Shedeur Sanders Tops Cam Ward in Mel Kiper's Final 2025 NFL Draft Big Board Rankings

Legendary NFL draft guru Mel Kiper Jr. had Colorado's Shedeur Sanders one spot ahead of Miami's Cam Ward on his newest big board heading into Thursday night.

The ESPN expert ranked the pair fifth and sixth respectively.

Kiper's hierarchy is the inverse of how a lot of people are judging the two best quarterbacks in the 2025 class. Ward is the No. 9 overall player on the Bleacher Report big board, with Sanders down at No. 23.

Sanders' stock seems to have slipped a bit during the predraft process, too. He was projected to go sixth overall to the New Orleans Saints in B/R's newest mock draft.

The Athletic's Bruce Feldman reported Monday that "Ward is the clear No. 1 — and Sanders is closer to the next tier than Ward" among the NFL personnel he canvassed about this year's QB crop.

Feldman spoke with an offensive coordinator who doesn't consider Sanders to be a top-10 talent.

"He'll probably go there because of necessity," the coach said. "I felt so much better about all those guys last year and C.J. (Stroud) the year before. Shedeur has some leaks in his throwing motion. But I do like the kid. I think he's smart. He's tough. I hate the system he played in. He got sacked 94 times in the last two years. I get it (he had a terrible O-line), but I don't. Get the ball out!"

Granted, it's not as though Ward is a can't-miss prospect.

ESPN's Adam Schefter reported one team doesn't have a first-round grade on any quarterback, and one NFL general manager told Schefter that Ward would've ranked seventh in the 2024 QB class.

Having Sanders above Ward is a minority opinion but one that could prove to be correct in the years ahead.