The 2025 NFL Draft will be here before we know it. Though we have a ways to go to get through the 2024 college football regular season, there’s no better time than now to start to take a look at which quarterbacks dominate the top of the QB board in terms of next-level talent.
The following 2025 NFL Draft QB Rankings feature both Big Ten QBs for Penn State and Ohio State during their anticipated Week 10 matchup.
2025 Draft QB Rankings, 1-10
We’ve looked at these quarterbacks as college football prospects for some time now here at College Football Network. And though these Draft QB rankings will look a bit different than our college football QB rankings, one thing is for sure: We know what these quarterbacks have brought to the table during their college careers, and now we’re piecing together what they’ll take with them to the NFL eventually.
The list of top 10 2025 NFL Draft QBs is evolving, but we’re pretty certain who belongs at the top.
10) Will Howard, Ohio State
Despite the slip-up at the end of the Oregon game, Will Howard has consistently looked like the prototype NFL QB since stepping up at Kansas State. His strong football IQ and knack for making those “NFL throws” give him serious potential at the next level.
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While Howard might not be a talent-elevator just yet, which could put a cap on his immediate NFL prospects, he’s got everything in his toolkit to make the transition to the pros smoother.
With plenty of grit and even stronger leadership qualities, Howard’s journey to potentially becoming a starting NFL quarterback will ultimately be shaped by his on-field performance.
9) Kurtis Rourke, Indiana
For MAC fans, Kurtis Rourke needs no introduction. And for those who discovered him during his standout start with the Hoosiers—welcome to the show.
Rourke is an electric athlete who followed his brother’s path to Ohio, though it quickly became clear that Kurtis was the more polished, pro-ready player compared to Nathan.
After four years in Athens, the younger Rourke took a gamble, entered the transfer portal, and made a splash on the national stage with Curt Cignetti and the Indiana offense. He’s a threat with the ball in his hands, but what sets him apart is his precision at every level.
In a clean pocket, Rourke dissects defenses, but he’s equally dangerous as a playmaker outside of it. His arm strength might not be elite, but he’s fully capable of making NFL-caliber throws consistently.
8) Garrett Nussmeier, LSU
With one of the most electric arms in college football, Garrett Nussmeier breaks into the top 10 in his first season as a starter. The LSU Tigers QB has thrown some jaw-dropping passes in 2024 that scream first-round potential, but there have also been some rough patches that highlight areas for growth.
For Nussmeier, the key is improving his play within the offense’s structure and getting through his reads faster. If he can sharpen his game in the pocket and make better progressions, the Tigers are primed to win the bulk of their remaining games, and he’ll send his draft stock soaring.
A big plus for Nussmeier this season? He’s had NFL scouts’ attention, as they’re watching his tackle duo, Will Campbell and Emery Jones Jr., dominate. Nussmeier has to show up every game.
7) Jaxson Dart, Ole Miss
Jaxson Dart stands out among quarterbacks with his natural leadership, ability to elevate those around him, and unwavering trust in his receivers. He can deliver passes into tight windows against zone coverage, find soft spots, and make reads against complex defenses. But what truly separates him is his knack for recognizing man coverage, identifying his ideal matchup, and confidently putting the ball up in a way that gives his receiver the edge on those 50-50 plays.
Simply put, Dart is a playmaker.
There’s not much to dislike about his game, though if you had to be critical, it’s his tendency to focus downfield a bit too long while trying to make things happen, leading to some ball security concerns. Attempting those tight single-coverage throws against NFL corners won’t always work, so he’ll need to lean on his full skill set to succeed at the next level.
6) Drew Allar, Penn State
Drew Allar’s got a huge arm and the kind of pro-style game that makes him one of the safest bets for next-level talent in this group. Yet, it feels like Penn State hasn’t fully tapped into his potential as a downfield passer, leaving some parts of his game still a bit of a mystery.
When it comes to arm strength, Allar’s off the charts—he can thread passes into tight windows in an instant. But he sometimes struggles with consistency in his reads and can get shaky under pressure, making some rough decisions when the heat’s on.
Those lapses, though, aren’t common. When he’s got a clean pocket, he delivers more often than not. He’s got the arm talent to hit every part of the field, and his downfield accuracy, especially on deep balls, is elite. We just haven’t seen enough of it yet.
5) Quinn Ewers, Texas
Quinn Ewers has a dominance to his game, but he comes with injury concerns, obviously. Ewers has the documented ability to find his open receivers against any type of coverage, and plays equally well against pressure or from clean pockets.
He’s a clean operator from the pocket when given time to assess defenses and coverage and has plenty of arm talent to find every level of the field. What Ewers possesses is a gritty, willing-to-leave-it-all-on-the-field mantra that will win him the hearts of his future NFL fanbase.
The next step for Ewers is proving he can stay healthy for a full season and showing better consistency with his decision-making along the boundary. But that’s just nitpicking at this time.
4) Carson Beck, Georgia
He’ll incorrectly be labeled as a game manager for any who haven’t actually spent time watching Carson Beck, because he does just that, while doing so much more. Beck has a live arm, perhaps at his best when he’s forced to throw from his spot atop the pocket and deliver tight-window strikes across the field.
Don’t make the Texas game a one-game sample size of Beck’s abilities, as both he and Ewers did not fare well under the bright lights during the anticipated showdown. Still, Beck has done far more good in 2024 than he did bad during the Texas outing.
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Beck can push the ball on a rope downfield or take something off and layer brilliantly over second-level defenders all the same. The benefit of playing quarterback at Georgia is the fact that Beck likely doesn’t have to be a world-beater at all times, and thus, that’s where the mis-monikered ‘game manager’ comes from.
Beck is an elevator of talent and shown to be a versatile athlete with the ball in his hands. He may lack some creation capacity from within the pocket, but he’s no slouch when it comes to just about everything else an NFL QB needs to be able to do.
3) Jalen Milroe, Alabama
The most athletic quarterback on this list, Jalen Milroe has both the strongest arm and perhaps the most gifted set of athletic abilities from a QB we’ve seen in some time, and that includes last year’s No. 1 overall pick Caleb Williams. The only problem in Milroe’s prospects at this time is the fact that his howitzer is without much of a tracking system from the 10-19-yard range.
If Milroe can start to increase his accuracy to the short and intermediate range, his portfolio will be complete. Until then, he’s got some development work ahead of him, but Milroe can bank on his athletic gifts being enough to speed past linebackers in the SEC or NFL, and his arm strength enough to rocket past defenders to his receivers with a step or less of separation.
2) Cam Ward, Miami-FL
Cam Ward rockets up the top 10 NFL Draft quarterbacks after his tremendous start to the 2024 college football season. No quarterback has helped their draft stock in 2024 more than Ward, as he’s showcased the fact that he can hit every level of the field with accuracy and anticipation.
But for Ward, it’s his arm angles and the way he manipulates the pocket to find easy throwing lanes that sets him apart from almost everyone in this class. No play is ever off limits with Ward in the backfield as he can unleash an accurate pass from a dead sprint to his left side or concoct his arm to find his target from a collapsing pocket.
At times, Ward looks like he’s playing backyard football, while at other times, he looks like there is no moment or play that is too big for him. That’s the maturation we were waiting to see in his game.
Ward’s lone issue throughout his collegiate journey was turnovers, and he’s nearly put that to bed in 2024 with Miami. The sky is the limit and there is no denying Ward’s overall talent at the quarterback position after the first half of the season.
1) Shedeur Sanders, Colorado
For now, Shedeur Sanders is undoubtedly the top quarterback for the 2025 NFL Draft. Colorado’s starting quarterback has done more than his fair share of elevating the talent around him in 2024, elevating his own game in the process.
Sanders has showcased what he can do when he’s not pressured on what felt like 70% of his dropbacks last year. He’s been brilliant from within the structure of the offense, but perhaps no quarterback in the past two-year window of college football has shown what they can do under duress more than Sanders.
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And Sanders’ play under pressure is some of the best quarterbacking we’ve seen, at least in 2024. With pressure coming in, Sanders will break contain, maintain vision downfield, and find the right time to uncork his cannon of an arm to a streaking receiver in a dominant display of backyard football.
The trust and rapport he’s built with his receivers at Colorado will be tough to replace, but within a few weeks time at his NFL stop, that should return and he should be good to go in no time at the next level.
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