Cam Ward is cementing himself as the No. 1 pick of the 2025 NFL Draft. On Monday, FanDuel Sportsbook listed the Miami quarterback as a -700 favorite to be the first player off the board. This was a drastic shift from last week, where Ward was just -320 for the distinction.
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Ward’s upside, in this QB class, is unparalleled to most analysts. They believe if he and Shedeur Sanders both reached their perceived peaks, Ward would be the better player.
ESPN’s Kevin Clark falls in that category. He told Derrik Klassen on the This Is Football podcast that he would “take Shedeur Sanders in the first round.” But he has no interest in taking him No.1 overall because of Ward. To Clark, Ward’s upside rivals that of the league’s best active, Super Bowl-winning quarterback: Patrick Mahomes.
“Cam Ward’s ceiling is Patrick Mahomes, and his floor is if Patrick Mahomes were drafted by the Jets… I don’t think [his ceiling] is going to happen because he’s not going to go to the best offensive coach of his generation,” Clark said.
NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Steve Young, according to Clark, once said that Mahomes “can be Superman” because he “is Clark Kent.” What he meant, in Clark’s estimation, is that because Mahomes “does the basics over and over again, he has the space to be Superman.”
Klassen didn’t immediately dismiss Clark’s opinion. After hearing some explanation, he said he “thinks that makes sense.” But Klassen couldn’t personally put Ward on that level. Instead, he settled on a “sawed-off Ben Roethlisberger” as Ward’s ceiling comp.
Clark: Ward isn’t Mahomes but has his flaws
Everyone can agree Ward turning out to be the next Mahomes feels somewhat impossible. Mahomes has dominated the league since he became Kansas City’s starting quarterback. He’s one of just three quarterbacks to have multiple seasons of 5,000 passing yards (Drew Brees, Tom Brady). He also has three Super Bowl wins. And he hasn’t even turned 30 yet.
Clark, as mentioned, doesn’t believe Ward will actually meet Mahomes’ heights. Even matching Roethlisberger’s heights would be difficult. During his time with the Pittsburgh Steelers, the ‘Big Ben’ won multiple Super Bowls (2) and had a 5,000-yard passing campaign (2018). But both ideal projections accomplish the mission of demonstrating how Ward could dominate the league if things turn out to be incredibly right for him.
For Ward to have any chance of making Clark and Klassen look like geniuses, he’ll need quality coaching. Clark noted Ward won’t land with any coach of Andy Reid’s caliber. But that doesn’t mean his coach will be a scrub.
“There’s two things that need to be coached out of [Cam Ward]… he’s not Mahomes, but he has Mahomes’ flaws… he threw too many cross-body interceptions because he was trying to do too much. And the other part of it is that he big-play hunted too much… I felt like he played with his food,” Clark added.
Clark added Ward “needs to watch” his “comfortable and casual” nature in the pocket. The NFL has superior talent to that of Miami’s 2024 opponents, so such an approach could cause him to take big hits early in his career. Regardless, Clark thinks Ward, “is going to be a multi-time All-Pro.”
Again, nobody – not even Clark, who made the take, or Klassen – sees Ward becoming the next Mahomes. But that’s not Clark’s and Klassen’s general point. What they both believe is that Ward will be a very good quarterback for a very long time. We’ll learn if he’s going to have the coaching staff to develop him into one when the 2025 NFL Draft commences on April 24.
