanders and Ward in the same discussion as Penix, but behind Williams, Daniels, Maye and Nix, saying:

"They should definitely be behind Bo Nix, in my opinion. I could see people grouping [Penix], Ward, and Sanders together, but honestly, it'd probably just come down to picking your favorite flavor among the three. None of them really scream 'franchise QB' to me."

An NFC GM suggested that Sanders and Ward would have gone in the neighborhood of Nix in last year's draft, saying: "Last year's class is so talented. I'd say they'd both go after Bo Nix, maybe one of them before if a team didn't know what Sean Payton knew."

Another AFC GM was more bullish on Sanders than Ward, as they put Sanders after Maye and Ward after Nix: "Sanders after Maye would be my guess as it stands now… Truly hard to say until you meet them and get a feel for their intelligence, leadership, maturity, etc. Ward somewhere after Nix. Still very raw."

Sanders, who is the son of University of Colorado head coach and Pro Football Hall of Fame cornerback Deion Sanders, put up big numbers in his two seasons with the Buffaloes.

In 2023, Sanders completed 69.3 percent of his passes for 3,230 yards, 27 touchdowns and three interceptions, and he followed that up by completing 74.0 percent of his passing attempts for 4,134 yards, 37 touchdowns and 10 picks in 2024.

Playing his first season at Miami after transferring from Washington State, Ward completed 67.2 percent of his passes for 4,313 yards, 39 touchdowns and seven interceptions in 2024 en route to finishing fourth in the Heisman Trophy voting.

Of the quarterbacks drafted in the first round last year, Daniels has been the best thus far, leading the Washington Commanders to the playoffs and establishing himself as the Offensive Rookie of the Year favorite.

Nix is one win away from a playoff berth with the Denver Broncos in his first season as well, and Penix still has the Atlanta Falcons in the playoff hunt after taking over as the starter for veteran Kirk Cousins.

Williams' Chicago Bears and Maye's New England Patriots struggled mightily this season, but they both showed flashes of being franchise quarterbacks, while McCarthy missed the entire season for the Minnesota Vikings due to a knee injury.

Even if Sanders and Ward perhaps wouldn't have been top-five picks in a loaded quarterback class last year, it seems likely that both will go early in 2025 with quarterback-needy teams such as the Tennessee Titans, Cleveland Browns and New York Giants positioned to pick in the top five.