2025 Scouting Report: QB Cam Ward, Miami
I wanted to kick off the 2025 scouting season with the consensus/odds favorite #1 overall pick, a top 3-5 prospect (Travis Hunter and Abdul Carter are usually the top 2), and the #1 QB on draft boards everywhere. If Cam Ward is the best QB I scout in this class, then the 2025 class will meet the expectations of being weak at QB. I suspect I’ll find a gem as the offseason groans on, may another Brock Purdy to be found? Time will tell.
The one word that comes to mind when watching Ward play, whether he’s standing in the pocket or on the run, is: confidence.
Ward has a very strong arm and can deliver missiles in a tight pocket where you can’t step into the throw, muscling the ball all over the field with a quick release. The combination of confidence and a strong arm come together creating a QB that is extremely comfortable sitting in the pocket and waiting for someone to get open. This process will need to be accelerated in the NFL, he won’t have all day to throw like he would get against weaker college teams. I have some concerns regarding the amount of time he had to throw, we’ll get into that later.
Ward’s confidence is on display when he runs as well. Ward is pretty big at 6’2 220+ lbs. and he is not afraid to use that size to bounce off tacklers and break sacks. A QB who isn’t scared of taking hits comes with positives and negatives, but you can train a big man to not take hits… it’s harder to teach a smaller/scared QB that there are times you need to get hit. Ward also isn’t a Josh Allen type of runner, he really only takes off when he needs to, and in Miami’s air raid offense, he was able to break off some nice runs with a lot of the defense in coverage.
As an NFL talent, I don’t think Cam Ward will be a franchise-defining draft pick like Burrow, Stroud, Daniels, or Nix have shown to be in recent years. Ward is good, but not in the same great/elite tier we’ve become so accustomed to seeing. Many of these guys were first-overall picks, or in the conversation for that selection in a strong QB year… Ward might not be the first overall pick in a weak QB class.
The appeal of Cam Ward, which will impress everyone in team interviews, is his mentality. He oozes confidence, he’s not flashy in what he wears/how he acts. Ward is a humble, hard-working player, and NFL teams will fall in love with him. I can say without a doubt Ward will be the first QB of the board, not Shedeur Sanders nor Jaxson Dart. Ward has good tape, but will his personality carry him all the way to the first pick? I’m not sure that it will.
Cam is very good at reading/picking apart defenses, but the first thing I noticed is that Miami has a very good offensive line. Ward had tons of time to throw the ball, and that has historically led to a rough transition to the NFL for recent first-overall picks Bryce Young and Caleb Williams (most sacked QB this past season). We just saw Sam Darnold have a career turnaround behind the best line in the NFL until they got blitzed at a crazy rate in Week 18 and the first round of the playoffs, where everything fell apart. Any NFL QB can succeed behind a clean pocket, there’s a reason all of these players are where they are, but what sets them apart is the ability to be under pressure all game and still succeed. Does Cam Ward have that? In his days at Incarnate Word, I would say yes. This may be a skill Cam has to reteach himself.
Under pressure, Cam was fine, not his usual ‘good’. I saw a lot of forced and ill-advised throws, as well as some floated passes when being hurried… not his usual bullets you’d see from the pocket.
The next big concern I have is Ward’s level of opponents. Cam did not face a single top-25 defense in 2024 because he was playing in the ACC. In 2023 (as the QB for Wash. State) Ward faced off against Wisconsin, UCLA, and Oregon. His stats for those games weren’t great. In those three games Cam had 4 TDs and 2 INTs, a big step down from his play this year, and in two of those games, he had less than 215 yards (threw for 438 against Oregon).
I see mostly ‘good’ in Ward’s game, just like I did with Nix last year, but the under-pressure and strength of schedule concerns are too much for me to overlook. If this were last year's draft Cam would be picked in the 10-15 range, and would never be close to consideration for the first overall pick.
The Data on Cam Ward
Cam Ward had a license to throw and accumulated a ton of stats, averaging 36.5 attempts/game in 2024. Stats don’t mean a whole lot in college, the level of play week to week can change drastically, and the pace of games is completely different than the NFL, so having a great college career doesn’t mean too much, especially as some of these players are getting into 8+ years of playing at the collegiate level. Bailey Zappe has the greatest single season as a college QB, based on stat totals, but what good has that done him in the NFL?
Ward was (12-12) as the starter for Washington State, and a much improved (10-3) as the starter for Miami… but they lost two easy games after a (9-0) start, missed the Playoffs, and then lost the Pop Tart Bowl in a game Ward split time with the backup.
Looking through historical comparisons, Ward, having a 7.6 “ThrowRtg” puts him in a nice spot to become at the very least, a low-level start in the NFL, of course, these metrics can’t predict the future, but based on a combination of Height, Weight, and ThrowRtg, Ward grades out very similarly to Dwayne Haskins, Dak Prescott, and Jameis Winston. I believe the most likely outcome for Ward will be some kind of hybrid Dak-Jameis QB, but with fewer turnovers overall — Ward tends to be smart with the football.
| ThrowRtg | MobRtg | H | W | Player | Team | adjCompPct | adjYds/Comp | adjAtt/TD | adjAtt/INT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7.646 | 6.365 | 74 | 222 | Cam Ward | Miami (FL) | 72.0 | 15.1 | 9.2 | 35.9 |
ThrowRtg = Combination of passing stats, adjusted stats, and strength of schedule.
MobRtg = Trying to identify/reward QBs that are more mobile than traditional passers, as teams look for more athletic QBs
— ThrowRtg and MobRtg are on a scale of 0-10, but there are instances where players can be above or below the 0-10 threshold.
Adj. = Stats weighted against strength of opponents
Draft Outlook:
Cam Ward is currently the ‘betting favorite’ to be the first overall pick, something I believe will be the case throughout the draft process unless the media propels Jaxson Dart over Sanders and Ward. The only way I see Ward not going first overall is if Tennessee LOVES Travis Hunter and tries to turn him into some kind of monster two-way player.
Career Outlook:
Ward is a very capable QB who needs a year behind an experienced veteran to learn how to play at the NFL level and relearn how to play under pressure. If Ward is afforded these luxuries I do believe he will be successful, but, if TEN or NYG draft him there’s a very strong chance that he will be the Day 1 starter.
Ward is an extremely hard worker so there’s a path for him to succeed if he is thrown to the wolves, but for his own sake, I hope that doesn’t happen.
Image Source: (Sam Navarro-Imagn Images)
