The importance of a dependable, young and inexpensive — because of cost-controlled rookie contracts — quarterback is so perpetual in the NFL that teams tend to “overdraft” the position, selecting them far higher than a player might rank on a team’s list of prospects, said NBC Sports analyst Chris Simms, a former NFL quarterback.
It explains why since 2018, an average of 3.8 quarterbacks have been selected annually in the NFL draft’s first round, including six in 2024. Yet that wasn’t the case in the first round of the 2025 draft Thursday in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Quarterbacks mostly remained on the sideline, waiting their turn.
After Miami’s Cam Ward went No. 1, as expected, to Tennessee — the seventh time a quarterback went first overall in the past eight drafts — another quarterback wasn’t selected until Mississippi’s Jaxson Dart at No. 25, by the New York Giants, who traded up for the pick.
It was only the second time since 2016 that two or fewer quarterbacks were taken in the opening round and reinforced what had been said about this draft class for months — that the quarterbacks available were talented but not without flaws that could give teams pause.
Though NFL teams remain desperate for quality quarterbacks, they have resisted making a run on the position so far.
“It’s so important in the league that at times, teams can overdraft the position,” Simms told NBC News last week. “It’s like, wait, this guy’s really, like, the 45th player in the draft, but because of the importance of the position and all that, all of a sudden we’re talking about him at pick number 10 or 11, right? And therefore that can happen a little bit. And so now you’ve got a guy where you’re going, ‘Wait, he’s a top-10 pick or a No. 12 pick in the draft, he should be awesome.’ And it’s like, no, he’s just good.”
The quarterback with the widest draft variance was Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders, who was not selected Thursday after entering the night as a consensus No. 9 pick to New Orleans, per a database that tracks and combines dozens of mock drafts. Oddsmakers installed Sanders as a favorite to land with the Saints, as well. Yet New Orleans passed despite an uncertain future at the position with Derek Carr nursing a shoulder injury.
And Pittsburgh, the next logical landing spot for Sanders as the Steelers await word from future Hall of Famer Aaron Rodgers about his decision to play in 2025, also passed at No. 21.
Also still available during the second and third rounds, which take place Friday beginning at 7 p.m., is Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe.
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