The upcoming NFL Draft brings unusual quarterback discussions. Is Shedeur Sanders a top 10 pick? Or not even one for the first round? And what actually happens on day 2? 2025 could be the largest Tag 2 Quarterback class of the past 20 years. But is that anything good at all?
Quarterback classes have fallen reliably into one of two categories in recent years.
There were top heavy classes with little depth, i.e. draft with many legitimate first round prospects, but little upside candidates for the Picks 40 to 75. Last year, this category definitely fell into this category, 2023 with Young, Stroud and Anthony Richardson. In 2021 it was Trevor Lawrence, Zach Wilson, Trey Lance, Justin Fields and Mac Jones, not much behind it. The year before, only Jalen Hurts went to Burrow, Tua, Herbert and Jordan Love on 53, after which no quarterback was drafted until Pick 122.
The other category are classes with a generally low quarterback quality. Classes where there is only a prospect that should really go into round 1, if at all – with little substance afterwards. The 2022 draft with Kenny Pickett falls in here, even if Brock Purdy turned out to be a late round steal. In 2019 it was Kyler Murray at the top, and that Daniel Jones also went top 10 was a decision that was already criticized by many at the time.
The picture we have this year is really rare. 2025-and I always speak in here from the pre-draft perspective-looks like a class with just a quarterback that is universally accepted as a first-round pick; While day 2 will offer a variety of options.
And I suspect that Shedeur Sanders will be a first-time pick even without outstanding upside qualities, so I even leave it out. But even without him, I expect at least four quarterback picks on day 2: Jalen Milroe, Jaxson Dart, Tyler Shough and Will Howard. In addition, Notre Dames Riley Leonard, Oregon’s Dillon Gabriel and Quinn Ewers from Texas also have a realistic chance of the late second day.
To classify this once: you have to go back to 2007 to find a draft where four quarterbacks went on day 2. At that time it was Kevin Kolb (Eagles), John Beck (Dolphins) and Drew Stanton (Lions) in the second, as well as Trent Edwards (Bills) in the third round. On average, 2.1 quarterbacks were selected in the second and third round between 2008 and 2024.
This year’s draft should double this and could even give us five quarterbacks on the second day.
It is an unusual, a strange class. And: These potential Tag 2 Quarterbacks could hardly be more different.
Jalen Milroe: The most potential of this quarterback class
The clear number 1 upside candidate is Jalen Milroe. To quote an anonymous AFC team manager from the youngest “ESPN” survey: “At any point in the draft, someone will say that he is a good athlete so as not to take it.”
That sums it up well. Milroe is a freak athlete in the position, with spectacular acceleration as a runner and the probably strongest arm in this class as a whole. His highlights are outstanding and if you think that you can develop it as a passenger sufficiently, Milroe could also pick in the late first round.
Because he is a dynamic playmaker, an explosive runner with outstanding acceleration, good physique, and the arm in combination with a quick release is good enough that Milroe can even compensate for it occasionally if he is too late with a read.
At the moment, however, it is often more than just the second fraction part too late. At Alabama, the offense was very strong on his rushing qualities, and while it must be part of his profile in the NFL, it cannot be as central as in college. Milroe will have fewer one-Read plays at the next level, he cannot last the ball for as long, he cannot regularly have his eyes and run directly. At the moment, all of this is still too often in his game.
Everything that could be summarized under the generic term awareness as a passer – pocket behavior, anticipation, reading of defenses – still has to be developed significantly. And yet that’s not the biggest question mark in his game. That is the accuracy.
Milroe has so many plays in which he mercilessly overflows the receiver. Here he also has to become much more constant so that even a run-heavy NFL-Orese works with him as a quarterback.
He is not quite the athlete who is Anthony Richardson, and as a passer he is significantly less advanced than Richardson was a prospect. That’s why Milroe will not go top 10, but somewhere in round 2? I think that is very realistic, simply because someone in the position with a player with these athletic and physical possibilities will gamble on the upside.
Jaxson Dart: Is it enough for round 1?
Jaxson Dart gets most and most constant first-round hype from the group of the supposed Tag 2 Quarterbacks. And it is understandable why darts apparently has fans both in the league and in the media area.
He has a flexible arm, he shows Touch, he is tough in the pocket, he is a willing deep Passer, he has a certain athletic. Darts game looks dynamic and he has played impressive numbers in college.
Nevertheless, darts is a larger project. Because in the offense of Ole Miss he worked with a lot of open and clear reads. This has noticeably affected his anticipation as a passer that is still underdeveloped, and that will take time in the NFL. The constant loosening of covered reads is also not a strength, darts often stick to a read and then tries to force a pass.
His accuracy is sometimes somewhat inconsistent, its throwing movement outside the RPOs has to become even faster and more precise.
Dart is a comparatively raw prospect, in which the offense in which it played, the forecast towards NFL also makes it even more difficult. He will need time, and I didn’t see him time – compared to Milroe, for example. This combination makes day 2 at least more likely.
Tyler Shough: An unusual quarterback profile
Tyler Shough has been getting legitimate Tag-2 hype for a while, and at least in some parts of his profile it is understandable why.
Shough brings a prototypical pocket passer frame, just like a good arm. Its release is fast, the arm has enough power to quickly go vertically even without an expansive throwing movement, just like for the Far Hash Out Route. His movement in the pocket looks routinely and quickly, without wasted movements, the feet and the eyes work synchronously, so that it is quickly in throwing movement.
Shough plays the position with more overview than some of the other quarterbacks in this class – but it is also significantly older: Shough will be 26 years old during his coming rookie season. His college career began in 2018 at Oregon when backup behind Justin Herbert. He was in the same recruiting class as Trevor Lawrence, two quarterbacks that have not only been drafted for a long time, but also signed their second NFL contract.
However, despite its age and despite his overall seven-year college career, at least when it comes to live snaps on the square in the game, Shough has no real advantage. At Oregon he was the second violin, after the transfer to Texas Tech, he suffered a broken collarbone (2021 and 2022) and a broken fabric (2023). The last season at Louisville was his first and only college season in which he thrown over 200 passes.
Shough definitely has gunslinger phases in his game, because he takes too much risk or also wants to force things under pressure. In general, he could sometimes take the open checkdown even more willing. At Underneath Crossern, he has the tendency to place the ball in his back slightly.
But if I had to pick one thing out that Shough has to work most, then it is his handling of interior pressure. Shough has the extremely critical tendency to drift back into the pocket before throwing the ball. That takes his base and gives his passports too much scatter.
So that he can become the Day-2 Quarterback with NFL starter chance that some see in it, he must definitely turn it off and learn to play reliably from a tight pocket. He has the frame and the physique for it.
Will Howard looks at an uncertain NFL future
Will Howard: How far do the college playoffs carry him?
Without the past college playoffs, we would probably not talk about Will Howard. Because he had his best games there, and this can be interpreted in both directions: Is it positive that he had his best games on the largest stage? Or is it negative that its best games represent a comparatively small sample size?
At least in parts you can explain that. After the 2022 season, Ohio State was looking for a successor to CJ Stroud and ended up with Kyle McCord at Howard after a year. Howard came as a transfer from Kansas State before last season, quite possible that the first games still had to serve as a start -up phase.
Howard, like Shough, has Pocket-Passer-Gardemasse, is much more secure in the pocket. Here he is quick, precise, and surprisingly agile for a large quarterback. He knows how to manipulate defenders with his eyes and, like Trevor Lawrence, Howard has a quick release despite his size and despite the long arms, which opens up opportunities in Quick Game.
His deep ball is good, it also hits difficult windows that require a certain arm strength. At the same time, Howard has a tendency to “push” balls instead of throwing them with strong spin. His accuracy can suffer from this. In terms of progression and post-snap reads, he didn’t have to do too much at Ohio State to put up with very good numbers in view of the talent around him. And while he can make a few plays as runner and the arm is good enough, the potential is limited in both aspects.
Nevertheless, Howard is also a TAG-2 quarters back that could be a starter at the next level in the right situation.
Is a good Tag 2 class really good?
All of this makes this quarterback class a contradiction. It is definitely not a strong class, but even speaking of a strong Tag 2 group-what does that mean? How many quarterbacks picked on day 2 have starter over a longer period of time?
Jalen Hurts (2020) definitely, otherwise you have to go back by 2014 when Derek Carr and Jimmy Garoppolo were each drafted in the second round.
Quarterback to draft is a difficult matter, the hit rate is manageable. But three Tag-2 starters in eleven years (22 Tag-2-QB picks during this period) is a very modest quota even against this background.
So what does it really tell us if you describe this year’s class as a strong Tag 2 group? In any case, praise is not in this sense, but you can draw positive conclusions from it. Because while each of these quarterback prospects has clear weaknesses-otherwise they would be rounded off-at the same time everyone has qualities in various respects that would justify a top 100 pick.
The big advantage for quarterbacks that are picked on day 2 is this: In contrast to rounds of quarters backproof, no one can expect it to start directly. Teams that draft a quarterback in the second or even third round usually have at least a short -term starter, so that the rookie has time. This can be an immense advantage to get used to the NFL; Not only for a player like Milroe, with whom it is completely inevitable that he will be further developed before he can start.
Perhaps the “good Tag 2 Quarterback class” ultimately turns out to be a success. There are undoubtedly enough teams who urgently need a young hope in the position.