"I tell you what, man. This Will Howard guy. He could be a dude, man." Jon Gruden loves what Will Howard brings to the table entering the 2025 NFL Draft. The former Kansas State star spent last season at Ohio State and left Columbus a College Football Playoff National Champion. Howard is not for everyone, but it was not that long ago everybody was saying the same things about Josh Allen.
While Allen was a top-10 pick by the Buffalo Bills out of Wyoming in the star-studded 2018 NFL Draft, Howard is not expected to come off the board until the latter part of day two, maybe even the middle of day three. He has the size, the arm talent and the dual-threat playmaking abilities NFL talent evaluators supposedly rave over. Maybe Gruden is onto something or maybe he is on something?
Here is some of the glowing praise Gruden made as a part of Gruden's QB Class for Barstool Sports.
"Now you're a big dual threat quarterback aren't you? Isn't that what you are?. It's the MVP of the league man, Josh Allen. He's a real big dual threat. ... You guys are the same size, man."
I can get behind the first part of the quote, but he is off his rocker thinking Howard could go No. 1.
“How the hell do people not like you as the No. 1 quarterback in the draft? Didn't you win the national title? What do you gotta do? You're 6-foot-5, you're like a young Josh Allen."
Here is the entire episode of Gruden's QB Class that features Ohio State quarterback Will Howard.
All I can say is comparing a prospect to a unicorn is going to leave the evaluator totally disappointed.
Jon Gruden sees a lot of Josh Allen in Will Howard entering the NFL Draft
Admittedly, this comparison caught me by complete surprise. When Allen was coming out, he was deemed to be of the same NFL prototype that made Cam Newton and Ben Roethlisberger NFL legends. Big as a house, can run and throw, what is not to love? Well, you have to go to the right organization that can tame this bucking bronco. Apparently, that was the Bills for Allen back in 2018.
Where Gruden might be onto something is Howard was a far more polished and successful quarterback in college football than Allen ever was. He played on some great teams at Kansas State before helping Ohio State win its second College Football Playoff, its first in a decade. His play down the stretch really opened up my eyes to what Howard could potentially do in the NFL. I am intrigued.
Unfortunately for him, he just does not tickle NFL talent evaluators' fancy quite like Allen did after his junior year at Wyoming. What you have to remember is he largely regressed during his final season in Laramie. The same sort of thing happened to Jordan Love after his sensational sophomore season at Utah State. Howard is on the uptick, but he simply lacks the upward trajectory to be a top-100 pick.
What you also have to remember is Gruden tends to be overly positive in his praise of quarterbacks who appear on his program, this one or the one that predated it over on ESPN. The other big thing to remember is one of the reasons why the Las Vegas Raiders struggled so mightily under his watch earlier in the decade is he and general manager Mike Mayock made wild swings in the draft process.
Truth be told, I would seriously consider taking Howard in the third or fourth round. He is one of my favorite non-first-round quarterback prospects in this draft. Quinn Ewers has a cannon. Jalen Milroe has so much untapped potential. Even the allure of Kyle McCord in a quarterback-easy system intrigues me. All that aside, Howard does have the physical traits to potentially be Josh Allen Lite.
Howard is not anything close to a first-round pick, but he may be a quarterback worth investing in.