Cam Ward Compared to Patrick Mahomes, Caleb Williams By AFC Coach Before NFL Draft

At least one AFC coach believes Miami quarterback Cam Ward has enormous potential.

"There's one guy that's head and shoulders above the rest in Cam Ward," an AFC quarterbacks coach told NFL Network's Tom Pelissero. "He's the one that you [see] a bona fide starter. The natural comparison is (Patrick) Mahomes and Caleb Williams from last year. The same type of playmaking ability and arm talent. The same hesitancies you see, as well, in terms of just playing on schedule more consistently. But I like him a lot. It's pretty obvious that he's going to be the first overall pick, and I think he's worth it." 

An AFC coordinator saw some similarities between Ward and Mahomes as well.

"Their arm angles and their ability to throw sidearm, different crazy throws off the wrong foot downfield but staying completely accurate—that is eerily the same," he said. "The thing I see with Cam is he's so smooth back there in the shotgun, and then they do all that RPO stuff where he'll slow-ride it with the back and keep his feet in cement and just sidearm flick it to a wide receiver on a screen, or maybe he scrambles a little bit and then has a crazy throw. Not all guys can do that."

Now, that doesn't mean those similarities will translate in the same way at the NFL level. Many evaluators told Pelissero they still would have ranked Williams, Jayden Daniels and Drake Maye above Ward if he was in last year's draft class, and his tendency to hold onto the ball for too long, waiting to hit a home run rather than a single, is a concern.

But with the Titans announcing Tuesday they are keeping the top overall pick and in need of a quarterback, it sure appears that Ward is going to be the guy.

Time will tell if he lives up to his impressive potential.