Former NFL Scout’s Preseason 2025 NFL Draft QB Board
It took from the day after the 2024 NFL Draft ended (April 28) until July 13 to put together my preseason 2025 NFL Draft quarterbacks board. That’s 19 quarterbacks in 77 days.
It makes me recall my early school days when the teacher would ask the class to write a paper about “What did you do this summer?”
I studied quarterbacks.
Projecting college quarterbacks is not a guessing game as some like to say. It’s not pulling names out of a hat. It’s far more sophisticated than that. I look to identify patterns and tendencies.
That’s the art of scouting.
No doubt, finding Mr. Right at the game’s most important position is about as hard as picking the winning Powerball numbers before the drawing. However, in February, I identified 33 variables that go through my mind when evaluating the quarterback position ⎯traits that translate to success in the NFL.
2025 Preseason NFL Draft Quarterback Board (ranked from worst to first):
* ALL CURRENT GRADES ARE BASED ON 2023 GAME FILM
* GAME FILM LINKS ARE INCLUDED IN THE LINKED SCOUTING REPORTS
QB19 KJ Jefferson, transfer to UCF (from Arkansas)
2025 Preseason NFL Draft Grade: Undraftable Free Agent
Total College Games Evaluated: 17
Jefferson grew on me from 2021 to 2022, but I could not dismiss the fact that he had regressed on his 2023 game film. It looked like his right arm and his legs were giving out on him.
QB18 Tyler Van Dyke, transfer to Wisconsin (from Miami)
2025 Preseason NFL Draft Grade: Undraftable Free Agent
Total College Games Evaluated: 17
My grade on Van Dyke has gotten progressively worse every time I’ve studied him on game film. This past season, his release seemed slower, his arm was noticeably weaker and he looked beyond frustrated. The result was Miami trying to replace him during the season with a true freshman and Van Dyke transferred after the season.
QB17 Miller Moss, USC
2025 Preseason NFL Draft Grade: Undraftable Free Agent
Total College Games Evaluated: 4
I was not nearly as impressed as I thought I might be. He has a noodle arm and he tends to lock in and telegraph his throws. Those two things don’t mix well in the NFL.
QB16 Cade Klubnik, Clemson
2025 Preseason NFL Draft Grade: Undraftable Free Agent
Total College Games Evaluated: 13
Rated as the No. 1 quarterback coming out of high school (Sports Illustrated), I had high hopes that were quickly dashed when I turned on the film. He flashes some top-shelf NFL-type throws, but he has a hard time keeping defender’s hands off his passes due to his inconsistent throwing mechanics. He’s downright reckless as a passer.
QB15 Shedeur Sanders, Colorado
2025 Preseason NFL Draft Grade: Undraftable Free Agent
Total College Games Evaluated: 13
We wouldn’t even know his name if he had a different last name. Sanders is a former FCS quarterback who looked like he was in over his head in the FBS. He’s a basic one (maybe two) read quarterback who plays in a vanilla (non-NFL) offense that features him making a ton of short little passes and taking off and looking average as a runner. He’s clickbait.
QB14 Leonard Riley, transfer to Notre Dame (from Duke)
2025 Preseason NFL Draft Grade: Seventh-Round
Total College Games Evaluated: 11
Leonard took a step back on game film in 2023. He’s an erratic passer and one of the best running quarterbacks in this draft class. He’s a late-round game candidate who can come into the game and safely throw a bunch of short passes and pick up needed yardage with his legs. The wildcard is that he doesn’t seem to take to structure and thinks he can do more than he can.
QB13 Will Howard, transfer to Ohio State (from Kansas State)
2025 Preseason NFL Draft Grade: Sixth-Round
Total College Games Evaluated: 12
He has the raw size, arm strength, maturity, and leadership qualities NFL teams look for, but he does not look like he was born to play quarterback, which is further confirmed in his completion percentage during his four years with the Wildcats. He struggles with pressure in his face and to keep the ball out of harm’s way. Howard would fit best with a playoff-caliber roster that features a strong running game.
QB12 Jaxson Dart, Ole Miss
2025 Preseason NFL Draft Grade: Fifth-Round
Total College Games Evaluated: 13
Dart gave me the most bizarre vibe I’ve ever felt studying a prospect on film. An erratic and eccentric dual threat with ball security issues. With those things said, he does have playmaking ability and he is a fiery competitor, and those two traits give him a legitimate chance to become a career backup in the NFL.
QB11 Drew Allar, Penn State
2025 Preseason NFL Draft Grade: Fifth-Round
Total College Games Evaluated: 13
What you see is not what you get with Allar on game film. If former NFL quarterbacks Christian Hackenberg and Ben Roethlisberger had a baby, it would be Allar. He’s surprisingly athletic, and he has NFL prototype size and arm strength. However, he’s useless beyond the short passing game. To me, he’s the most intriguing quarterback prospect in this draft class because he showed sporadic flashes of turning the corner. My instincts tell me he has the best chance of making the biggest leap in the group.
QB10 Donovan Smith, University of Houston
2025 Preseason NFL Draft Grade: Fourth-Round
Total College Games Evaluated: 10
Another one where the film does not match the attributes. Smith has the size, raw arm strength, and athleticism that will draw NFL scouts in, but his inconsistent rhythm coupled with inconsistent footwork and momentary lapses of judgment are enough to drive them up the wall. His high level of competitiveness will give him a legitimate chance at a backup spot. However, I can’t shake this nagging feeling that his football IQ isn’t high enough and that’s the real underlying problem.
QB9 Conner Weigman, Texas A&M
2025 Preseason NFL Draft Grade: Fourth-Round
2022 and 2023 Games Evaluated: 8
Total College Games Evaluated: 8
I’ve gone from not liking him, to liking him, to not liking him in the course of two seasons of game film and his 2024 Spring Game. The unknown going forward is the left foot injury he suffered last season that had him hinting in the Spring Game that he has regressed. He did not look the same. I gave Weigman’s four games from last season a first-round grade. We’ll see. I have my doubts.
QB8 Jalon Daniels, Kansas
2025 Preseason NFL Draft Grade: Fourth-Round
Total College Games Evaluated: 10
I have liked Daniels every time I’ve turned on his tape. An efficient (74.4%) playmaker in the short-to-intermediate route levels (0-19 yards) who reminds me of former NFL longtime QB Rodney Peete. He would make the perfect backup to 49ers’ QB Brock Purdy if he can stay healthy. The thing that impresses me most is how quickly he can process and get the ball out of his hand.
QB7 Noah Fifita, Arizona
2025 Preseason NFL Draft Grade: Third-Round
Total College Games Evaluated: 9
The best No. 2 QB prospect in this draft class. Fifita is a modern-day Doug Flutie (former NFL QB). Once scouting departments get past his height, he makes up the difference on the game film. He’s a dynamic playmaking sparkplug and a winner. Not to mention, he processes what he is seeing fast. How fast? Albeit an apples-to-oranges college-to-NFL comparison, his 2023 time to throw would translate to being the second fastest time to throw in the NFL next to Dolphins’ QB Tua Tagovailoa.
QB6 Dillon Gabriel, Oregon (transfer from Oklahoma)
2025 Preseason NFL Draft Grade: Third-Round
Total College Games Evaluated: 12
Starting here with Gabriel, these guys from here on out have the tools to start in the NFL. If Gabriel starts all of the regular season scheduled games for Oregon this season, he will tie former Ducks’ QB (and 2024 first-round QB Bo Nix) with an FBS record of 60 starts. Ironically, Gabriel is poised to possibly make a similar leap as Nix did. He looks the part ⎯polished with pocket maturity one would expect from all that experience. Plus, he’s a competitive instinctual playmaker, which pushes him up the board. He just needs to stop forcing throws that can get him into trouble, and he needs to put the deep ball consistently out in front of his receivers, not behind them.
QB5 Jalen Milroe, Alabama
2025 Preseason NFL Draft Grade: Third-Round
Total College Games Evaluated: 21
Expect to hear comparisons between Milroe and two-time NFL MVP QB Lamar Jackson as we head toward draft day. He’s a dangerous runner and so-so as a passer, just like Jackson. I feel the new Alabama head coach, Kalen DeBoer, can work his magic with Milroe the way he did with 2024 first-round QB Michael Penix Jr. (Falcons) when they were together with the Washington Huskies. Milroe’s second half of last season was not as good as the first half, which explains the drop on my board. Former Bears’ (and current Steelers) QB Justin Fields had the slowest time to throw in the NFL in 2023 per Next Gen Stats (3.23 seconds). Milroe’s time to throw was 3.45 seconds (PFF). I can’t get past that.
QB4 Cameron Ward, Miami (transfer from Washington State)
2025 Preseason NFL Draft Grade: First-Round
Total College Games Evaluated: 16
From the first time I studied Ward on tape, I keep coming back to a Jalen Hurts comp (Eagles’ QB). His ability to adapt to different environments and coordinators are among his top attributes. That maturity and discipline also pop on film. He also shined against top-ranked teams last season on a mediocre No. 71-ranked supporting cast. Ward is an efficient dual-role threat who has to stop second-guessing himself when throwing.
QB3 Garrett Nussmeier, LSU
2025 Preseason NFL Draft Grade: First-Round
Total College Games Evaluated: 6
A pro-style passer with a rocket right arm. While he’s not a runner by trade, he demonstrates excellent behind the line of scrimmage mobility and he makes throwing decisions fast. No doubt Nussmeier looks the part and he exudes a high level of confidence to boot. He has to clean up his footwork in the pocket and show he can produce in pressure situations. The progress he made in both categories in the Reliquest Bowl vs. Wisconsin in this first start was encouraging. Something noticeably clicked in that game, now it’s up to him to keep it going.
QB2 Quinn Ewers, Texas
2025 Preseason NFL Draft Grade: First-Round
Total College Games Evaluated: 22
An unorthodox fearless gunslinger in Texas with enough confidence in his game that he forewent the draft and felt he could hold off up-and-coming QB Arch Manning. My kind of guy. Ewers conquers up thoughts of Chiefs’ QB Patrick Mahomes watching him moving around, throwing from different arm angles, and changing his throwing direction at the last second. He’s also armed with a strong will to win and an uncanny sixth sense for finding and exploiting the greatest area of weakness in the opponent’s secondaries. He just needs to play looser under pressure and work on improving his deep game this season.
QB1 Carson Beck, Georgia
2025 Preseason NFL Draft Grade: First-Round
Total College Games Evaluated: 14
Beck is a natural-born field general with big-league arm strength and cold eyes. He relentlessly attacked secondaries while showing some improv and sweet ball placement. Beck is a cut above the rest of the class, and he reminds me of former Giants QB Eli Manning. His biggest areas of opportunity are to get better under heavy pressure and that uncanny downfield focus he has is a double-edged sword. Sometimes it causes him to not see defenders at all or to misjudge where they are.
Daniel Kelly is a former NFL Scout with the New York Jets. He was hired on the regime which featured Bill Parcells, Bill Belichick, Scott Pioli, Mike Tannenbaum, and Dick Haley. He is currently the Editor-in-Chief for First Round Mock, and has written for Sports Illustrated (Lions, Jets, and 49ers), NFL Draft Diamonds, and Yardbarker, as well as a featured guest on ESPN Radio and Fox Sports Radio. For more information about him visit his website at whateverittakesbook.com. Follow on Twitter @firstroundmock.
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