After transferring to Ohio State from Kansas State, can quarterback Will Howard make himself known in the 2025 NFL Draft cycle with his scouting report?
Howard’s path has been anything but linear, but he’s worked his way to a point where he has a chance.
Will Howard’s Draft Profile and Measurements
- Height: 6’4″
- Weight: 237 pounds
- Position: Quarterback
- School: Ohio State
- Current Year: Redshirt Senior
It’s not often that you see a three-star recruit from Downington, Penn., start the majority of his true freshman season at a major Power Five program. But Howard broke tendencies with his journey onto the field in 2020.
Howard worked his way into the backup role before the 2020 season, and an injury suffered by Skylar Thompson moved Howard into the starting lineup. His early results were up-and-down, but he got valuable experience that helped him rebound later on.
In 2022, after Thompson’s departure, Howard competed for the starting job with Adrian Martinez. Although Martinez had the job to start the season, an injury again thrust Howard into the spotlight. This time, he was ready.
In just seven games and five starts in 2022, Howard threw for 1,633 yards, 15 touchdowns, and just four picks. He helped lead the Wildcats to the Big 12 Championship game and win the Big 12 title over the TCU Horned Frogs, and he would later suit up in the 2022 Sugar Bowl against Alabama.
In 2023, Howard started a career-high 10 games, completing 219 of 357 attempts (61.3%) for 2,643 yards, 24 TDs, and 10 interceptions, while also running for 351 yards and nine additional scores.
Now, with one year of eligibility remaining, Howard has transferred to Ohio State. There, he joins a star-studded offensive cast that includes Emeka Egbuka, Jeremiah Smith, Quinshon Judkins, and TreVeyon Henderson.
The hope is Ohio State will compete for a championship in 2024, but Howard himself also has one final chance to elevate his draft stock. He worked his way through adversity at Kansas State, and he’s leveraged that resiliency into a second chance.
Howard’s Scouting Report
Strengths
- Sturdy, durable presence at QB with elite size and weight.
- Has decent arm strength and baseline velocity in the short and intermediate ranges.
- Flashes good velocity and drive when he’s able to fully torque and roll his hips forward.
- Able to adjust his arm angle and skew his launch angles to elongate throwing windows.
- Shows off good mobility for size, with the necessary burst to evade and execute options.
- Can work right-to-left in his progressions and do so while managing space in the pocket.
- Stays in phase while navigating and has good upper-lower synergy managing space.
- Composed pocket operator with good depth discipline, pressure sense, and spatial IQ.
- Has solid awareness, malleability, and discretion under pressure, adapting off-script.
- Feet effectively lead eyes when surveying the field, allowing him to recalibrate on reads.
- Has shown he can anticipate breaks and placement, throwing WRs open to a spot.
- Can work from the front to back side of Seattle concepts and identify seam receivers.
- Has the ability to layer pace and touch on throws and employ situational placement.
- Able to stay on schedule, but also has the propensity to take calculated risks.
- Has good toughness as a runner and can use his size to finish through solo tackles.
Weaknesses
- Visibly lacks elite top-end velocity, and isn’t always able to drive deep passes.
- Doesn’t have great change of direction or hip flexibility in the pocket, inhibiting evasion.
- Relatively arm-dominant thrower who can plant his feet too early and drift too tall.
- Upward shoulder tilt can result in high misses to the intermediate and deep ranges.
- Has room to better channel lower body rotation to supplement velocity on throws.
- Sometimes gets frantic feet and drops eyes when rushers close in from multiple angles.
- Can exhibit a heel click when stepping up, which locks out rotation and snags shoulders.
- Can improve situational precision, and, at times, has trouble leading WRs out of breaks.
- Sometimes has trouble adapting off schemed quick-game throws when nothing is there.
- At times forces ill-advised throws in the red zone and when under immediate pressure.
- Still growing with his pre-snap autonomy and post-snap adaptability.
- Will turn 24 years old in September of his rookie season.
Current Draft Projection and Summary
Entering the 2025 NFL Draft cycle, Howard grades out as a mid-to-late Day 3 prospect at the QB position.
With more growth at Ohio State in 2024, he could potentially rise into the early-round conversation, but Howard’s game needs more refinement in several areas before he can follow that path.
At around 6’4″, 237 pounds, Howard has good size and talent. For his build, he’s a good athlete with solid evasive ability and functional utility as a runner. And while his arm strength is only good at best, he has the arm elasticity to throw off-platform and widen angles.
Going further, Howard shows impressive feel and spatial awareness as a pocket navigator, and he flashes impressive discretion and situational precision on different kinds of throws. Beyond that, he also has good processing speed and anticipation.
For Howard, the question will be whether or not he can bridge the gap left by his non-elite talent with further operational development.
As talented as he is, Howard is not an elite creative threat, nor does he have an elite arm. And his accuracy, mechanics, and vision still stand to improve.
If Howard can keep improving his operational framework in 2024, there’s a chance he could field fringe-developmental-starter consideration from NFL teams. And as it stands, he’s a quality mid-to-late-round option with immediate utility as a potential backup QB.