Scouting Profile: Cam Ward - QB - Miami (FL)
Sales Pitch: Playmaking QB with the arm strength and mental makeup to be highlight machine. Questionable decision making and a high variance play style won’t be for everyone but the tools are legit.
*Gold Numbers Indicate NCAA T-25 for 2024*
Scouting Report
Cam Ward was a lightly recruited prospect from the state of Texas where he was a triple option quarterback in high school. He began his career at FCS Incarnate Ward, then spent two years at Washington State before finishing up his career at Miami. Ward leaves college football as the all time Division 1 touchdown leader and plenty of accolades to his name, including the Davey O’Brien Award, 2024 ACC Player of the Year and a 4th place finish in the Heisman Trophy Voting.
Ward is a plus athlete with a thick compact frame and excellent contact balance. Over the past few years he has made a name for himself as one of the most exciting players in college football given his penchant for highlight throws out of structure. Ward thrives playing backyard football due to his excellent spatial awareness and ability to make throws off difficult platforms. He has a strong arm with the ability to push the ball into tight windows down the field while on the move. He is extremely creative when it comes to finding targets down field as a scrambler and has the quickness to move the chains as a runner. Ward shows unique poise when plays breakdown, a trait that also made him a big moment star in 2024 where he was rarely phased by adversity and engineered multiple big comebacks. As a dropback passer Ward’s best throws come attacking down the field and outside the numbers. He shows touch and accuracy when asked to drop balls over underneath defenders on deep crossers and into holes on the sideline. His 3/4 style release allows him to be flexible with release points and vital part of operating Miami’s RPO style offense.
Ward was a highlight machine as a college quarterback but lived in a high variance world that wasn’t always consistent. Like most smaller QB’s - Ward is generously listed at 6’ 2” - he prefers to operate as a passer outside the pocket. He is not comfortable standing and climbing muddy pockets, and defenses that take away his escape lanes can force him into bad choices. He struggles to accurately deliver balls over the middle on concepts that require timing and anticipation. Ward made big steps as a dropback passer in 2024 but remains inconsistent at working through full progressions. He often works through his primary and secondary reads quickly before defaulting to creation mode. Any sort of pressure speeds that process up and quickly forces him off his spot. Ward’s high variance play style also led to a large amount of dangerous throws. The traits that make him special as a playmaker are a double edged sword as he frequently throw ill-advised throws into traffic in search of splash plays. He will need to improve his processing and decision making as a passer at the next level, as he will not be a good enough athlete at the NFL level to solely rely on out of structure playmaking alone.
Cam Ward profiles best in an RPO heavy offense that utilizes his mobility and asks him to push the ball vertically. His playmaking ability and arm talent give him an intriguing ceiling but he must improve as a pure passer to be a consistent starter at the next level. Ward projects as a low-end starter early in his career with the upside to be a Pro Bowler caliber quarterback. He would be best served to sit his first year and learn but a weak draft class might accelerate his timeline given a need for QBs at the top.
Feel as if Kyler Murray is an unfortunate comp for Ward since no one has Kyler Murray-level evasion and creativity when the play breaks down. Hopefully Ward can find a bit more success with the deep ball than Kyler.