Rookie Fantasy Football Outlooks For First-Round Quarterbacks

April 25, 2025

Justin's rookie fantasy football outlook for the first-round quarterbacks in the 2025 NFL Draft. What's the fantasy value for Cam Ward and Jaxson Dart?

The first round of the NFL Draft has come and gone. It should be a surprise to no one that former Miami quarterback Cam Ward was the No. 1 overall pick, with the Titans landing the best quarterback in this year's draft class. This allows them to officially wave the white flag on the forgettable Will Levis era.

After Ward went off the board, it took a while for another quarterback to be drafted. At Pick 25, the Giants traded up with the Texans, ultimately selecting Ole Miss quarterback Jaxson Dart despite many clamoring for Colorado's Shedeur Sanders. Sanders ended up not being selected in Round 1.

Here's the rookie fantasy football outlook for each of the quarterbacks to be drafted in the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft.

Cam Ward - Tennessee Titans

I'll fully admit to being biased here, since Cam Ward is the best athlete to ever come out of my high school, but I firmly believe the Tennessee Titans have just acquired a franchise-altering talent. The AFC South battles between Ward's Titans and C.J. Stroud's Texans are going to be so much fun to watch for years to come.

With that said, Ward's Year 1 fantasy football outlook is a lot murkier than his long-term NFL outlook.

Part of that is because Ward still has a few things he needs to clean up at the next level, and the way he's going to do that is through game reps. The former Miami quarterback has a bit of a gunslinger mentality, so turnovers are likely to be a concern in 2025.

Ward attended a small high school in Texas, where he ran an offense that would look more at home in 1925 than in 2025: the Wing-T. Because of that, he wasn't asked to do the things a modern quarterback does. While he has the arm strength, accuracy, athleticism, and awareness to be a top-end NFL passer, he's also still smoothing out some of the wrinkles because it wasn't until he took the starting job at FCS program Incarnate Word as a freshman in 2021 that he had to start playing quarterback like...well, like a quarterback in 2021.

In 2021 I interviewed Cam Ward, QB of Incarnate Word. A humble kid who had not been heavily recruited out of high school.

“All the coaches who told me no, all the coaches who passed on me, it just made me work harder.”

#1 pick in the NFL draft 👏 pic.twitter.com/nvG2BuP3RD

— Vanessa Richardson (@SportsVanessa) April 25, 2025

So, what specifically makes Ward such an intriguing prospect?

For one, he seems to have the elusive "it" quality. Yes, that's hard to define, but watching Ward play football, you get a sense that he knows what he's doing out there. He's calm in the pocket and has an arm that can do everything.

Seriously, there's not a throw that Ward can't make. He has the touch needed to get the ball to the right player in the short and medium passing game, but also has the strength to drive it down the field. The latter can get him into some trouble when he goes a little too gunslinger, but that's a wrinkle that can be ironed out.

Ward's also an above-average athlete. He's not Lamar Jackson or Jalen Milroe when forced out of the pocket, but he keeps his composure and can throw accurately on the run or scramble up the field for a big play.

🚨 With the 1st pick, the Tennesse Titans select Quarterback Cam Ward out of Miami.

Will start right away and has firepower—Ridley, Chig, Pollard, Spears and now Lockett.. The o-line stinks (for now), but should be better in 2025. He’s still a sneaky Top-20 QB fantasy threat as… pic.twitter.com/Ok0cS2bkg1

— Fantasy Guides (@fantasy_guides) April 25, 2025

Ward will find himself on a Titans team that should — keyword "should" — be much better than it was in 2024, at least offensively. The team scored the sixth-fewest points last year, but it's hard to score consistently when your quarterbacks are Levis and Mason Rudolph.

The Titans invested a decent bit on the offensive side of the ball this offseason. One of the most notable additions came on Wednesday, when the team signed veteran wide receiver Tyler Lockett, who instantly will be a major upgrade out of the slot.

Tennessee also grabbed one of the best guards on the market, Kevin Zeitler, to help protect Ward. The team allowed the fifth-most sacks last season, but adding Zeitler — PFF's No. 4 guard among free agents — and tackle Dan Moore Jr. — PFF's No. 5 offensive tackle — should shore up those holes.

Heading into his rookie season, Cam Ward should be viewed as a high-upside fantasy QB2. The talent is there for him to finish as a fantasy QB1, but turnovers could prove to be a costly issue.

The Titans have improved the offense this offseason, but ideally, you'd love to see a true No. 1 receiver join Ward next offseason. Calvin Ridley's good, but Ward's fantasy ceiling will rise if he gets a go-to top guy to pair with Ridley in the future. Until then, he's someone you want on your fantasy roster but who will be matchup-dependent when it comes to whether or not you start him in any given week.

Jaxson Dart - New York Giants

For much of the early draft process, it looked like we could be heading for a situation where the top two quarterbacks in this class went one-two or at least both in the top five, but as things went along, it became clear that NFL talent evaluators saw a stark difference between Cam Ward and Sanders.

But Sanders didn't even end up being the second quarterback off the board. That role went to Ole Miss quarterback Dart, whom the Giants traded up for at Pick 25.

While the decision to trade up for a quarterback shows that the Giants think Dart is their quarterback of the future, that doesn't mean he'll be the team's quarterback right now.

New York looks set to begin 2025 with Russell Wilson under center:

After first-round selection of Jaxson Dart, Giants coach Brian Daboll clarifies plan at QB: Russell Wilson "will be our starter, and that's how it will be once we get started here in the spring"https://t.co/ycO2Ab5mm1 pic.twitter.com/tYKAstVVtJ

— Around The NFL (@AroundTheNFL) April 25, 2025

Now, could that be coachspeak? Sure. I would imagine that if Dart soundly outplays Wilson every step of the way between now and the start of the 2025 season, head coach Brian Daboll will have to make some tough decisions.

But Daboll's also trying to save his job here. There's arguably no head coach with a hotter seat at the moment, so Daboll's goal is to win games and not get fired. Wilson is a safer bet to do that than Dart. We know Wilson's not going to lead New York to a title, but at the moment, he's the best chance to lead the team to the postseason.

That's bad news for Dart and for fantasy managers who were hoping he landed somewhere where he could immediately slide into the starting role — Pittsburgh or New Orleans, for example, would have been great fantasy landing spots for Dart.

It's a shame, because there's a lot to really like about Dart's game.

The former Ole Miss quarterback has a quick release to get the ball out fast, and he's able to pick apart defenses when given time in the pocket. He'll need to clean up his game when pressured, especially if his first read isn't open, but he's an accurate passer who can get the ball where it needs to go.

As far as his athleticism, it's there. The defense isn't going to sit around with a spy on him at all times in fear that he'll gash them on the ground, but he can escape the pocket and extend plays.

Dart has mechanical things to clean up, but the talent is there for him to be a good NFL quarterback. Maybe not a top 10 guy, but theoretically, you can win with Dart the same way the Ravens won with a prime Joe Flacco: by building a very good roster around him.

Jaxson Dart gets a chance to develop in the Big Apple 🍎

(via @andybehrens) pic.twitter.com/8m4inKEuH5

— Yahoo Fantasy Sports (@YahooFantasy) April 25, 2025

None of this really matters for 2025, though. Because Wilson is expected to open the year as the team's starting quarterback, Dart should be off your fantasy radar in re-draft leagues. If he does take over the starting job at some point, you can view him as a low-end QB2 with upside.

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