Cam Ward was the best quarterback in the nation last year. He threw for over 4,300 yards, led the country in touchdown passes (39), and topped the ACC with a 172.2 passer rating. He earned consensus All-American honors for those efforts. Ward did have a disappointing finish in the Heisman race, coming in fourth behind Dillon Gabriel — but that’s small potatoes compared to the honor he’s set to receive on April 24.
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Ward is going to be the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NFL Draft with a bullet. He was battling with the likes of Shedeur Sanders, Abdul Carter, and Travis Hunter for the honor, but now he is a -10,000-odds favorite to be selected first overall by most sportsbooks. And those oddsmakers know what they’re doing. Moreover, while some still view him as a weak top QB prospect in a weak class, others are already comparing him to the best in the game today.
On Friday’s First Take, ESPN pundit Kevin Clark threw caution to the wind and went against the grain on Cam Ward. The Miami prospect is generally viewed as the best of a bad bunch, but Clark thinks he’s going to surprise a lot of people. He even made a comparison between Ward and three-time Super Bowl champion Patrick Mahomes. And no, when he said Ward’s ceiling was Mahomes, he wasn’t kidding.
“Ward is not going to have the best offensive play-caller of his generation, not have Tyreek Hill, not have Travis Kelce, I understand that part of it. But when I watch Cam Ward play on a down-to-down basis, I see the best improviser I’ve seen since Patrick Mahomes,” said the analyst.
“I see a guy who can execute quickly; he can do Superman, and he can do Clark Kent. And that is why Patrick Mahomes is so great. He can do flashes and he can do the simple stuff.”
Clark made sure to point out that Mahomes wasn’t Mahomes when he came out of college. He was the No. 10 overall pick, and there were plenty of questions about how he would turn out in the NFL. In fact, most viewed him as a project. And he kind of was — he sat for a year behind Alex Smith before taking the reins in Kansas City.
Clark believes the same weaknesses Mahomes cleaned up upon reaching the NFL are the ones Ward will fix once he enters the league as well.
“To me, he has Mahomes’ flaws at the college level. He tried to do too much because he understood how bad his defense was. He knew he had to play hero ball, that led to some maybe cross-body throws he shouldn’t have done. That, to me, tracks as Mahomes. He will be more disciplined in the NFL.”
The off-schedule throws are definitely a trait that Mahomes and Ward share. They’re also both relatively mobile, and they both have plus arm strength. The comparison isn’t as far-fetched as it might seem, especially considering how much public opinion on Mahomes has changed since he was drafted in 2017.
