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When there’s a run on quarterbacks in the 2024 draft, don’t say we didn’t warn you.
The bombastic narrative of the 2024 NFL Draft is that this is a “legendary,” “once-in-a-decade” quarterback class. While part of this is true, it really is a deep class, the subtext behind the feeding frenzy for this year’s quarterbacks has been discussed far less: The 2025 class is poised to be one of the worst of all time.
Three of the draft’s top quarterbacks this year all decided to come out early. Caleb Williams and J.J. McCarthy were juniors, while Drake Maye was a redshirt sophomore. All three are locks to be top-10 picks, and given high grades by draft advisors — so it was only natural that they decided to leave school and make the jump.
That helped create a major vacuum when it comes to the potential of the 2025 class. Naturally a lot can shift over the next 12 months, but there’s absolutely nothing on the horizon which indicates that the 2025 NFL Draft will have a single franchise quarterback available. As it stands here are the seven best quarterbacks set to turn pro next year:
Shedeur Sanders, Colorado
Quinn Ewers, Texas
Carson Beck, Georgia
Riley Leonard, Notre Dame
Cam Ward, Miami
Jalen Milroe, Alabama
Jalon Daniels, Kansas
If you leave the 2024 NFL Draft without a quarterback, or a plan for the future at the position — good luck. This is one of the worst groups we have ever seen, and potentially even rivals the legendarily awful 2022 class that contained Kenny Pickett, Desmond Ridder, Malik Willis and Matt Corral as the top four passers off the board.
As it stands only Shedeur Sanders and Carson Beck are on the 2025 big board of our draft expert J.P. Acosta, who notes that everyone else on this QB list either has major questions, or are simply just bad.
Do you want to build your franchise around Shedeur Sanders or Carson Beck? I didn’t think so.
So while the top-end talent of this 2024 class with Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels and Drake Maye would turn heads in any year, it’s the second and third-tier quarterbacks who are really going to benefit from just how awful the 2025 class is. This is the primary reason McCarthy will vault up into the top 10, why Michael Penix and Bo Nix will be (at the very worst) second-round picks, and could both go in the back end of the first round. Beyond that it’s why we could see guys like Spencer Rattler and Jordan Travis go two-to-three ROUNDS ahead of where they would in another draft.
There is a tangible fear of being left out when it comes to the QB picture. Teams aren’t willing to wait until 2026 or later when they need a quarterback right now, and the veteran market has completely dried up. It’s created a perfect storm where all the hype is behind this class right now, when in reality it isn’t that much better than any previous years.
If we do a composite of the last three years of post-combine scouting grades from NFL.com it really shows the recency bias we have when it comes to this QB class.
Bryce Young (2023): 6.82
Caleb Williams (2024): 6.74
Jayden Daniels (2024): 6.73
C.J. Stroud (2023): 6.70
Drake Maye (2024): 6.50
Malik Willis (2022): 6.41
Anthony Richardson (2023): 6.40
J.J. McCarthy (2024): 6.40
Kenny Pickett (2022): 6.40
Matt Corral (2022): 6.40
Is this a good QB class? Yes. Is it a legendary one? Not really. However, the gravity of what the league is facing next year is so intense that there is going to be a feeding frenzy during this draft. The old logic of “wait until next year” no longer applies, and that’s why we could see some mammoth trades for players who really don’t deserve the investment as teams simply hope and pray they can find a quarterback now before the well is dry.
Buckle up, because it’s going to be a wild ride.
