After a banner 2024 NFL draft in which six quarterbacks were drafted in the first 12 picks, the 2025 QB conversation has been dominated by just two passers -- Miami's Cam Ward and Colorado's Shedeur Sanders. How do they rank among recent first-round signal-callers?
To answer that question, I stacked the 19 passers who were taken in Round 1 from 2020 through 2024 and then dropped Ward and Sanders -- the only first-round quarterbacks in my most recent mock draft -- into the mix. That conversation covers the likes of Joe Burrow, Trevor Lawrence, Bryce Young and Caleb Williams.
I polled NFL scouts, decision-makers and analysts to help build the list, and pre-draft grades were the only consideration here. While I added each quarterback's pro performance for additional context, it has no bearing on these rankings. This is just those 21 quarterbacks stacked together as though they were all in the same draft class. So who is No. 1 on the list as the top QB prospect going back five years, and how does the 2025 group compare?
Jump to top QB from each class:
2020 | 2021 | 2022
2023 | 2024