Carson Beck

QB Carson Beck Withdraws Draft Declaration, Will Transfer To Miami

January 10th, 2025 at 11:00pm CST by Ely Allen

The NFL draft stock of former Georgia quarterback Carson Beck has been a rollercoaster ride in the last few years. From initially projecting as a first-round pick to falling out of the first round, Beck’s downwards trajectory didn’t prevent him from declaring for the 2025 NFL Draft. Beck would then make headlines after making a decision to try and change that trajectory.

Beck made news yesterday when he announced that he would withdraw his draft declaration and enter the transfer portal. The rumor mill was abuzz with links to Coral Gables, where Beck’s girlfriend and social media influencer, Hanna Cavinder, plays basketball for the Hurricanes. Those short-lived rumors turned into reality when Beck tweeted out his commitment to transfer to Miami today.

Beck won two national championship rings in Athens while backing up Stetson Bennett. In 2023, Beck took over as the starter for the Bulldogs and led the SEC with 3,941 passing yards, good for third in the nation, while throwing 24 touchdowns to only six interceptions. We’ve heard recent rumors that, should Beck have declared after that first season, he would’ve been among the six other quarterbacks drafted in the first round last year.

Instead, Beck returned to Athens, where he once again racked up strong passing yardage (3,485) and threw for 28 touchdowns but doubled his interception total from his previous year as a starter. Beck also suffered a UCL injury in the team’s SEC Championship victory over Texas that required surgery and would keep him from participating in most, if not all, pre-draft activities. Still, on December 28, Beck declared for the draft, forgoing the additional year of eligibility granted to him because of COVID-19.

A disappointing redshirt senior season combined with the season-ending elbow injury caused Beck to reconsider his intentions to go to the NFL, causing him to rescind his name from consideration for the draft. Beck immediately became the No. 2 player in ESPN’s transfer rankings, according to ESPN’s Pete Thamel and Max Olson, before coming off the board and announcing his commitment to Mario Cristobal and the Hurricanes.

While this does make him a non-factor in the 2025 NFL Draft, it certainly makes things interesting for the 2026 NFL Draft. With Beck committing to transfer to Miami after declaring for the draft, his path to the pros is currently mirroring that of 2025’s projected QB1, Cam Ward, who similarly transferred to Miami from Washington State after initially declaring for the 2024 NFL Draft. Ward went 10-3 with the Canes finishing second in the nation in passing yards and leading the nation in passing touchdowns while only throwing seven interceptions this past year.

Beck will hope to garner a similar career boost by following Ward’s route through Coral Gables to the NFL. While three of Miami’s top four receivers (Xavier Restrepo, Jacolby George, and Sam Brown) and their top tight end (Elijah Arroyo) have all declared for the draft and the fourth top receiver (Isaiah Horton) is transferring to Alabama, Beck’s commitment is expected to draw interest from transfer portal receivers. The Hurricanes are planning to reload their offense from the transfer portal with the intent of putting out two first-round quarterbacks into the NFL in a row, should Beck be up to the challenge.

2025 QB Class Generating More Skepticism

December 31st, 2024 at 9:58pm CST by Ely Allen

As the NFL regular season comes to a close and college prospects are making their final amateur appearances, focus for many NFL teams is shifting to the 2025 NFL Draft. While many sources seem to have narrowed the field of potential first-round quarterbacks to two players, there are reportedly some scouts who believe taking any quarterback on Day 1 “would be a mistake,” per Dane Brugler of The Athletic.

According to a post from Brugler, an AFC scout commented on the matter, saying, “Man, I feel bad for the teams trying to find one (quarterback) in this group.”

There are two obvious options for teams currently looking at a first-round quarterback: Miami’s Cam Ward and Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders. After Ward and Sanders, there’s a big perceived dropoff in quarterback talent in this year’s draft class with other prospects like Alabama’s Jalen Milroe, Texas’ Quinn Ewers, and Ole Miss’ Jaxson Dart all being projected as Day 2 or 3 picks. Georgia passer Carson Beck, who recently declared for the draft, forgoing one final year of eligibility (granted because of COVID-19), was at one point viewed as a first-round option, but after a disappointing redshirt season and UCL surgery, his draft stock took a considerable hit.

As for Ward and Sanders, it’s hard to imagine a world in which neither prospect hears their name called on the first night of the draft. The Giants sent general manager Joe Schoen and director of player personnel Tim McDonnell to the Pop-Tarts Bowl to watch Ward play in the first half this past weekend. According to Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated, Raiders assistant general manager Champ Kelly was in attendance, as well. Schoen, along with scouts from his Giants and the Falcons, was also in attendance to watch Sanders take on the Utes about a month and a half ago.

The Giants (currently set to pick fourth overall) are one of six teams inside the projected top-10 picks of the draft with an interest in adding a quarterback. The Titans (No. 2), Browns (No. 3), Panthers (No. 6), Jets (No. 7), and Raiders (No. 8) have all been viewed as possibilities to go after a first-round passer, as well.

The need to fill such a crucial role as quarterback has a tendency to inflate some prospects’ draft stocks. In the 2024 NFL Draft, Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels, and according to some sources, Drake Maye were all viewed as the likely first-round passers for most of the draft process. As the draft drew nearer and it became more obvious that some teams would need additional help at quarterback, prospects like Michael Penix, J.J. McCarthy, and Bo Nix all found their draft stock being bumped from Day 2 or 3 to Day 1.

Because this phenomenon is likely to take effect once again this year, even if Ward and Sanders were not considered first-round options — which, to be clear, many scouts do view them to be — they would still likely find themselves on stage at Lambeau Field on April 24. In order to simulate this effect, some have claimed that this year’s versions of Ward and Sanders would’ve ranked as QB4 and QB5, in any order, in last year’s quarterback crop, placing them firmly in the top ten draft picks for that class, as well. In fact, the often-desperate need for young quarterback talent may even bring players like Beck, Milroe, or Dart back into first-round consideration with Ward and Sanders.

There’s still plenty of time until we arrive at Day 1 of the draft. Between now and then, we will see College Football Playoff performances, the NFL Scouting Combine, and pro days around the country. Many quarterbacks and other prospects will see their draft stock rise and fall throughout the next few months. At this point, though, Ward and Sanders seem to have cemented themselves as top five picks, regardless of what some scouts believe their value to be.

NFL Injury Updates: Fashanu, Dolphins, Beck

December 24th, 2024 at 9:48am CST by Ely Allen

The Jets will be without rookie swing tackle Olu Fashanu for the remainder of the season, per ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler. The 2024 first-round pick suffered a foot injury in Sunday’s loss to the Rams and was taken on a cart directly to the locker room, forgoing the blue medical tent. According to Ryan Dunleavy of New York Post Sports, Fashanu was seen on crutches after the game as his camp declined interviews.

Fashanu was taken with the Jets’ first overall pick last year, following a trade one spot back so that Minnesota could take Michigan quarterback J.J. McCarthy. He was the third offensive tackle taken in the draft, behind Notre Dame’s Joe Alt and Alabama’s JC Latham, both of whom have been full-time starters for the Chargers and Titans, respectively, as rookies.

Fashanu was drafted to be an offensive tackle for the future in New York after the team signed two 33-year-old veteran tackles in free agency. It didn’t take long for the future to come as injuries to the Jets’ aging bookends opened the door to playing time for Fashanu. A knee injury to Morgan Moses in Weeks 4 and 5 allowed Fashanu to make his first two starts at right tackle after playing mostly special teams in his first three games. Then, in Week 11, left tackle Tyron Smith was placed on injured reserve with a neck injury, and Fashanu has started on the blindside ever since.

The 22-year-old still has some developing to do, he ranked 61st of 79 graded offensive tackles this season, according to Pro Football Focus (subscription required), but the starting experience was good for him to get. New York doesn’t have a third left tackle listed on their depth chart, but depth right tackle Max Mitchell, a fourth-round pick from two years ago, filled in for Fashanu after the injury. Mitchell had 12 starts in 20 appearances over his first two years and will likely earn his first start of this season next week.

Here are a few other injury updates from the NFL world:

The Dolphins have had to get creative at long snapper this season, employing Zach Triner, Matt Overton, and Jake McQuaide at different points of the season in the absence of Blake Ferguson. Ferguson, the team’s primary long snapper since 2020, played in the first five games of the season before being placed on the reserve/non-football injury list in October. The team has released no information on what’s going on with Ferguson, and special teams coordinator Danny Crossman claimed it would be “illegal” to reveal what he’s going through, per Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald. Whatever it is, Crossman says he hopes it will put Ferguson’s mind at rest that he will not be snapping for the remainder of the season. McQuaide, signed to the practice squad eight days ago and the active roster a day later, will be filling in for the remainder of the year.
Additionally in Miami, head coach Mike McDaniel said that wide receiver Grant DuBose is “in good spirits” following the head injury that hospitalized him in the team’s Week 15 trip to Houston, per ESPN’s Marcel Louis-Jacques. DuBose was placed on IR two days later, but McDaniel confirmed that he would not be playing again this year.
This isn’t quite yet injury news for the NFL, though it will affect the subject’s stock in the 2025 NFL Draft. Georgia quarterback Carson Beck underwent successful surgery on his UCL yesterday. According to Field Yates at ESPN, he is expected to begin throwing again in the spring, which makes it sound as if he’ll miss most, if not all, pre-draft activities.

2025 NFL Draft Rumors: Sanders, Beck, Campbell

December 20th, 2024 at 8:29pm CST by Ely Allen

The 2025 NFL Draft is fast approaching as the college football season comes to an end and the pre-draft process begins. Colorado quarterback Shedeur Sanders has likely solidified himself as a first-round pick — even a top-five draft pick — but according to Jeff Howe of The Athletic, he isn’t currently projected to be the first quarterback off the board.

Per Howe, that honor currently belongs to Miami Hurricanes journeyman passer Cam Ward. Both had impressive seasons; Ward finished the year second in the nation with 4,123 passing yards while leading college football with 36 passing touchdowns to only seven interceptions, while Sanders was third in passing yards (3,926) and just a step behind Ward in touchdowns (35) and interceptions (8). Both received Heisman-buzz — an award Sanders’ teammate, Travis Hunter, won — but Ward was a finalist, finishing fourth in voting, while Sanders finished eighth in voting.

In order to overcome Ward as QB1 of the class, Howe posits that “Sanders will need to nail the interview process.” Both players have committed to participating in their respective bowl games, and it doesn’t appear that either will gain or lose much ground through the Scouting Combine or their respective pro days, having already had their play thoroughly evaluated throughout the season. If Sanders can establish in the interview process that he can be a stand-alone leader without his father on the coaching staff, he may be able to edge out Ward.

Here are a few other draft rumors in the aftermath of college football’s regular season:

After Ward and Sanders, there’s a big perceived dropoff in quarterback talent in this year’s draft class with other prospects like Alabama’s Jalen Milroe, Texas’ Quinn Ewers, and Ole Miss’ Jaxson Dart all being projected as Day 2 or 3 picks. While Georgia passer Carson Beck is also projected to fall past the first round, that wasn’t the case last year, per Albert Breer of Sports Illustrated. Breer claims that scouts gave him the impression that Beck had a chance to be among the six other quarterbacks who were drafted in the first round of last year’s draft. Instead, Beck stayed in Athens, in hopes of perhaps bettering his chances and draft slot. A year later, three separate three-interception performances and an otherwise disappointing redshirt senior season for Beck has plummeted his draft stock. The injury to his throwing arm in the SEC championship game has a chance to hurt that draft stock even more.
The 2025 draft class is projected to be disappointing in its depth at left tackle with no elite options sticking out at this point in the process. LSU tackle Will Campbell has received a good amount of buzz as the class’s best prospect at the position, but according to Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune, many believe Campbell is a bit overrated. Short arms and questions about his overall game have scouts doubting whether or not he can solidify the left tackle spot of an NFL team for the next five-plus years.

Colorado QB Shedeur Sanders Playing In Shrine Bowl

November 22nd, 2024 at 10:12pm CST by Ely Allen

It’s become clear that scouts only view two quarterbacks in this year’s draft class as elite prospects: Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders and Miami’s Cam Ward. While it’s almost certain that both players will be taking the next step to the NFL following this college football season, Sanders pretty much made it official this week by accepting an invite to play in the East-West Shrine Bowl this winter.

Sanders has been one of two leaders on an electric Buffalos team that is still in the running for the Big 12 championship and a spot in the College Football Playoff. Sanders ranks sixth in the FBS with 322.2 passing yards per game and is tied for second with 27 passing touchdowns, adding four scores on the ground. He has a chance to end the season with a bang by rattling off some wins here to close out 2024 and continue elevating his stock in the 2025 NFL Draft.

Ward is right up there with Sanders. He leads the FBS in both passing yards (3,409) and passing touchdowns (32) and has four additional scrimmage touchdowns of his own (three on the ground and one receiving). He’s led the Hurricanes to a 9-1 record through 10 games, and like Colorado, Miami is in position to appear in their conference title game and secure a spot in the 12-team playoff.

Past Sanders and Ward, though, experts view 2025’s quarterbacks class as relatively barren. In a discussion with Brock Huard of FOX Sports and Steve Serby of the New York Post, ESPN’s Matt Miller claimed that “it’s Shedeur 1…Cam 2, and then…there’s a bit of a gap between (them and) the next crop of quarterbacks,” including guys like Carson Beck of Georgia, Quinn Ewers of Texas, and Jaxson Dart of Ole Miss.

Miller sees Sanders and Ward as the only two likely first-round picks in the class of passers. He projects Beck, Ewers, Penn State’s Drew Allar, Alabama’s Jalen Milroe, and LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier as potential mid- to late-round projects but goes so far as to suggest that Milroe and Nussmeier should return for another year of development in the SEC.

Even though Sanders and Ward are seen as clear favorites and leaders of this class, Miller speculated where the two would fall in last year’s draft class in a discussion with another NYP writer, Ryan Dunleavy. Miller claimed that, despite Sander’s “surgical” accuracy and Ward’s “ability to dial up velocity like crazy,” both would fall lower than four of the first five quarterbacks taken last year in his rankings, Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels, Drake Maye, and J.J. McCarthy. He believes they compare more favorably with the other two first-round passers taken last year, Michael Penix and Bo Nix.

Just because he views Sanders and Ward more in the realm of Penix and Nix, that doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll be drafted in the 8-12 range like those two were. Teams in need of a new, young passer don’t have the luxury to wait around that long and hope that no one trades ahead or takes a flyer on their future franchise arm. A QB-need tends to make NFL teams antsy, often forcing them to overvalue a passer past their actual worth.

There’s plenty left to be seen through the remainder of the college season, conference championships, and the College Football Playoff. Following all that will be prospect games, like the Senior Bowl and East-West Shrine Bowl, the NFL Scouting Combine, and each school’s pro day. Who knows? Maybe we’ll even see Sanders for the West suiting up against Ward for the East in Frisco, TX, this winter for the Shrine Bowl. Until then, both quarterbacks still have a lot to prove in order to hear their names called early on the first night of the draft next April.

Interest In 2026-27 QB Prospects Outshining 2025 NFL Draft

November 15th, 2024 at 8:09pm CST by Ely Allen

There will inevitably be some teams at the end of the 2024 NFL season that will be aching for a new quarterback for 2025. Rumors abound concerning the job security of Daniel Jones in New York, no one seems to be taking firm control of the starting job in Las Vegas, and uncertainty surrounds the recent investments in the position made in Indianapolis, Cleveland, Carolina, and Tennessee. The 2025 NFL Draft class may not offer enough answers for all these teams, so many are doing their research on the next couple of draft classes.

That doesn’t mean there are no options in 2025. Two passers seem to top the list for the upcoming draft: Colorado’s Shedeur Sanders and Miami’s Cam Ward. Sanders and his father (head coach and NFL legend Deion Sanders) have worked hard over the past two seasons to put the Buffaloes on track for a berth in the Big 12 title game and a chance at the first-ever 12-team College Football Playoff. Not quite elite with his arm or his legs, Sanders succeeds on technique utilizing good timing and ball placement to lead his offense. Having only played under his father in college, scouts have concerns about Sanders’ maturity and leadership abilities.

Ward, who formerly declared for the 2024 NFL Draft before withdrawing to transfer from Washington State to Coral Gables, has earned his place in the first-round conversation. Starting as a zero-star recruit at Incarnate Ward at the FCS level, Ward found a home in Pullman before joining the Hurricanes. The 22-year-old has led the Canes to a 9-1 record, throwing for 348 yards and three touchdowns in the team’s only loss. His composure in the pocket and elite arm talent make him an enticing prospect but can lead him into making some questionable decisions. He’s an obvious contender for the Heisman trophy, but his draft stock is still far from solidified.

Behind Sanders and Ward, there’s a pretty significant drop off to players like LSU’s Garrett Nussmeier, Alabama’s Jalen Milroe, Georgia’s Carson Beck, and Penn State’s Drew Allar. All four players hold mid-round intrigue, but there’s plenty of time for any of them to work their way into the first-round conversations late like we saw Michael Penix Jr. and Bo Nix do last year.

While a couple teams will be in a position to take a quarterback early in the 2025 draft, and some may decide that Sanders or Ward are a fit for their organization, others are already doing their homework on the next few classes of college passers. Two redshirt freshmen and one true freshman have scouts licking their chops before they’ve even reached draft eligibility.

In Austin, redshirt freshman Arch Manning has been quietly building a ton of anticipation from the bench. The grandson of former Saints quarterback Archie Manning and son of Peyton and Eli’s brother Cooper, Manning has waited patiently behind the Longhorns’ starting passer Quinn Ewers. Seeing time in six games in relief of Ewers in 2024, Manning has shined in spurts for Texas.

Another NFL legacy player, Dylan Raiola — son of long-time Lions center Dominic Raiola — started off his true freshman season for Nebraska hot before falling off in recent weeks. After drawing early comparisons to Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes (mostly visually), Raiola came on strong in his collegiate start, throwing nine touchdowns to only two interceptions in his first five games. Since then, the Cornhuskers passer has cooled off quite a bit throwing only one touchdown to six picks.

Lastly, South Carolina has a redshirt freshman passer in LaNorris Sellers whose name is resounding in NFL scouting circles already. While his arm isn’t electric quite yet, Sellers has been effective en route to a 5-3 record as a starter. He also adds some dynamism with his legs averaging about 50 rushing yards per game on his way to four scores on the ground.

The talk for players like Manning, Raiola, and Sellers is obviously far too premature, as can be seen by Raiola’s midseason slump. The existence of such conversations, though, seems to underline the lack of excitement from the NFL in the 2025 draft class. Sanders and Ward are well on their way to hearing their names on the first night of the draft, but Nussmeier, Milroe, Beck, Allar, and others have some work ahead of them if they’re going to convince NFL squads to take a shot on them this offseason.