Ranking top 20 QBs from 2021-2025 draft classes: How Cam Ward, Jayden Daniels, Bryce Young, others stack up

CBS Sports | American Football | 03/29/2025

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We rank the quarterbacks from the five draft classes

By Chris Trapasso

How would Cam Ward stack up to Drake Maye? How about if we threw C.J. Stroud or Bryce Young in the mix? What about Jordan Love, Caleb Williams and Brock Purdy?

Although these questions relate to the same position, this exercise can be likened to comparing apples to oranges to grapes. There’s no perfect way to rank a collection of players mixed between the NFL and college.

Based on what we’ve seen in the first four years in the NFL from the reasonably disappointing 2021 quarterback group, the more disappointing class that followed in 2022, the first two seasons from Stroud and Co., the rookie years of Jayden Daniels, Williams and Maye, and projecting the 2025 class forward, below is how I’d rank the passers from 2021 all the way to 2024.

As for how these rankings are formulated, I’m comparing across levels based on everything we know about each quarterback’s talent today, and what they’ve shown on a field to date. Of course, even an average season in the NFL is much more difficult than an amazing collegiate campaign.

(Note: For the sake of this article, the 2025 quarterbacks are ranked mostly due to how much individual success I believe they will have in the pros based on their talent and overall skill sets. These rankings are also largely contingent upon a prediction of future NFL success.)

1. C.J. Stroud, Texans

Last year, I hinted that an interception regression was imminent for Stroud after his spectacular rookie campaign. It happened. But I don’t think it was totally on him. Losing Stefon Diggs and later Tank Dell was simply too much for the young passer, and, frankly, the entire Texans offense to overcome. The offensive line was also one of the worst in football, which impacted his pressure rate and didn’t give Houston the necessary run-game boost.

Still, Stroud gets the top spot based on his body of efficient work across two seasons compared to Daniels’ one. He’s one of the most savvy, accurate, anticipatory quarterbacks in football today.