"You make those excuses for him" - ESPN analyst gives Cam Ward backhanded compliment amid Shedeur Sanders' falling draft stock

ESPN NFL draft analyst Matt Miller gave University of Miami quarterback Cam Ward a backhanded compliment in his recent appearance on ‘The Dan Patrick Show’. He explained that because of Ward’s incredible arm strength and potential, teams are more likely to look past some of his flaws.

Miller explained that both Ward and Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders have bad tendencies in their tape, but Ward gets away with it because of his superior physical traits.

“Both quarterbacks Sanders and Ward, they have some bad habits that are going to need to be coached out of them.” [03:38]

“Cam Ward, he stands in the pocket way too long, he takes a lot of sacks he doesn't need to, he very often waits for the open man. But he's got a strong arm, so you kind of make those excuses for him.”

Miller added that both players will need to be coached to adapt to the NFL style of rhythm quarterback play.

“I think both guys are going to need to be coached pretty hard when they get to the NFL just to learn to play on time. Both guys have a little bit of that Caleb Williams mentality where they think they can stand back there and drift and drift and wait for somebody to pop open and then they'll throw it.” [03:59]

Prevailing sentiment from the NFL Scouting Combine is that Cam Ward is quarterback #1

Matt Miller also echoed a sentiment that a lot of media analysts got coming out of the NFL Scouting Combine: Cam Ward is firmly entrenched as quarterback number 1 in this year’s NFL draft.

Miller said:

“You could easily say this year there is a consensus number one quarterback, which is rare, that doesn't often happen.” [01:14]

However, he added that if Ward was in last year’s draft, he would be the seventh-ranked quarterback behind Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels, Drake Maye, J.J. McCarthy, Michael Penix Jr and Bo Nix.

He was even less enthusiastic about Sanders. In his conversations, he did not find any team that expressed a deep desire to draft Shedeur Sanders.

“Talking to as many scouts and coaches and general managers as I do this time of year, a lot of people want to like Shedeur Sanders. I don't get the feeling that teams do like they do Cam Ward. There’s a sizable gap right now.” [00:57]

Miller had even more damning news for Sanders. In his rankings of the top quarterbacks of the past five years drafted in the first round, Sanders was second-to-last, only ahead of former Pittsburgh Steelers draftee Kenny Pickett.