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USATSI

It is a strange time for Dynasty rankings, less than a month before the 2025 NFL Draft. The options for rankers are both bad. One is to rank the rookies at your best approximation of where they will rank after the Draft. The other is to wait until after the Draft to add rookies to the rankings. Because the combination of draft capital and landing spot plays an important part in my Dynasty rankings, I have chosen the latter approach, even if I find it dissatisfying.

To try to ease some of that dissatisfaction, I am doing something new this April. I am adding the top rookies at each position to my Dynasty Tiers. While this is still a bit of guesswork, tiers are by their nature easier to project so I have added Cam Ward, Shedeur Sanders, Jaxon Dart, Jalen Milroe, and Tyler Shough to the Dynasty Quarterback Tiers below. Those are my top five rookie quarterbacks, for now. That, and so much more could change in the coming month. For now, here are some brief thoughts on where each rookie QB lands in the tiers and how that could change:

Cam Ward - Tier 3

If I was going to place a bet on which rookie quarterback will be in the same tier next month as they are below, it would be Ward. I, like everyone else, expect he will be the first QB selected later this month, likely as the first overall pick in the Draft. Ward has the highest floor in this class and may have the highest ceiling as well. 

Shedeur Sanders - Tier 5

For now, I expect Sanders to be a top-five pick as the second QB off the board. I also expect he'll be drafted by a team that gives him a chance to start in Year 1. If that happens, this is where Sanders will be tiered, regardless of who drafts him. There is some risk that he's either not the second quarterback taken, or he falls out of the top 10, in that case, he could fall even further. I like Sanders' floor more than his ceiling, but I am not sure I like either one enough to believe that he might someday be a top 12 QB in Dynasty rankings.

Jaxon Dart - Tier 6
Jalen Milroe - Tier 6

Dart and Milroe feel like complete dart throws at this point, pardon the pun. They also highlight part of the reason I am so hesitant to add rookies to the mix before the draft. There are wide ranges of opinions as to where these guys may be drafted and if they will get a legitimate chance to be a QB1 in the NFL. That being said, I see more Fantasy upside with both than Sanders, and Milroe has a legitimate chance to skyrocket if he proves to be a better NFL passer than we are currently projecting. For now, I am expecting Round 2 for both, if that's wrong they will be adjusted accordingly.

Tyler Shough - Tier 9

As it stands right now, I see it as a pretty big drop from Dart and Milroe to Shough. If an NFL GM disagrees, he has a lot of upside and could move up quickly. Shough has been in college so long that he began his college career as a backup to Justin Herbert, and his age is not a positive when it comes to his evaluation. he does have a big arm and could thrive in the right situation if he's ever given that chance.

Here are my updated Dynasty Quarterback Tiers for early April: