With the college football season underway, I’ll be providing a weekly update that cycles through each position throughout the season so you can stay on top of the potential 2025 class and their performances. While many Dynasty managers wait until the offseason to do their scouting, you can get an advantage on your league-mates by keeping up with player performances as they happen. End-of-season stats simply don’t provide the same context that analysis in-season does.
This week, I have an update for the top quarterback prospects in the 2025 class. With only a one-week sample size, there’s a lot of room for change. Still, many of these quarterbacks are playing in new systems, with new players, and in some cases on totally new teams, so there’s lots of value in breaking down these Week 1 performances.
Conner Weigman – Texas A&M
Weigman wasn’t given an easy return to action following an injury-shortened season last year. Notre Dame features one of the best defensive units in the country and showed that firepower on the defensive side of the ball in week 1. Weigman looked uncomfortable, had troubles with his accuracy, and seemed shaken by the great secondary he faced.
Weigman is one of the prospects who has the most riding this season. He’s shown great flashes but hasn’t played enough to really evaluate as an NFL prospect yet. That makes his poor Week 1 performance that much more worrying.
There were some bright spots. Weigman did look comfortable getting out of the pocket, he showed off the ability to throw from multiple angles, and he had seemingly improved speed when taking off to run. The hope is that a very tough defense and being inexperienced returning from an injury led to some nerves that Weigman struggled to overcome. If Weigman can settle down moving forward and get his accuracy under control, then this Week 1 performance may be forgotten in a few months.
Carson Beck – Georgia
Beck put up an inoffensive opening performance, but that’s not what you’re looking for out of a first-round NFL Draft prospect. He had good accuracy on short to intermediate routes but failed to air the ball out in any way. His average depth of target (ADOT) was a paltry 6.3.
Beck was likely the favorite before the season to be the first quarterback chosen in the 2025 NFL Draft, and while this game probably doesn’t push him out of that spot, he didn’t do anything to prove he belongs there. If this trend of exclusively low depth of target throws continues, Beck will find himself in the NFL, but not with a premium draft selection in the 1st round.
Shedeur Sanders – Colorado
All eyes continue to be on Colorado, and Sanders may have changed a few opinions with his Week 1 performance. His accuracy was very good, completing some jaw-dropping passes in tight windows. His arm strength was impressive, being able to get the ball deep downfield accurately from the pocket with pressure or on the run. While Sanders is mobile and can get out of the pocket, he keeps his eyes downfield to pass, something that many athletic passers fail to do.
There are still questions about his ability to go through progressions in an NFL-style offense, but I don’t think he did anything to increase those worries in this game. The offensive line for Colorado is improved, but they still weren’t great at keeping pressure away from Sanders. Sanders can wow you with his ability to get throws off under serious pressure, but I’d like to see him better assess incoming pressure and use his mobility to avoid it.
Graham Mertz – Florida
Mertz struggled in his opening week loss to Miami. He failed to push the ball downfield and seemed entirely overwhelmed by the amount of pressure he faced. That lack of composure against pressure can be excused for a young inexperienced passer, but Mertz is almost 24 years old. That lack of composure is entirely inexcusable for Mertz.
Mertz’s accuracy wasn’t as bad as the stat line would indicate, but he still wasn’t able to connect on any of his big passes downfield. Simply showing some accuracy on short-to-intermediate routes won’t be enough to impress NFL scouts. Scouts are already wary of the older quarterback prospects, and Mertz will need to do a lot more to show he deserves a shot in the NFL at all.
Quinn Ewers – Texas
Ewers showed a great command of the offense in his opening week performance. His accuracy was on point, he showed great touch on his passes and he was able to move through his progressions well. The knock on his play would be the lack of chances taken on throws down the field, but his ability to connect on deep balls is not something to worry about with Ewers.
It’s hard to take too much in a game where Texas ran the ball so effectively, and Ewers finished his day mid-way through the third quarter due to the comfortable lead. He took care of business as needed and helped his team comfortably win the game. I’ll be keeping a close eye on Ewers in his highly anticipated Week 2 matchup against Michigan.
Cameron Ward – Miami
I don’t think anyone did more to catch the attention of NFL Scouts in Week 1 than Ward. The transfer from Washington State seemed cool, calm, and collected from the start. While he may not be the most refined college player, his ceiling as an NFL prospect seems much higher than most of the quarterbacks in this class. His arm strength is great; he showed off his athleticism to pick up first downs on the run while primarily looking to be a passer. He evaded pressure extremely well, and he was able to progress through his reads quickly and effectively.
There was a mistake early in the 1st half of the game that led to an incompletion, but other than that Ward took what was given to him while not being afraid to push the ball downfield. His accuracy on deep throws stood out in a class that seems afraid to throw the ball downfield. If Ward can limit his mistakes, then he could be a very interesting prospect for the NFL while also leading Miami to its best season in years.
Jalen Milroe – Alabama
We all know what Milroe can do with his legs. He’s an elite athlete that can pick up huge gains on the ground. The problem is that he hasn’t yet shown that he can be an effective player as a passer. Even against a much inferior opponent, Milroe failed to pass the ball effectively and consistently scrambled with no intention of throwing.
Milroe’s passing yardage came almost exclusively on obvious defensive breakdowns. He also missed some wide-open receivers with inaccurate throws. There’s no scout out there with questions about Milroe’s athleticism, but if he continues to show no improvement as a passer from the pocket, or at least a willingness to throw when he does scramble, then he will have little chance of landing a starting job in the NFL.
Jaxson Dart – Ole Miss
Dart had a very good game in a blowout against an inferior FCS team. It’s hard to take much from a stat line against a poor opponent that struggles to make the quarterback make tough throws, but Dart did everything right. With Dart’s athleticism, you may expect him to look to use his legs whenever possible, but he did a good job of keeping his head up to throw and only running when he needed to. Dart showed good accuracy and played well under pressure, but tight throwing windows and heavy pressure were few and far between in this game.
Ole Miss has an easy schedule to start the season, so it’ll be hard to truly evaluate Dart until their much more challenging 2nd half, but if he continues to handle lesser opponents like he did this week, there will be great anticipation for those later season matchups for scouts.
Noah Fifita – Arizona
Fifita is another one of the passers in this class who seemed to struggle to push the ball downfield, but Fifita showed he can incorporate that into his game in Week 1. His deep throws didn’t hit every time, but he did connect on some with great touch.
Any discussion about Fifita this year will likely be overshadowed by the excellence of his star wide receiver, Tetairoa McMillan, but Fifita seems to be turning heads in his own right. His ability to throw effectively on the run and his athleticism were both impressive.
I’m still hesitant about Fifita’s ability to translate into an NFL passer. His arm strength doesn’t seem up to par for the NFL, and he still hasn’t proven himself to be a consistent deep ball passer. If he can continue to put up performances like he did this week, though, there may be some NFL buzz for him by the end of the season.
Garrett Nussmeier – LSU
Nussmeier looked composed in his first opening-week action as a starting quarterback. His accuracy was great, and he never looked rushed at all. We didn’t get a chance to see him take many big shots down the field, but there is lots of time ahead for him to display those skills.
Nussmeier’s composure and control of the offense makes him an interesting prospect to watch moving forward. If he can show off his ability to push the ball downfield as the season progresses, I expect the NFL Draft noise to get louder towards the end of the season, although I still expect him to wait until 2026.
Drew Allar – Penn State
Allar’s size stands out right away at 6’5” and 243 lbs. He used his size well as a runner to consistently pick up first downs, but I doubt that would translate to the NFL with his lack of speed. Allar did impress with some great deep throws throughout the game, but his lack of accuracy on throws underneath made the performance very inconsistent.
As the youngest player on this list, Allar has lots of time to continue to hone his skills. I don’t expect the 2025 NFL Draft to be a likely outcome, but he has the size, strength, and composure to keep an eye on this season.
Dillon Gabriel – Oregon
Gabriel showed off his accuracy in the opening week, but like many of the other quarterbacks in this class, he hasn’t shown an ability or interest in making plays downfield. An ADOT of 4.5 is almost impressive in how low it is. Unlike many other passers who didn’t need to throw the ball downfield for their team to be successful, the final score was much too close for an Oregon team that was expected to win this game easily. Gabriel did move well in the pocket to gain time but didn’t look very good throwing the ball on the move.
Although his high completion percentage on high volume may look good on the box score, nothing in this game stood out to me as NFL-worthy. He’ll need to take a lot more chances downfield to be looked at seriously by NFL scouts.
Brady Cook – Missouri
Cook struggled with accuracy throughout the game. He did take some shots down the field but wasn’t able to connect on them. Cook was used in design runs fairly often, and they were successful plays, but he doesn’t have the speed for that to be a significant part of his game at the next level. FThere was little I saw from Cook to show that he has what it takes to be ready for the NFL.
