Top ESPN Reporter Thinks Cam Ward Is Likely 2025 NFL Draft No. 1 Overall Pick

The Tennessee Titans have just under three months to wrap up their research into prospects for the 2025 NFL Draft, and Miami quarterback Cam Ward might currently be at the top of their wishlist.

According to ESPN’s Pete Thamel, there has been a “building sentiment” among scouts and executives at the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Alabama this week that the Miami quarterback is the likely pick at No. 1 overall.

The 2025 draft is unique for the Titans because there’s not a consensus No. 1 overall pick. There’s no Caleb Williams, Trevor Lawrence or Joe Burrow in this draft class—but that does not mean that any of these draft-eligible quarterbacks won’t be any good.

There’s even a divide between who will be the top signal-caller selected in Ward or Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders. While Ward and Sanders will compete to be the top QB selected, nobody has them as the top players in this class—as Penn State edge rusher Abdul Carter and Colorado Heisman winner Travis Hunter are higher-graded players.

But we know the quarterback position is the most important in sports, and that’s why Thamel’s sources are leaning towards the Titans making Ward the first player off the board in a few months.

Not to mention, this is a pretty underwhelming free agent quarterback class, and the Titans need any help they can get after the incompetence of Will Levis and Mason Rudolph helped tank Tennessee’s season, earning them the No. 1 overall pick in the first place.

Could the Titans overpay for Sam Darnold? Perhaps. They’ve been known to be big free agent spenders in the last few years. But outside of Darnold, this free agency period could have Aaron Rodgers, Kirk Cousins, Russell Wilson and Justin Fields as the best available options. None of those players are capable of quarterbacking the Titans to relevance any time soon.

The Titans have needs on both sides of the ball; there’s no denying that. If they opted to balk at quarterback this offseason, that would leave the Cleveland Browns with the No. 2 overall pick to have their choice of Ward or Sanders to replace the already-injured Deshaun Watson. The New York Giants have the No. 3 overall pick, and you guessed it, they need a QB as well.

Some would argue that if you’re the Titans, you are wasting your time unless you utilize the top selection in the draft to address your biggest position of need, which also happens to be the most important position on the field. Perhaps that’s why Thamel’s sources at the Senior Bowl are leaning towards Ward.

The calendar has just flipped to February, and we have not had the combine yet, but nobody seems to have any real inkling of how the top of this draft might unfold.