Who’s Up Next?
The 2025 NFL quarterback class is, in a word, uninspiring. According to The Athletic’s draft expert Dane Brugler, “Teams are not excited about this group of passers because each feels more like a risky bet than a safe one.”
But if there’s one thing we’ve learned about quarterbacks in the NFL draft, it’s that draft forecasts are not destiny. People said the same thing about the 2017 NFL Draft class that included a risky QB with a big arm and a losing college record who fell to 10th overall – Patrick Mahomes. A year later, an elite athlete at the position was deemed too raw to be worthy of a top pick. A former Super Bowl-winning GM said he’d need to play wide receiver. The Ravens finally selected him after drafting a tight end who would turn 25 before the season started. Today, Lamar Jackson is well on his way to his third MVP Award. And don’t forget Josh Allen, the third QB drafted in his class due to an inability to throw accurately. This is something scouts maintained couldn’t be learned in the pro ranks.
In short, when it comes to quarterbacks, “No one knows nothin’.”
Top Two QBs: High-Ceiling Prospects
Let’s look at the two most highly rated passers, who are competing for at least the second-overall pick (according to a consensus of early mock drafts), as well as the top projected defensive selection and non-QB offensive player.
According to the Mock Draft Database, the current leader in the clubhouse to be the top QB selected, projected to land with the second overall pick, is Miami’s Cameron Ward Miami. Brugler says, “His ability to create explosive, dazzling plays with his elusiveness in the pocket and natural arm talent is unmatched in this class. However, fireworks also come with a warning label — when Ward gets careless with his decisions, negative results follow.”
Ward has a 2024 Topps National Bowman University Chrome FB-29 Orange /25 that recently sold for $100 on eBay in ungraded condition. Based on the trajectories of quarterbacks who have checked those boxes, if Ward were to realize his upside in the NFL, the return on investment would be great, well into four figures.
Shedeur Sanders of Colorado is projected to go third overall. Brugler sees him as another boom-or-bust quarterback, but aren’t they all? “He is poised, tough, and accurate with a natural feel for touch and layering the football. But one of the main concerns is the inconsistent way he manages the pocket, drifting or welcoming negative plays by holding onto the football.”
His 2023 Bowman Best University Orange Geometric /25 sold for $50, also ungraded, in early November. He’s compared with Jordan Love, whose first card with similar scarcity in top-graded condition sells for about nine times that. Love shows you don’t need to win an MVP or make it to a Super Bowl to have explosive growth in card value.
Football’s New Two-Way Star?
Sanders’ teammate Travis Hunter is his top offensive weapon, but he is primarily a defensive player. No football player has played regularly on both sides of the ball since Chuck Bednarik in 1960 due to the physical toll involved. However, some believe Hunter is so electric as a wide receiver that he may stay there. However, his primary position for draft purposes is listed as cornerback. If he were to play even significant snaps on both sides of the ball, he could be football’s Shohei Ohtani. Today, you can get a raw 2023 Topps Bowman U Chrome Orange Travis Hunter /25 ungraded for $80.
Among non-QBs, the top offensive player, according to the current consensus, is Arizona’s Tetairoa McMillan, a 6-foot-5 downfield weapon with “elite tracking and high-pointing skills,” according to Brugler. That sounds a lot like Mike Evans. McMillan’s 2024 Bowman Now #4 Auto Orange /5 sold recently for $300 (ungraded). That’s about a quarter of the price of Evans’ first card autographed /10, even though there are half as many McMillans.
