Not every quarterback is participating in on-field drills at the NFL combine, but a few of those who did really stood out.
Mississippi gunslinger Jaxson Dart and Texas’ Quinn Ewers were among the top-ranked quarterbacks who did participate in Saturday’s on-field drills.
Top quarterback prospects Cam Ward (Miami FL) and Shedeur Sanders (Colorado) both opted out of throwing in Indianapolis; they’ll both wait for their respective pro days to work out. As a result, the other quarterback invitees had a chance to step up and boost their draft stock as top participants at the combine.
Here’s who performed the best out of the quarterbacks that chose to work out in Indianapolis:
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2025 NFL combine: Top five quarterback rankings
Of the quarterbacks who threw in Indianapolis on Saturday, there were five who stood out in particular. Here’s how the top five quarterbacks at the NFL combine shake out, using only their performance Saturday to evaluate each of them:
1. Brady Cook, Missouri
Cook’s performance was an especially impressive feat considering he was largely throwing to receivers he hadn’t thrown to before. In addition, the Missouri product managed to stand out in a quarterback group that also included Mississippi’s Jaxson Dart and Texas’ Quinn Ewers.
What was also notable about Cook’s combine outing was his performance in the athletic testing. Not only did the Missouri product choose to participate in the vertical leap, broad jump and 40-yard dash, he was also the leader of all quarterbacks by a wide margin – albeit in an admittedly small sample size.
2. Jaxson Dart, Mississippi
Dart did just about everything he needed to in order to keep himself in the argument for QB2 in the 2025 NFL draft class. Like Cook, he looked accurate in his passing to receivers he has not worked with, showing off his touch and anticipation throughout his on-field drills.
All that kept Dart from the top spot on this list was some shakiness in his deep passes. While his accuracy looked good at longer ranges, the Mississippi product’s mechanics broke down a bit when trying to push the ball further downfield. If Dart can maintain a better lower half and base in throwing those deeper balls, his future as an NFL starting quarterback will become clearer.
3. Tyler Shough, Louisville
The 25-year-old from Louisville still did have some bad misses at points during Saturday’s drills, and the NFL Network commentary crew noted that Shough appeared to be ‘doing too much.’ There was at least one occasion in which he pretended to shake off a pass-rusher and unleashed a poor throw after a shoulder shimmy. In a drill that is intended to show off a quarterback’s skills without a defense to read or contend with, it’s hard to disagree with NFL Network’s analysis.
4. Quinn Ewers, Texas
The strongest parts of Ewers’ outing in on-field drills on Saturday were his solid mechanics and impressive accuracy. The Texas product was hitting receivers on all levels of the field with nice ball placement the first half of his throws, and he was really able to show off his nice footwork and lower-body mechanics with no pass rush to worry about.
Ewers wasn’t quite as strong as Dart was when he had to throw to his right side and on some of the deeper throws on ‘go’ routes. The 2024 second-team All-SEC quarterback missed some easy throws on comeback routes to his right side and didn’t show off much of the requisite anticipation on those routes. When it came time to throw deep, Ewers had some bad underthrows that took away from an otherwise solid performance.
5. Kyle McCord, Syracuse
McCord was able to stand out in a second group of throwers that was a bit more lackluster than the first. The former Ohio State quarterback was solid in his ball placement on throws to either sideline. In addition, he had some deep throws that were among the best of any of the quarterbacks that threw on Saturday, though he also had some underthrows that required adjustments from receivers.
Where McCord didn’t shine quite as brightly was in his anticipation. The Syracuse product frequently was late on his throws, waiting for his receivers to get out of their breaks before starting his throw. Though that could partly be attributed to his lack of work with those receivers, it was a notable part of his performance that was lacking compared to other quarterbacks – who also haven’t worked with all of the receivers – that threw Saturday.