Undervalued 2025 NFL Draft Quarterback Prospects

Undervalued 2025 NFL Draft Quarterback Prospects

Quinn Ewers-Texas

Prior to the 2024 NCAA season, Texas quarterback Quinn Ewers had his name floated as a potential first-round pick. As the season progressed, however, Ewers became more and more associated with day 2 prospects. Given his skillset, this feels unwarranted.

Coming out of high school, Ewers was a five-star prospect and a consensus top player in his class. After a short stint at Ohio State, Ewers found a home with the Texas Longhorns. He punctuated his Texas career with a trip to the college football playoff, where they fell to the eventual national champions.

There is a lot to like about Quinn Ewers’ game. He has a strong arm that can push the ball not only down the field but horizontally. There is not a deep out he cannot throw. It is not just brute strength that makes Ewers appealing, as he possesses an ability to put touch on deep passes that will be crucial at the NFL level. While he lacks anything noteworthy in terms of athleticism, his ability to stand tall in the pocket and deliver passes with pressure in his face is also one of his biggest strengths.

The concerns with Ewers are valid. Throughout his career, he has developed a reputation for putting the ball in harm’s way. This is true on tape, given a tendency to push the ball over the middle into tight coverage, as well as in his comparatively high percentage of turnover-worthy plays. This is an aspect of Ewers game that must improve for him to see success at the next level. Yet, it does seem as though many of these plays are due more in part to overconfidence than an inability to read the field.

Quinn Ewers brings a bit of risk as a prospect. Still, he needs to be evaluated in the context of his class. Relative to his peers, Ewers possesses enough upside with the deep ball and his five-star pedigree to warrant consideration at the end of day one of the NFL Draft. It will be interesting to see if his stock rises as the draft draws closer.

Riley Leonard-Notre Dame

Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard has seen his fair share of air time recently. After falling just short of a national championship in his final college season, the focus on Leonard has shifted to his prospects as a professional. Understandably, this discussion has garnered less traction in the public sphere. Leonard is not the most exciting professional prospect, but he is being undervalued.

Beginning his career with the Duke Blue Devils in 2021, Leonard had his fair share of supporters. It was with Duke that he put together a resume that warranted a move to the bigger market of the Fighting Irish. The move benefited both parties, with Leonard boosting his draft stock and Notre Dame appearing in the college football championship.

The strengths of Leonard’s game are subtle. Many of Leonard’s passes are predicated on quick game fundamentals. This will not light up a stat sheet. Yet, Leonard operates this system with the utmost efficiency. His ball placement on slants, speed outs, and hitches is elite. He is a decisive and poised passer who has the athleticism to navigate pressure. When things break down, Leonard can extend plays and manipulate defenses to find open men. While it does not always look pretty, Leonard does a good job of avoiding pressure. Leonard is also a dangerous athlete. Notre Dame often dialed up designed runs for him, especially in the redzone. This truly speaks to his value to the Fighting Irish and their offense as a whole.

While the strengths are alluring, it does make sense why Leonard’s current draft stock is sitting on the border of days two and three of the NFL Draft. Put plainly, we have simply not seen enough of him pushing the ball down the field. There are valid questions regarding his ability to make big plays through the air. It remains to be seen if this is simply by design, or to mask some deficiencies in his game.

Overall, Leonard is a high-floor, low-ceiling prospect as a passer. While this may seem most conducive to a career backup role, the athletic ability that Leonard possesses makes him dangerous enough to reach a ceiling he has not yet shown at the NFL level. His early day three price tag would be more than a bargain for the signal caller come April.

Tyler Shough-Lousiville

Louisville quarterback Tyler Shough has had an unorthodox path to becoming draft eligible. The 2024 season was his sixth season of college football. Between a myriad of injuries, and the Covid-19 season, Shough has accumulated a vast amount of experience during his time in the NCAA. Lousiville is Shough’s third stop as well. He spent time with both Oregon and Texas Tech prior to joining the Cardinals for the 2024 season. Despite all of this experience, Shough enters the 2025 NFL Draft race as a relative unknown.

Simply put, Shough is too impressive as a passer to not have more buzz as a draft prospect. Shough has NFL arm strength and his ability to place the deep ball is very impressive. He can place the ball with aggression between corners and safeties, as well as with finesse to give his receivers a shot in one-on-one situations. Shough also has the uncanny ability to deliver the ball from any arm angle. As such, he is always a threat to capitalize on any extension of a play he can create. Shough is one of the more impressive throwers of the football in this class.

Shough’s lack of publicity in the process is likely due to several factors. First, his time in the NCAA has relegated him to being one of the older prospects in this draft cycle. At 25 years old, there are questions about how much upside Shough brings with him to the NFL. Much of that time in the NCAA was due to injury issues. This is Shough’s next big knock. Suffering a broken collarbone and broken leg in his time as a college athlete, there are major concerns about Shough’s durability. Additionally, Shough offers little with his legs, and his athleticism is nothing short of mediocre.

Despite these concerns, Shough is good enough as a passer to warrant much more hype in the NFL Draft. His ability to push the ball down the field, and do so from any arm angle, gives him enough upside to be an alluring draft prospect. Shough could be a late day three selection in the NFL Draft. He can deliver far greater returns.