Exploring How the Saints Could Trade Up for Cam Ward
I'm not into picking apart a post. So I'll just address a few things. You claim Ward didn't show any red flags, but tell me what good defenses he played against that would've forced red flags? Sanders didn't face any either and struggled against BYU and Nebraska. Ward may not have bombed out 1 single game, but he didn't face anyone either. How does he respond if his offensive line is getting dominated? We haven't a clue in 2024. In 2023 it wasn't good. He struggled a lot with an inferior oline. When they struggled, he struggled badly. Was there a play calling issue? gameplan issue? QB issue? Really hard to say. But in 2024 he was never tested in the sense of how he responds when his offense struggles. So it's folly to say "there's no red flags" when he has struggled whenever his offense as a whole didn't dominate the team in front of him and there wasn't a defense in 2024 to determine if he grew from that.
If this were true, then sure there may be an argument. However the real folly is to say he’s never tested/performed well against top competition.
Cam Ward played 9.5 games (he played half a game and dominated in the bowl game against Iowa State in 2024) against ranked teams during his entire time at Washington State and Miami.
In 9.5 games against ranked teams he had:
2,919 Passing Yards (307 passing yards per game)
25 Touchdowns (2.6 touchdowns per game)
6 Interceptions (.6 interceptions per game)
Over the past 2 seasons, he played 4.5 games against ranked teams. In those games he had:
1560 Passing yards (347 passing yards per game)
14 Touchdowns (3.1 touchdowns per game)
2 Interceptions (.4 interceptions per game)
In other words, if you average out his production against ranked competition
over the past 2 seasons, his 13 game average would be:
4,511 Passing Yards
40 Passing Touchdowns
5 Interceptions
His opponents in those games were: Washington (Played in National Championship that year), Oregon (#9), Oregon State (#14), Wisconsin (#19), and Iowa State (#18)
I simply get an impression that Ward is being a bit overhyped by many, and he'll have some struggles adjusting to the NFL just like any rookie QB. But with Ward, theres cause for concern. He was on a very talented offense and was never truly put up against equal talent. So we don't know what those struggles to adjust will look like.
Yes that is pretty much standard that any young QB will have growing pains. As shown above, Ward had no issue putting up great production over his career against top competition. One of Ward's greatest attributes is how composed and calm he is under pressure. Plenty of top tier traits for him to be a great NFL QB. I don't mind the Saints taking a chance if Moore thinks he's the guy that he wants to work with at QB. This franchise is long overdue to take a chance on a QB high in the draft.